19. Hobbled
NINETEEN
HOBBLED
Jules
“These are all yours?” Rose eyeballs me. “Dude, you’re just as crazy as Jackie.”
“Hey!” I’m back in the laundry room, thankfully no evidence of Holt’s and my sexcapades visible. But my eye does keep going to the hamper.
“Um, hello?” Rose gestures to all my lists posted on the walls and laughs. “You can’t tell me that you aren’t loving this, Jackie. This is right up your alley, with your order of operations and OCD research and general nerdiness.”
My eyes snap to Rose. “Whoa. I can take the crazy and even the OCD remark?—”
“’Cause it’s true,” Rose murmurs.
My gaze narrows. “But I draw the line at nerd.”
Flynn, standing in the doorway, pulls Jackie against his side, skewing her glasses. “Nerds are hot.”
Rose and I simultaneously roll our eyes. Trish giggles.
“Yes, yes, we all know you have a hard-on for that particular nerd.” My words make Jackie’s face go scarlet. “But that’s her thing. I’m…”
“Efficient,” the wedding planner pipes up from in front of my laptop. She and I both know she’s brown-nosing, but neither of us care. I could get used to having her around.
I nod. “Yes. Efficient. I’m an efficient badass.”
Trish, who has no joke been studying her nails this whole time, smiles. “You just had to throw badass in there, didn’t you, sugar?”
“Pipe down, short stack, the adults are talking.”
Said nails curl into fists. “Why, you?—”
“Easy, tiger.” I throw my hands up and take a step back, laughing. I butt up against the dryer. “I was just kidding. No need to get your shotgun ready.”
“Wait, you have a gun?” Jackie asks.
“This is Texas.” Rose snorts. “Who doesn’t have a gun?”
Jackie looks between the two of them. “Um, me?”
Trish pats the shoulder not squished into Flynn’s side. “I’ll take you to the range.”
Flynn groans and tucks Jackie in even closer. “How about we not give my future wife a gun right before she starts training to be an astronaut?”
Rose scoffs. “Don’t be such a?—”
“That’s enough.” Holt’s voice cuts through the bickering. I can’t see him, as the laundry room isn’t big enough for everyone, but I can imagine his stern expression.
“We were supposed to look over wedding stuff. So why are we in the laundry room?” Rose asks.
“Because this is where I do my best work,” I explain.
Holt barks out a laugh and tries to cover it with a cough. Thankfully no one can see him, because I’m sure the damn man is bright red.
“Why the laundry room?” Jackie asks.
Everyone turns to me. Even the wedding planner.
“I like the sound,” I mumble.
“What was that?” Trish blinks innocently at me. I know she heard me, but she’s probably getting back at me for the short stack comment. I need to watch myself around this one.
“Never mind.” I look at the wedding planner. “Have at it.” I wave at the wall of lists and my computer. The girls try and huddle around my laptop, but it gets a bit cramped. I hoist myself up on the dryer to make more room.
The girls ooh and aah, Jackie even doing a jump-clap at a particular picture while the wedding planner takes notes and pictures of my lists with her phone. I’m trying not to think about how the dryer is still warm from its last cycle.
“Flynn, look at this!” Jackie points to a picture I found of a groom wearing Converse and another of the bride wearing cowgirl boots. “Wouldn’t that be adorable?”
“What?” Though taller than everyone, Flynn leans one way and then another trying to see over the girls’ heads. I scoot farther back on the dryer to give him room to step in and accidentally hit the on button with my calf.
It chimes and then vibrations shake my ass over the smooth surface of the appliance. I swear my body nearly orgasms from muscle memory alone. Quickly, I hit the off button, feeling more flustered than I’d like to admit. When I look up, Jackie’s smirking at me.
“What?” I glance down at my treacherous nipples, thinking I somehow gave Holt and me away.
“I know why you like working in the laundry room.” My bestie sounds pretty proud of herself.
She wouldn’t really out me, would she? I glance to the doorway, where I can just see Holt’s shoulder.
“It reminds you of the noise on the International Space Station, doesn’t it?”
I blink, both surprised Jackie could figure that out and thankful she didn’t figure out why my jeans are probably sporting a wet spot.
“So I was right, you are a nerd.” Rose laughs and bends down to grab something from under the counter. “A nerd who also likes BDSM?” She straightens, Cookie’s studded and rhinestoned collar in her hand.
Holt doesn’t bother holding back his laughter this time.
Holt
“Now, don’t be anxious, she’s really gentle.”
Rose eyes Jules, who’s stroking Cookie warily. “You do realize I grew up around cows, right?” She looks around the stall. “Though I don’t remember any of them having accommodations quite like this.”
Cookie and her mother, who’s still nursing her calf, are living in rustic luxury, in a double-wide horse stall complete with blankets, white Christmas lights hung from the ceiling, and a small radio playing Mozart.
When and how Jules managed to arrange this, I have no idea. But considering she recently corralled and conquered a group of pre-pubescent boys, I’m sure my ranch hands weren’t that hard of a target.
Trish picks up one high heel, then the other. “I did not dress for cow visiting.”
“No, you dressed for working the pole,” Jules says without looking.
Trish scowls.
“Just wearing the two-inch heels you guys got me takes a serious amount of concentration on realigning my natural equilibrium.” Jackie tilts her head, examining Trish’s shoes. “And those were boots that have more support structure than the stilettos you have on.”
Trish shrugs. “I’ve been doing it so long, I don’t even think about it.”
“Really?” Jackie pushes her glasses up.
“My mom had me in pageants real young.”
“You were a pageant queen?” Jules asks, sounding like Trish just mortally wounded her.
Rose perks up. “Did you just talk about your family?”
Trish’s usually amused expression slackens, and I have a feeling she hadn’t meant to say that.
“Excuse me?” Jules Vanna Whites in Cookie’s direction. “Pet cow here.”
Trish’s shoulders relax and she throws Jules a grateful smile. Jules takes the opportunity to drag her, stilettos and all, into the stall to pet Cookie.
Jules is a good friend.
“Do cows make good pets?” Jackie, ever curious, moves forward to inspect Cookie. It takes a minute to realize she’s speaking to me.
“Uh — ” I rub the back of my neck. “Well…”
“Cookie’s a great pet,” Jules says, eyes narrowing on me.
“Yeah, sure.” I couldn’t take the sarcasm out of my voice if I tried. Which I hadn’t.
Ignoring me, Jules waves Jackie closer. “Watch this.” She points at the floor in front of Cookie. “Stay.” She steps back. When Cookie remains still, Jules throws me a triumphant look. “See, I told you.”
Rose snickers but sobers when Jules takes a step in her direction. “Whoa there, babe. I was just taking a moment to appreciate how well you fit in at the ranch.”
Jules shrugs, but I don’t miss her glance in my direction. “It isn’t a hard place to fit into.”
“Really?” Rose shoots me a sly look that, from experience, means trouble.
“Yeah, even the inner city kids love it here.”
Distracted, Rose’s focus goes back to Jules. “Who?”
“You didn’t know?” Jules gives Cookie one last pat before leaning on the rail by Rose. “Holt developed a program that brings underprivileged kids from the city out here to the ranch. We spent the day by the pond swimming and fishing.”
Eyes now on me, Rose’s mouth drops open. “How did I not know about this?”
“I didn’t think?—”
Flynn jogs into the barn, apparently back from picking up dinner. “What’d I miss?”
Rose’s look turns accusatory. “Seems our brother is running a secret charity program.”
Flynn nods at me before wrapping his arms around Jackie from behind. “Cool.”
“Isn’t it?” Jules’ smile is distinctly smug. “He should start running it full time.”
“Would you like that?” Rose asks.
I shrug, rubbing the back of my neck. “I don’t really have the time, what with the ranch?—”
“Nonsense.” Jules waves away my words. “Tucker can handle the day-to-day operations.” She swats Jackie’s arm playfully. “Can you believe there weren’t any girls in the program? I’m going to get that sorted out real quick.”
“Yes.” Jackie nods. “Good idea.”
Jules snaps her fingers. “Hey, I could even put Holt in contact with the NASA public relations team and…”
The conversation dims in my mind and I find it hard to breathe.
I remember my mother doing the same thing to my dad.
Telling him how easy it would be if they just quit working the ranch and took advantage of the millions in oil rights.
Bought a place in the city, started racing cars.
Before you knew it, everything my dad had loved about being here vanished, along with his family. There’s already been so much change.
“That’s enough.”
Everyone jumps, my voice a lot harsher than I meant it.
“Let’s go eat.” Without a word, I turn and start the walk back to the house.
JULES
“Holy shit.” Rose places one of the take-out containers on the large table, looking around the dining room.
I laugh lightly. “That’s exactly what Flynn said when he saw the reno going on.”
Jackie, Trish and I continue placing the containers down, the girls exclaiming over the new paint and refinished hardwoods, but my mind is on Holt.
Is he mad at me? Thinking on it, it is weird he never told his family about the program.
I don’t see why he didn’t. It’s something he should be proud of. But maybe he’s mad I brought it up?
“Looking around, I don’t think you changed things that much, but it still looks brand new.” Rose fingers the blue and white curtains by the double window.
“Yeah, this room only needed a slight upgrade.” I place the last container down. “Melissa said that with all the furniture being antiques and in good shape, there really wasn’t much to be done.”