Chapter 21
OLIVIA
“Jack has approved your marketing plan for the ranch,” Dad said in our morning meeting the day after I’d gotten back into the office. “He asked me to tell you how impressed he was with it, Liv. I must say, I’m very impressed myself. It’s a wonderful strategy.”
I beamed under his praise, but deep down inside, the only person whose approval I cared about with this project was Charlie’s. Until I heard from him, I would keep being just a little bit worried that he thought I’d gone too far.
Because if he did, if he felt like I’d trodden at all on his desire to maintain their privacy, then he would never want to work with me again.
As it was, our working relationship was fragile.
If he didn’t like what I came up with, then eventually, the ranch’s business would move to a different firm.
Even if that was only after his father and mine were gone.
I exhaled slowly, trying not to let that little twinge of worry show. Squaring my shoulders, I kept my head held high and smiled at my dad. “I’m glad we’ve got the approval. We’re ready to start implementing it as soon as they’ve signed off.”
“Well, they’ve signed off,” he said. “Let’s get the team in here and get to work.”
I nodded, looking around at London, Lacey, and even Liam, who Dad had put on the account with us.
While I wasn’t convinced that my sister was going to be able to work with him, I’d decided to assign them different parts of the plan.
Hopefully, that would keep them apart enough to maintain the peace.
Lacey stood up immediately and called in the rest of the team, who had been on standby to join the meeting if Jack had given us his approval. When they came in, I took control of the conference room, getting myself set up before giving them a quick rundown of our first steps.
“As most of you know, I recently spent some time with the Anderson family on their ranch,” I said, standing at the front of the room with my laptop open and the presentation I’d prepared projected onto the screen behind me.
“What they want most out of this next quarter is to connect with consumers on a more personal level while also maintaining their privacy.”
“How is that going to be possible?” one of the more junior members of our team asked. “If you want to connect on a personal level, that means revealing things that are personal, which in turn means that your privacy is compromised.”
I smiled. “You’re right. It can be tricky, but what we’re aiming for is to show the public what they’re all about without venturing too much into them individually. We should focus on the process not the people.”
“What are they all about?” another team member asked. “Money? It’s got to be money, right? But we can’t showcase that.”
“We won’t have to,” I explained patiently, having been prepared for all these questions.
“While it’s true that they are a wealthy family, they’re not about the money at all.
For them, it’s about the love of doing what they do.
It’s about the animals and the land. It’s about sustainability and ethical business practices.
The Andersons have been doing this for decades.
Ranching isn’t just what they do. It’s who they are. ”
“That sounds like a catchphrase,” Lacey said. “I get that it’s true for them, but how do we make it sound less like a slogan?”
“That’s exactly what we’re here to discuss.
” I grinned and clicked onto the next slide in my presentation.
“I’ve written an article that we can link to all our initial posts about them and I’ve also been working on a blog.
We’ve got pictures, videos, sound clips, and reels for their socials.
We’re not going to tell people what they’re about. We’re going to show them.”
For the next hour, I walked them through everything I needed them to do to kick off the project.
Over the next twenty-four hours, we started introducing the Andersons to the world.
My article was released and we linked it everywhere.
The blog was up, the socials all had the current postings about the ranch, and we were seeing fantastic engagement across all platforms.
I was feeling so good that I could not stop smiling but I still hadn’t heard from Charlie.
Doing my best not to let that get me down, I was in constant contact with the team, making sure to include all kinds of things that would help them connect with the community while not wrecking the family’s privacy.
That, of course, meant steering away from anything explicit about their personal lives and ensuring that everything we posted and shared was focused on the ranch and the work they did there. Around midday, my phone chirped with an incoming text and my heart skipped when I saw the name on my screen.
Cowboy Charlie: Loved the article you wrote about the ranch. Good job, Cowgirl.
I grinned, cradling the device to my chest and squealing internally. Thank God. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
After that message, I doubled down on the strategy I’d devised, any last bit of doubt I might’ve been fostering wiped away by his approval. I knew he hadn’t wanted to work with me and I knew I would have to prove myself to him, and it meant everything that I’d done that.
Charlie Anderson believed in what I was doing. He trusted me and he was onboard. Euphoria swept through me. All the stress and tension I’d been feeling about potentially losing our biggest client melted away.
We spent the rest of the week pushing out content about the ranch and it was a huge hit online.
With more and more TV shows focused on farming and raising public awareness, it looked like our campaign had rolled out at a perfect time.
Lots of people were tuning in to learn more about the ranch and the Andersons’ family life.
There were tons of new reviews being posted about their products, most of which were five stars.
It seemed like the community had always loved their products, but as far as I could tell, plenty of people had been curious about the family itself and our new plan was answering all those questions they had.
“This is incredible,” London said as she scrolled the comments on our latest post. “I swear, people are following this like it’s a reality show.”
I chuckled. “It kind of is, except that we don’t have cameras following the family around all day, every day.”
“Not yet,” she muttered, glancing up at me. “It’s not a bad idea, though. I bet people would eat that up.”
“The public might, but I doubt the family would go for it,” I said.
“Besides, their aim is the exact opposite of getting people tripped up in the intricacies of their personal lives. They’d like to keep those private.
They want to teach people about the ranch and what they do there.
They want to show why family-owned ranches like theirs are important and they’re hoping that will help them build loyalty among their customer base. ”
“So everyone keeps telling me.” She sighed. “Think anyone will ever want to make a reality show about our lives? Our family?”
I laughed. “Let’s freaking hope not.”
Drumming her nails on the table, she finally shrugged. “I think it could be fun, but on the other hand, I can’t be caught on camera strangling him.”
She inclined her chin toward Liam and I groaned. “Not this again. Just ignore him. He’s on branding right now and you’re on socials, so talk to me. What are people asking for?”
“They want more of the hot cowboys.” She tossed me a coy look. “If I was you, I’d slam my nails into Charlie real fast. There are a lot of girls out there right now wanting them some of the Anderson boys.”
Nausea swirled through my stomach, but I forced a chuckle and shook my head at her. “I’m not slamming my nails into anyone. He’s a free agent. If he wants to capitalize on his fifteen minutes, he can do it.”
She groaned. “You’re hopeless.”
“I’m realistic,” I countered.
She glanced up at me again. “Says the girl who’s been counting down the minutes until tonight all week.”
“What? I’m just excited to go to my first rodeo.” I widened my eyes at her. “Also, keep your voice down when you’re talking about him.”
Miming zipping her lips, she moved her gaze back to the screen, but she wasn’t wrong about how I’d been counting down the minutes all week. The day had finally come though, and tonight, I’d be seeing Charlie again.
I left the office a little early, rushing home to get ready to join the Andersons at the rodeo.
Butterflies kept erupting in my stomach whenever I thought about being able to look into those eyes again, and while I knew it was unlikely, I was hoping we might even get to spend a little bit of time alone together.
After I’d showered and dried my hair, I styled it into a sleek braid with wispy, loose tendrils framing my face.
On account of how many times he’d done it just before he’d kissed me, I knew how much he loved brushing my hair behind my ears.
So, okay. I’m hoping to tempt him just a little bit. Sue me.
I kept my makeup light and natural, then got into my blue jean shorts, a white tee, and my boots. Just before I left my house, I decided to open Charlie’s gift too. I’d been dying to do it since I’d gotten home, but I’d wanted to see him again shortly after, which had meant waiting until today.
Part of me had considered waiting until after the rodeo and inviting him home with me to be present when I opened it, but I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. As soon as I lifted the top of the box inside, a thrill shot through me.
He’d given me a cowgirl hat of my very own and I freaking loved it so much that tears were suddenly stinging the backs of my eyes. Crafted from a rich brown fur felt, it was soft to the touch as I pulled it out to admire it.
A leather sweatband with a silver buckle and ruby-colored stones laid into it completed the outside while the inside was lined with embroidered satin. I didn’t know much about these hats, but I knew enough about fashion in general to know that this wouldn’t have come cheap.
I also knew that to cowboys, hats were a big deal.
Completely touched that he’d gotten me one of my own, and such a gorgeous one to boot, I gently placed it on my head and turned to look at myself in the mirror. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was a true Texan myself—and I didn’t mind it.
I didn’t mind it at all.