Chapter 16
Jesse’s brain was still trying to wrap around Liberty wanting to run a bed-and-breakfast together so it took him a second to comprehend what Hank Holiday had just said. When it finally sank in, he didn’t wait to be invited up on the Holidays’ porch. He took the steps two at a time and held out his hand to Hank.
“Could I take a look at that, sir?”
Once Hank handed it to him, Jesse quickly scanned the document. It was exactly what Hank said it was. An eviction notice. If they weren’t gone by July 1st, the county sheriff, who just happened to be Decker, would be there to escort them off the property.
“It came with this.” Rome handed him the piece of paper he held. “It’s the judge-signed foreclosure. Your friend must know someone high up to get it pushed through all the usual red tape so quickly.”
Corbin knew a lot of people who had connections—Jesse had made sure of it. He’d introduced Corbin to anyone he thought could help his brother’s business succeed. He hadn’t thought Corbin would use those connections to throw someone out of their home. The Corbin he knew wouldn’t. Something wasn’t adding up.
He glanced through the document before he handed it back to Rome. “I need to talk to Corbin and get this straightened out.” He glanced at Mimi, who looked pale and lost. “I promise you I will, Ms. Mimi. Even if I have to fly to Paris myself.”
“He’s not in Paris,” Decker said. “I saw him in town on my way out here.”
Jesse was surprised Corbin hadn’t texted or called him to tell him he was in town, but he tried not to show it. “Then we should have this all figured out by tonight.”
Hank snorted. “I’ll believe it when I hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Or more like the jackass’s mouth.”
“Hank!” Darla scolded. “If Jesse says he’s going to get it worked out, I believe him.” She smiled at him. “Thank you, Jesse. We appreciate you helping us.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, boy,” Mimi said. “Go talk to Corbin. When you two get things figured out, you both come on back here for supper and we’ll celebrate. You haven’t tried my homemade elderberry wine yet and I think it’s time to crack open some bottles.”
“Thank you for the invite, Ms. Mimi, but Corbin might be a little jet lagged.” Jesse looked at Liberty. “But I’ll be back.”
Liberty followed him out to his truck and voiced the same question he had been asking himself. “Why didn’t Corbin call to tell you he was back?”
“I don’t know. But I guess I’ll find out shortly.” He started to climb into his truck, but then stopped and turned to her. “Look, Libby, about the way I acted earlier. Your bed-and-breakfast idea just took me a little by surprise, is all.”
“You don’t have to explain.” She shook her head. “It was a silly idea.”
“It’s not silly. It’s just that I never really thought about being—”
She cut him off. “I get it. Why would a successful businessman want to run a bed-and-breakfast in a Podunk town?” She tapped the brim of his hat. “Now go save my family’s ranch.”
He started to get in his truck, but once again stopped. He knew her family was watching, but he didn’t care. He swept her into his arms and kissed her. He planned to just give her a quick kiss, but as soon as her lips melted against his, he was lost. When he finally drew back and looked into those pretty green eyes, a feeling washed over him. A feeling that pushed him to say something he had no business saying.
So instead, he just smiled. “See you soon, Libby Lou.”
Once he got to the trailer, he found a brand-new white dually pickup truck with the dealer tag still on it parked out front. It looked like Corbin had traded his Cadillac SUV in for a truck almost as big as Jesse’s. Jesse grinned as he parked and hopped out.
He thought he’d find Corbin sleeping off his jet lag. He should have known better. Like him, Corbin didn’t sleep. Instead, he was sitting at the scarred kitchen table working on his laptop with Tay-Tay curled in his lap.
He and Jesse looked nothing alike. Jesse looked like their daddy while Corbin had taken after his blond-haired, blue-eyed mama. Those blue eyes lit up when Jesse stepped into the trailer.
“Hey, Jess!”
Jesse was just as happy to see his brother. “Hey, yourself. I see you had a little truck envy.” He glanced out the window. “But yours still isn’t as big as mine.”
Corbin laughed. “Yeah, but it’s newer and doesn’t need a jump start every time it gets cold.”
“Hey, Bubba’s truck will outrun yours any day—or maybe not outrun yours, but run over yours.” He walked over and slapped Corbin on the back. “Good to see you, little bro. Why didn’t you text me to tell me you were back?”
“I wanted to surprise you.” Corbin grinned. “Or not me as much as—” Before he could finish, Tay-Tay woke up from her nap. Surprisingly, she didn’t hiss. In fact, she stood up on Corbin’s lap and greeted Jesse with a soft meow. When he petted her head, she pushed into his hand.
Corbin grinned. “I see you and Tay made up.”
“I still get the occasional scratch, but we’ve formed a truce . . . with the help of Mimi the cat whisperer.”
Corbin’s smile faded. “Mimi? Mimi Holiday?”
Jesse pulled the other chair out from the table and sat down. “We need to talk, Whitty.”
“Obviously. Since when are you on a first-name basis with the Holidays’ grandma?”
“Since I got to know her and the rest of the Holidays. What are you thinking foreclosing on their ranch?”
Corbin cocked his head. “What am I thinking? I’m thinking that I loaned them money in good faith and they broke the contract.”
“But Rome is willing to pay off the loan. With interest.”
Corbin shrugged. “I don’t want the money. I want the ranch.”
All Jesse could do was stare at him. “The ranch? Why would you want the ranch? Land prices are down.”
“I’m not selling it. I’m living in it.”
If he had said he wanted to be a pizza delivery guy, Jesse couldn’t have been more surprised. “Living in it? Since when do you want to live on a ranch? You love your fancy apartment in Houston.”
“It’s not about me. Sunny needs a home.”
Jesse knew Corbin adored his sister and wanted to give her everything, but he didn’t get this. “But why a ranch? You know nothing about cattle and horses.”
“Then I’ll learn. You said yourself that I’m a fast study. I learned the loan business in just a year.”
It was the truth. Corbin had taken to business like a duck to water. Just like Jesse, he had a natural ability to make money. Which was why Jesse had pushed him to start his own business. And he had never interfered with Corbin’s choices or decisions.
Until now.
“Okay. If you want a ranch for Sunny, I’ll help you find one. Hell, I’ll even invest in your cattle-raising business. Just not the Holiday Ranch. Let Rome pay off the loan, Corbin.”
Corbin stared at him for a long moment before a knowing look entered his eyes. “They got to you, didn’t they?”
“What?”
“The Holidays. They sucked you in just like they’ve sucked in everyone else in this town.”
“They didn’t suck me in. I just discovered they’re good people is all.”
Corbin set Tay-Tay on the floor and got up from the chair. “Good people? You think they’re good people. Well, let me tell you about those good people, Jess. For five years our uncle busted his ass for the Holiday Ranch, and do you know how Hank thanked him? He fired him.”
Jesse was more than a little surprised. Not about Hank firing their uncle, but about Liberty not mentioning it. And there was probably a good reason for that.
“Are you sure Hank fired him? Or is that Uncle Dan’s version? Because I can’t see Hank firing a man for no good reason. Especially one who worked for him for so long. I never met our uncle, but if he was anything like our daddy, he stretched the truth. If he didn’t, I’m sure there was a good reason he got fired. You told me yourself he had a drinking problem like Daddy.”
“Maybe he did have a drinking problem, but instead of firing him, Hank should have offered him help.” Corbin hesitated. “They should have offered us all help.”
Now they seemed to be getting to the root of Corbin’s problem with the Holidays.
Jesse sighed. “I know it wasn’t easy for you and Sunny being pawned off on one relative right after the other. But the Holidays aren’t to blame. Our daddy and your mama are.”
“I’m not blaming the Holidays for that.” Corbin’s face hardened. “But they could have made Sunny’s life a little easier. You don’t know her yet, but Sunny is just like her namesake. She’s bright and full of life. It about killed me when she came home every day crying because she didn’t have any friends and had to eat lunch by herself. And you know the friend she wanted most? Noelle Holiday. But Noelle already had her clique and she never gave Sunny the time of day.” He paused and a hurt look entered his eyes. “And I knew how Sunny felt because I fell for my own Holiday.”
Jesse knew what name Corbin was going to say before he said it.
“Liberty. Beautiful, dynamic, take-your-breath-away Liberty.” Corbin smiled sardonically. “From the moment I saw her, I was a goner. I followed her around like a little lost puppy. I wrote her poems. I brought her flowers. Our senior year, when I finally got up enough nerve to ask her out and she said yes, I thought I had won the fuckin’ lottery.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You want to know what those good people did to me, Jesse? They pulled the twin switch. Instead of Liberty, I got Belle. All because Liberty had started going steady with the quarterback of another high school. Rather than just be honest, they thought I wouldn’t notice the difference. But I noticed. I played along with their hurtful little game, but I knew. And I never forgot.”
Jesse now understood why Corbin seemed to have a vendetta against the Holidays. Having been a kid with crappy parents, he knew how you envied the kids who had a big loving family who came to all their games and activities to cheer them on. Jesse had eventually gotten to be one of those kids. He had gotten the big loving family who came to all his school functions and activities and cheered him on.
Corbin hadn’t.
All he’d had was the dream. The dream that included the same girl Jesse dreamed of. He didn’t want to believe Liberty had talked Belle into the twin switch, but it sounded like something a teenage kid would do. Jesse had done plenty of dumb things as a teenager that he later regretted. Still, once again, he wondered why Liberty hadn’t told him. Maybe she didn’t think it had been a big deal.
“They were teenage girls, Corbin,” he said. “Teenage girls do things like that. You can’t hold that against them and punish them by taking their family’s ranch.”
“I’m not punishing them, Jess. I’m over what Liberty and Belle Holiday did to me.”
“Then let Rome pay off the loan and buy another ranch.”
“I don’t want another ranch. I want the ranch Sunny dreamed about living on. Uncle Dan only took us out to the Holiday Ranch with him a few times before he was fired, but that was enough for Sunny to fall in love with it. Every picture she drew after that was of the house and the barn and the oak with the swing. I want her to have her dream.”
Jesse stared at him. “At the cost of taking it away from the little old woman who had the same dream?”
Corbin shrugged. “The Holidays made their bed, Jesse. I didn’t force Mimi to sign the contract.”
As Jesse studied his brother, the truth dawned. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You knew the ranch was in financial trouble and you had Oleander Investments give Hank a way to consolidate all his loans, knowing he wouldn’t be able to pay you back.”
“Isn’t that what you taught me, big brother? Figure out when the odds are in your favor and go in for the kill?”
That was exactly what Jesse had taught him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Damn it, Corbin. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I? You’ve never cared how I run the business. Now suddenly you’ve fallen in love with the Holidays and want to put them before your own family.”
That stung. And pissed him off. He got to his feet. “I’m not putting them before my own family. I’ll buy you and Sunny a damn ranch that’s just as nice, if not nicer. Just leave the Holidays’ ranch alone!”
“What’s going on?”
The question had Jesse turning to the door of the bedroom. A young woman stood there. He had seen pictures. But seeing pictures of his half sister and actually seeing her in person were two different things. While he and Corbin looked nothing alike, he and Sunny looked like paternal twins. Same strawberry-blond hair. Same freckles. Same soft brown eyes.
Eyes that lit up.
“Jesse?” She charged across the room and dove into his arms. “I always wanted another brother!”