Chapter 18
Jesse woke with one helluva hangover. It didn’t help that there were no curtains and blinding sunlight burned his retinas as soon as he opened his eyes.
As he sat up and blinked the dismal room into focus, all the whiskey he’d consumed the night before sloshed around in his belly and he wished like hell he had gotten a hotel room with blackout curtains and a working bathroom . . . and maybe windows with actual glass panes. Or he should have just headed home to Bramble. Of course, he’d been too drunk to drive. Which was why he had ended up here. Stumbling down the street to Mrs. Fields’s boardinghouse had been safer than getting behind the wheel. His truck was still parked at the Hellhole. He didn’t relish the thought of walking down the street to get it.
But it was time to leave Wilder.
There was no reason for him to stay.
The thought had pain slicing through his chest, adding to the throbbing in his head and the rolling of his stomach. He jumped out of bed and barely made it to one of the paneless windows before he threw up. After he’d emptied his entire stomach on the overgrown bushes beneath the window, he felt better but still like death warmed over.
“I wanted to get to know you, but seeing my new brother’s naked behind wasn’t what I had in mind.”
He straightened so quickly that he banged his head on the top of the windowpane. It felt like he’d been coldcocked with a two-by-four.
“Holy shit!” He grabbed his head.
“Ouch. That sounded like it hurt.”
He turned to see Sunny standing there with her back to him. Still holding his aching head, he quickly got in bed and pulled the sheet over him. “You can turn around now.”
She turned.
Corbin had been right. Sunny had been named appropriately. Her smile was almost as blinding as the sun.
“Good morning, big brother!”
Her loud greeting crashed through his sore, pounding head like marching band cymbals. He cringed and held up a hand.
“Softer, please.”
Her smile got even brighter as she lowered her voice. “Looks like you must have stopped at the Hellhole after you left me and Corbin last night. I’m a little upset you didn’t invite us along. Or say goodbye.” She held up a to-go cup and bakery bag. “But I’m not one to hold a grudge. Coffee and a Cocoa Java Junkie muffin? Sheryl Ann said they were your favorite.”
Just the thought of eating made his stomach churn. “No on the muffin. But I’d love that cup of coffee.”
She walked over and handed it to him, her gaze drifting down to his lap. “Your man junk’s showing.”
“Shit!” He quickly grabbed the sheet to cover up and spilled coffee as he did. Thankfully, there was a lid on the cup, but the drops that hit his arm still burned like hell. “Sonofabitch!”
Sunny laughed. “You’re a real mess, aren’t you?”
He brushed the coffee off his arm and scowled. “I’ve had better days. How did you find me?”
“You buying Mrs. Fields’ Boardinghouse is the talk of Butt Muffins.”
“Butt Muffins?”
She hesitated. “When I was in high school, someone—not saying who—painted an extra t on the Nothin’ But Muffins sign turning it into Nothin’ Butt Muffins.” Jesse laughed and she grinned. “It was pretty funny. At least, most folks thought so. Sheryl Ann not so much.” She glanced around. “People are trying to figure out what you’re going to do with this dilapidated building.” She looked back at him. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Probably sell it for much less than I paid for it.”
“So why did you buy it?”
“A whim.”
She tipped her head and studied him. “Hmm? That’s funny. From what Corbin has told me, you’re not a whim kind of guy. He says you act all easygoing, but everything you do is calculated.”
“Well, maybe Corbin doesn’t know me like he thinks he does.” Jesse certainly didn’t know Corbin like he thought he did.
Sunny kicked off her flip-flops and sat down on the foot of the bed, crossing her legs in front of her like a teenager ready to share secrets. “Or maybe there’s a reason you bought this place that you just don’t want to tell me. I get it. You don’t even know me. I’m just a stranger to you.” She blinked her big brown eyes. “So why would you confide in little ol’ me?”
It took a con artist to know one. “Oh, you’re good,” he said. “No wonder you have Corbin wrapped around your little finger. Just so you know, I’m not so easily manipulated.”
Her bright smile returned. “Good to know. Corbin is an absolute pushover.”
He frowned. “Which is how you got him to figure out a way to get the Holiday Ranch.”
The surprise that entered her eyes was real. “If I had known what he was up to, I would have tried to stop him.”
For some reason, he knew she wasn’t lying. Probably because looking at her was like looking in a mirror. “But he’s buying it for you. He told me it’s where you want to live.”
“At one time, it was. But I think a lot of girls dreamed about being one of the Holiday sisters. They were pretty and popular and had a ready-made clique. When you saw them in town all together, laughing and having such a great time, you couldn’t help but want to be part of their sisterhood. I heard that they even had a club. A secret sister club. How awesome is that?”
When Jesse lifted an eyebrow, she laughed. “Maybe I was a little more infatuated with them than most girls. And I did draw a lot of pictures of their farmhouse with their amazing barn. But I was a young kid who craved a family and a permanent home.” She looked at him. “From what Corbin has told me, I think you can understand that.”
Jesse understood all too well. He also understood you couldn’t change who you were or where you came from. “You’ll never be able to replicate what the Holidays have, Sunny. That’s not how life works.”
“I realize that, but Corbin doesn’t seem to.” She glanced down at the bakery bag she’d set on the bed. “My favorite muffin is Strawberry Sweet Cakes. Of course, Uncle Dan never bought muffins. Most of his unemployment checks went for beer. Corbin was the one who bought them for me. He took on whatever odd jobs he could get so I would have warm winter coats and cool athletic shoes . . . and Strawberry Sweet Cakes muffins.” She lifted her gaze. Tears brimmed in her soft brown eyes. “Because of that, I’d do anything for him—including go along with his crazy scheme of becoming a rancher. Because as much as Corbin says he’s getting the ranch for me, I don’t think that’s the truth. I think he dreamed about being a Holiday more than I did.”
Jesse had figured out the same thing last night when he was only halfway through the bottle of Jack Daniel’s. That’s why he had finished the rest of the bottle. He realized he was in a no-win situation. He was stuck between wanting his brother to have the home he’d always dreamed of and wanting Liberty’s family to keep their ranch. There was no way to give both people he loved what they wanted.
And he loved Corbin.
He also loved Liberty.
He had realized it the moment he had watched her walk away. It was like she had taken his heart with her and left nothing but a gaping hole in his chest. Which was why he had jumped in his truck and headed straight to the Hellhole to try to fill it.
But whiskey hadn’t filled it. The emptiness was still there. He realized that it had been there long before he had met Liberty. She had just made him aware of it. He’d spent his entire life trying to fill it with his wheeling and dealing and traveling . . . and with women who he couldn’t even remember. Then Liberty had come along and filled the empty space with her feistiness and her challenges.
Now that their relationship was over, he felt twice as empty.
He leaned back on the brass headboard and closed his eyes. “Dammit.”
Sunny sighed. “I’m going to say that you being such a mess isn’t just about Corbin foreclosing on the Holiday Ranch. It’s Liberty, isn’t it? You’ve fallen for her just like Corbin did.”
Jesse didn’t even try to deny it. “I’ve fallen alright. I feel like I’ve fallen from a twenty-story building and splattered on the sidewalk below.”
“Well, that is a pickle, isn’t it?” Sunny said. “You’re in love with a woman your brother is stealing a ranch from. You can’t get any more pickily than that. And I guess Liberty loves you too.”
He opened his eyes. “Doubtful. Especially now that Corbin is taking her family’s home.”
“I don’t know a lot about love, but I don’t think that’s how it works. You can’t stop loving someone just because they do jerky things. If that were true, no one would stay together and Liberty would have walked away last night and not tried to punch your lights out.” When his eyebrows popped up, she shrugged. “I was watching out the window. I couldn’t hear exactly what y’all were saying, but I did get that you lied to her. Since she looked so surprised when I mentioned you were my brother, I figured you hadn’t told her.” She sent him a contrite look. “Sorry. If you had clued me in, I would have kept my big mouth shut.”
He shook his head. “It’s my fault. I should have told her sooner. It’s just that I was worried she would think exactly what she does—that I’m in cahoots with Corbin and wanted to take her family’s ranch all along.”
“I can see why she’d think that. Especially when you and Corbin are business partners.” She nibbled on her thumbnail. “What we need to do is figure out some way to convince her that it’s not true.”
“We?”
She blinked at him. “Yes, we. You’re my brother. If I’m ever going to get you to trust me and confide in me and accept me as your little sister, I have to prove myself to you. And I figure the only way to do that is to get your woman back and that sad whipped puppy-dog look off your face.”
Jesse scowled. “I don’t have a whipped puppy-dog look.”
“Then you haven’t looked in the mirror. And since we look so much alike, it’s kinda freaking me out. I hope I never look as pathetic.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She grinned. “You’re welcome. Now, stop yakking and let me think.” She nibbled on her thumbnail again. “The best way to prove your love to Liberty is to get her ranch back. Which means we need to convince Corbin that he really doesn’t want the Holiday Ranch. And that won’t be easy. When our brother sets his mind to something, he’s like a dog with a bone. He won’t let go until he decides to.”
Even though Jesse’s mind was sluggish and hungover, there was something about Sunny’s words that struck a chord with him. “Until he decides to.” He stared at her as a plan formed. “That’s it!” He cringed when pain shot through his head.
“Softer, please,” Sunny said with a smirk.
He sent her an annoyed look before he continued in a softer voice. “Corbin has never ranched before in his life, right?”
“Right. In fact, the one time we went horseback riding in Colorado for one of my college spring breaks, he looked scared to death the entire time.” She grinned slyly. “Of course, I didn’t help matters when I slapped his horse on the rump and got it to take off with him at a full gallop.”
Jesse laughed. “Why you little devil.”
She smiled widely. “Just a little sisterly teasing. Believe me, you’ll get your fair share.”
Surprisingly, Jesse was looking forward to it. But first he had to get this mess untangled. “Obviously, Corbin doesn’t have a clue about how hard ranching is. So we need to show him.”
“What do you mean?” Sunny asked before her eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. If we can make him hate ranching, he’ll sell the ranch to Rome.”
“Exactly.”
“But that isn’t going to help the Holidays. They’ll still be kicked out of their house.”
“Not if we can talk Hank into showing Corbin the ropes—pardon my pun—of ranching. You and Corbin can move right into the house without evicting Hank, Darla, and Mimi. There are plenty of bedrooms now that their daughters are all gone. Once Corbin figures out how hard ranching is, y’all can leave and Rome will get the land and the Holidays will have their house to themselves again.”
Sunny stared at him. “That’s genius.”
Jesse grinned. “Damn straight.”
“Don’t be getting a big head.” She glanced around. “No genius would buy this rathole.”
“For that comment, I just might have to turn this rathole into something profitable. But for now, we need to concentrate on our plan. And we can’t tell Corbin.”
“Of course, we can’t. If he finds out we plotted against him, he’ll work twice as hard at becoming a rancher just to prove us wrong.”
“We’re not plotting against him. We’re merely helping him to see the error of his ways.”
She flashed a smile. “I like the way you think, Jesse Cates.” She jumped up. “So what are you waiting for? You need to work out our plan.” Her eyes twinkled. “You might want to start by telling it to your woman. She’s right down the street at Nothin’ But Muffins.”
Every muscle in Jesse’s body tightened. “Liberty?”
Sunny rolled her eyes. “You got another woman?”
There would never be any other woman for him but Liberty. He was scared to death she might not forgive him. Even after she heard his plan. Something that must have been written all over his face.
“Now you listen up, Jesse James Cates.” Sunny gave him a look that was pretty badass for a little redheaded gal who smiled all the time. “You either get up, get dressed, and get your butt down to Butt Muffins or I’m going down there and telling Liberty what a chickenshit my big brother is.”