Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
W hen they got to the high school stadium, her sisters and their husbands were already seated in the stands, everyone but Corbin. Knowing how Belle loved her nachos, Hallie figured he was at the snack bar. Daddy had headed there as soon as his ticket had been taken, leaving Mimi, Mama, and Hallie to set up the stadium seats on the row her sisters had saved for them.
She was a nervous wreck about talking to Jace after the game and just wanted to sit quietly and stew in her own thoughts. She should have known better. Her butt had barely touched the cushion seat when Sweetie spoke.
“Why did you break up with Jace? He looked devastated when he showed up yesterday to talk with Decker.”
Hallie turned to her. “He talked with Decker? What did he say?”
“Sweets.” Decker, who sat next to Sweetie, sent her a warning look. “You promised you wouldn’t repeat what I told you.”
Sweetie huffed as she rubbed a hand over her round belly stretching out her Wilder Wildcats T-shirt. “She’s my sister, Deckster. You should know I don’t keep secrets from my sisters.”
Rome tucked a blanket over Cloe’s legs and rounded stomach. “It’s one of the Secret Sisterhood rules.” Obviously, all the husbands now knew about their not-so-secret club.
“No kidding?” Jesse chimed in. He sat on the next row up with Liberty and Belle. “Now I know not to repeat anything I don’t want spread around to every Holiday sister.”
Liberty turned on him. “And just what wouldn’t you want spread around to my sisters? Are you keeping secrets from me, Jesse Cates?”
Jesse tugged her close, giving her a smacking kiss on the side of the head. “Never, darlin’. Never.”
Annoyed by the detour the conversation had taken, Hallie tried to get it back on track. “So what did Jace say, Deck?”
Decker shook his head. “I’m not going to tell you what he said, Hal. But he was pretty upset.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I know. I screwed up.”
“That’s funny,” Sweetie said. “Because Jace feels like he was the one who screwed up.”
Decker groaned. “Swe-e-ets. We really shouldn’t get involved.”
Sweetie sent her husband an annoyed look. “If it comes to my sister’s and Jace’s happiness, I’m getting involved.” She looked back at Hallie. “Jace realizes he made a mistake trying to tell you what would make you happy.”
“And Jace wanting Hallie to be happy is a mistake, why?” Jesse asked.
Liberty turned to him and sighed. “Because you should never tell a woman what will make her happy. Even if you’re right.”
“So what did Jace think will make Hallie happy?” Rome asked.
All the sisters answered in unison. “Running the Holiday Ranch.”
Hallie looked at Sweetie. “You told everyone what Jace said?”
“I didn’t have to. All of us have always known what would make you happy, Hal. We’ve also known it’s something you had to figure out for yourself. Like me, I had to go to Nashville to figure out I didn’t want to be a superstar country singer. I wanted to write songs.”
“It’s the Dorothy theory,” Belle said. “Sometimes you have to go to Oz before you figure out there’s no place like home.”
Cloe glanced at Rome and smiled. “Or no one more special than a hometown boy.”
Hallie looked around at her sisters and realized they were right. She wouldn’t have listened to them any more than she had listened to Jace. She needed to leave to figure out how much she loved the ranch. And she needed to walk away from Jace to realize she never wanted to walk away from her hometown boy again.
At one time, the thought would have scared her. She had watched all her sisters change once they’d fallen in love and she thought it was for the worse. Now, she realized it had been for the better. Sweetie had been working as an unhappy waitress struggling to become a country singer before she fell in love with Decker. Now she was a promising songwriter and a soon-to-be mother. Cloe had been the wallflower of the family. The one who sat back and let life happen without her. Now she helped run one of the biggest ranches in Texas, worked as a speech therapist at the elementary school, danced at the Hellhole every Saturday night, and was preparing for her first child. Liberty had been a control freak who wanted to run everyone’s life, then she met Jesse and now she enjoyed life rather than tried to beat it into submission. And Belle had let Liberty make all her decisions until Corbin helped her learn how to make her own choices.
It seemed that love hadn’t made her sisters weaker.
It had only made them stronger.
Jace had made Hallie stronger too. He’d helped her realize what her dream really was. He knew because he’d been there all along. He had watched her grow into the cowgirl she was and never once made her feel like she wasn’t good enough. Never once made her feel like she was just an annoying little girl who tagged along behind him. He had answered all her questions about football with his lopsided smile and treated her like a friend rather than a pesky younger sibling. Which was how he’d known owning a brewery wasn’t really her dream . . . and how she’d known he would never be happy without football.
It seemed that people who love you know your heart better than you do.
“So let me get this straight.” Jesse cut into her thoughts. “Jace was right. You do want to run the ranch. You’re just mad at him for pointing it out.” He laughed. “That’s Liberty logic if ever I heard it.”
Liberty turned on him. “What do you mean by that?”
“Now, darlin’, I love your logic. But it can be a little confusing at times. It sounds like Jace was just pointing out the obvious. Corbin’s known for weeks that Hallie should be the one running the ranch.”
About then, Daddy and Corbin appeared at the end of the row, juggling trays filled with drinks, hot dogs, and nachos. Mama and Belle jumped up to help them distribute the food and Belle quickly told her husband the news.
“Hallie has finally figured out that she wants to run the ranch.”
Corbin took his time replying, which made Hallie extremely nervous. Maybe he’d decided he didn’t want his flaky sister-in-law running his ranch. He waited until he was seated next to his nacho-munching wife before he spoke.
“So why do you want to run the ranch, Hal?”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that the only question you know?”
He laughed. “Pretty much.”
She took a moment to think of her answer. When she caught Mimi’s reassuring gaze, the words came easily.
“Like Reid said, there is something special about sitting in a saddle and looking out on acres and acres of land with no buildings or billboards to take away from the view. But for me, it’s more than that. It’s knowing that, for generations, our family has herded cattle and raised their children on the same chunk of land that I want to herd cattle and raise my children on. I want to preserve that land for those children. And their children. And their children.”
Corbin studied her for a long moment before he smiled. “That sounds like a damn good reason to me. How would you like to be the ranch’s new foreman . . . or should I say forewoman?”
Her eyes widened. “What? But you hired Reid.”
“As an assistant ranch manager. You’re the one who should be in charge, Hallie. Which is why I’m giving you total control of the ranch. All the decisions are yours to make.”
Fear welled up inside of her. “But what if I screw up?”
“You will. But mistakes are only learning tools.”
Cloe squeezed her arm. “All of us have faith in you, Hal. If anyone can make the ranch a success, it’s you. You can do anything you set your mind to.”
Rome leaned around her. “And we’ll all be there to help whenever you need.” He hesitated. “And Jace has always been one helluva cowboy.”
Just then, the crowd started cheering and shaking their cowbells and pom-poms. Hallie looked at the field to see the Wildcats football team standing outside the locker room in a huddle. They yelled “Wildcats!” before they broke apart and charged toward the field where the cheerleaders and drill team were lined up to cheer them on.
It was déjà vu all over again. Hallie couldn’t remember how many times she’d sat in that very stadium watching Jace take the field. At the time, she’d just been a starstruck little kid crushing on the high school football hero. Now, she was a grown woman and the crush had turned into something much more. Something that made her heart swell and brought tears to her eyes when her gaze finally found him in the group of coaches that followed the team.
He stood a good head taller than the other coaches. He wore his navy polo shirt with the Wildcats’ snarling emblem, the cotton stretching tight across his muscled chest and biceps. When he lined up on the sidelines, his jeans fit just as nicely. He glanced over his shoulder at the crowd that packed the stadium. Somehow she knew he was looking for her.
She jumped up to wave, but he’d already turned back around. Disappointment filled her. She wanted him to know she was there. She needed him to know she was there.
“I have to talk to Jace!” she blurted out.
“Now?” Sweetie said. “The game is getting ready to start.”
“Yeah, Hal,” Decker said. “You can’t go out on the field now. Texans put up with a lot of things, but messing with their football games isn’t one of them.”
“I don’t care. I have to talk to him.” She started down the bleachers right through the crowd. “Excuse me . . . sorry . . . excuse me.”
When she got to the stairs that led to the field, she had to push her way through the band that had just finished their pregame show. By the time she made it to the sidelines, the referee was already on the field with the captains of the teams for the coin toss.
What was she doing? Decker was right. If she talked to Jace and then the Wildcats lost the game, the townsfolk would lynch her. Or at least, not talk to her for years. She started to turn around when Jace glanced over his shoulder again and saw her.
“Hallie?”
She lifted a hand in a weak wave. “Hey . . . uhh . . . I just wanted you to know that I’m here.” She smiled. “That I’ll always be here.”
He stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment before he said something to Coach Denny and started toward her. He stopped only inches away. Her heart beat as loudly as the bass drum someone was pounding when he took her hand and held it softly in his.
“I’m glad you’re here, Hallie. I planned on coming to see you after the game to apologize. You’ll never know how sorry I am. I said some things I had no business saying.”
“I’m sorry too,” she said. “Sometimes I get all riled up for no reason.”
“You had every reason to get riled up. I shouldn’t have tried to tell you what you wanted.” He released her hand and looked away. “It’s just that I . . .” He looked back at her and the love in his eyes made her melt like hot nacho cheese. “I love you, Hallie, but I struggled with saying it. Probably because I’m terrified to love someone again and have them leave me. But I figured a few things out since we last talked. I figured out that sometimes people you love leave. It doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of love. It just means that they have their own lives they have to live.” He smiled sadly. “I want you to stay here with me, Hallie. But you made it clear last night that you have other dreams. And that’s okay. I just wanted you to know how I feel and that I would never want to keep you from your dreams.” He hesitated. “Even if those dreams take you away from me.”
Her heart got that helium feeling again as tears welled in her eyes. “What if my dream is you?”
“Jace!” Coach Denny yelled. “We won the toss. What do you want to do?”
Jace didn’t even glance in Coach Denny’s direction. That spoke more than words. Jace loved football, but his attention was solely on her. “Your dream is me?”
She smiled as tears dripped down her cheeks. For a girl who hated to cry, she couldn’t have cared less. All she cared about was this man standing in front of her. “Crazy, huh? I mean here I was thinking that I wanted to start my own brewery and never get married and now suddenly I want to run my family’s ranch and marry a high school coach. Who would have figured?”
“Coach!” This time it was the referee that yelled. You didn’t mess with Texas referees.
Jace didn’t seem to know this. He continued to stare at Hallie. “Marry?”
She realized what had slipped out of her mouth and freaked out. “Uhh . . . did I say marry?”
Jace smiled his lopsided smile that would always make her knees weak. “I believe you did.”
The referee walked up. “What’s going on? Is there a problem? Do I need to call security and have this woman taken off the field?”
The way he said woman had Hallie bristling. “Are you saying that a woman has no place on a football field? Because if that’s what you’re saying—”
Jace cut in. “I’m sure he wasn’t saying that, Hallie. He just wants to know if we have a good reason for delaying the game.” His eyes twinkled bright blue in the bright stadium lights. “And I think a marriage proposal is a damn good reason.”
Hallie swallowed hard. “I didn’t exactly propose marriage.”
“I don’t know what else you would call it, Teeny Weeny. You said you want to marry me. That’s a proposal.” He looked at the referee. “Right, ref?”
The big guy in the striped shirt tipped his head. “That depends on how it was worded.”
“She said her dream is running the Holiday Ranch and marrying a high school football coach.”
“Did she use your name?”
“Well, no, but I’m the only single high school football coach in Wilder.”
“Not true.” Coach Denny walked up. “I’m single.”
The referee looked at Hallie. “Were you talking about Coach Denny or Coach Jace?”
“Well, Jace, but—”
“Then that’s a proposal.” The referee glanced at his watch, then at Jace. “So you want to answer her so we can get on with the game?”
While Hallie stood there in stunned disbelief, Jace looked at her and shrugged. “Since we need to get on with the game, I guess I’ll have to say yes.” Before she could blink, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. A cheer rose up from the crowd and Jace drew back and grinned. “We’ll take this up later, Halloween Holiday . . . soon to be Halloween Carson.” He cocked his head. “Now that has a nice ring to it.”
He released her and headed back to the sidelines. Before he got there, she called his name.
“Jace!” When he turned, she flashed him a sassy smile. “You know that forfeit you owe me? Well, I want it now.”
He glanced around. “Now?”
“Yes, now.”
He gave a brief nod. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”
She smiled even bigger. “Win.”
The look on his face could only be described as pure love. “I already have, Teeny Weeny. I already have.”