“Exactly. If I take money, th-th-there’ll eventually be the question of, was I a real friend or was I just st-st-sticking around for the money. Bear has been good to me. P-p-paying me to cook when he sure didn’t have to.”
“No, there would never be that question. We’ve been friends and family as long as we can remember. You two may not be blood, but you’re as close as you can get.”
Family. Friend. There they were again, like knives to the chest. Every time he spoke one, it felt like another nail in the coffin already riddled with them.
Gabby shrugged. “A restaurant for Bandit actually makes sense, but for me? Starting the paper up again makes no sense. Especially since the town is so small. People would come from all over for Bandit’s cooking, but a paper? It’s silly.”
“The town is going to start growing now that the ranch is being revived. A paper would be great. You could talk about the history, why it’s a great place to live, showcase what Bear did to this farmhouse.” He paused a second. “We could start that orchard too. That could be a draw for people.”
It was sweet and wonderful and impossible. There was no way her heart could handle being around Wyatt every day and not get to be with him. She’d have front row seats to watch him date and fall in love with someone else, and it was more than she could handle. It was practically a nightmare to even think about it.
Bandit stood. “Y-y-you two keep talking. I’m g-g-gonna catch a few winks before I have to get d-d-dinner going.” With that, Bandit downed his hot chocolate and left.
Wyatt twisted in the seat to face Gabby. “I’m serious. I’d love to help you get the paper going again.
Gabby shook her head. “Wyatt, no. I’m going back to Charleston. You’re going back to the rodeo. That’s your first love. This other stuff would just get in your way.”
His shoulders sagged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
The silence stretched out between them, making the house feel eerily quiet.
Clearing his throat, Wyatt said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, an unreadable expression on his face. “You wouldn’t be disappointed in me if I quit, would you?”
“Bull riding?” If he was thinking of quitting, she’d be floored.
“Yeah,” he whispered.
Whoa. This was big. “You’ve always loved doing it. I can’t even picture you not on a bull, but I’d never be disappointed in you. No one would.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
A small smile quirked on his lips, and he covered her hand with his, making her skin tingle. His lips were too close and kissable. She tried to pull free, but he held on to her hand. “You came to all my events?”
Her expression softened. “I thought you needed someone there.”
He tilted his head as his eyebrows knitted together. “Then why didn’t you let me know you were there?”
Why? Because it wasn’t long after seeing him with all those girls that Lori stepped into the picture. For a while, Gabby held on to hope that he’d see she was just using him, but that never happened. They’d break up, and it felt like seconds later that they were back together.
The last event she went to, she’d found enough courage to tell him how she felt, only to find him lip-locked with Lori. They’d broken up, he’d said, for good, but there Lori was…all over him. It had broken her heart. That was the day Gabby had put feelers out for other colleges.
And then the final straw that sent her packing was the summer before her sophomore year…him asking Lori to marry him. But it was pointless to even talk about it.
“I…” She slipped from his grip and stood. “I should get to bed. So should you.”
He jumped up with her and took her by the arms. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Cripes. She needed to get some distance. “It’s water under the bridge.” This time when she pulled free, she took off for the stairs as quickly as she could, not stopping until she was in the safety of her room.
Crawling into bed, she curled on her side and quietly wished she’d stayed in Charleston. Nothing she said would make Wyatt see her any different. No, it was better for both of them if she kept her lips locked and her feelings to herself. As much as she tried to tell herself she was over Wyatt, she wasn’t.
New Year’s Eve. Not that far away at all. She could keep it together until then. Maybe.
Chapter 8
Continuously checking the clock wasn’t working for Wyatt. It was much like waiting for water to boil. The more he checked it, the longer it took for the girls to get back home. Surely, they’d be home any second. How much Black Friday shopping could they do? Were they buying the store?
He needed to talk to Gabby. After their middle-of-the-night conversation, he’d been desperate to find out why she’d run off. He’d spent all of Thanksgiving Day trying to get her alone so they could talk, but it seemed she was deliberately avoiding him. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what he’d done to make her bolt like that.
After all this time, he’d found out she’d been to all his events, even the one in Arkansas. Why hadn’t she ever let him know? It would have made his day to know family was with him. She’d looked so…upset when he’d asked her about it. Her lips had turned down, and there was a sadness to her voice he’d never heard before. It made no sense to him.
When the sound of his mom’s diesel Excursion rumbled outside, he couldn’t get to the door fast enough. They’d taken it to make sure they had enough room for everything. He couldn’t imagine them needing all that room, but again, women were strange creatures. They did things all the time that baffled him.
He grabbed his coat from the hook and pushed his arms through the sleeves as he jogged down the front steps and stopped next to Gabby. “Did ya’ll have fun?”
“Yeah, I had fun,” Gabby said through a yawn as she got out of the car.
“I can help bring in stuff,” he offered.
Carrie Anne bounced over to him and hugged his bicep. “That’s very sweet, big brother, but then you’d see your gifts. You’ll ruin the surprise.”
A grin stretched on his lips. “I won’t peek.”
His sister eyed him. “You’re as bad as Josiah when it comes to sneaking and peeking.”
He chuckled. “I’ll be good this time, Scout’s honor.”
Carrie Anne shook her head. “We’ve got it.”
He looked at Gabby. “You trust me, doncha?”
She hugged herself. “Not with presents.”
His mouth dropped open. “Where is the love, people?”
The back of the SUV opened, and his mom peeked from around the back. “Wyatt, go on in the house. We’ve got this.”
Wyatt scoffed. “Aw, you don’t trust me either?”
“Not as far as I can throw you. Get!” She pointed at the house.
His sister took Gabby’s hand. “We’ll get yours too if you want to go lie down.”
He turned his attention to Gabby. “Is something wrong?”
Stephanie walked up to them and stopped. “It got hot in the car, and she’s been a little sick to her stomach.”
“I can manage my own bags,” Gabby said.
Now that Wyatt was really paying attention, her color was off, and her eyes weren’t nearly as bright as usual. Unlike when he picked her up from the airport, she’d probably forgotten to take something for her carsickness this time. It bothered him that she wasn’t feeling good. “I can get you something fizzy. It would probably help your stomach.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll be okay. I’m feeling better.”
“I owe you for that time I had my tonsils out.”
Carrie Anne looked from Gabby to Wyatt. “What time?”
“Right after twelfth grade. Remember? I kept getting strep.”
His sister’s eyebrows knitted together. “Oh, right. I’d gone to camp. Gabby and I went every summer. I hadn’t remembered t
he excuse…but she didn’t go that year.”
All Wyatt could remember was that she’d kept him company after his surgery. It hadn’t even dawned on him at the time that she should’ve been at camp. “You were supposed to go to camp that week?”
“Um…I…” Gabby set her hand over her stomach. “I’m going to lie down so I can rest before we put the tree up. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Wait…” He started to go after her, when Carrie Anne held him back. Returning his attention to her, he scrunched his eyebrows together. “Why didn’t you let me go after her?”
“Because I have a few questions for you.”
“Couldn’t they wait until I see if she’s okay?” His voice rose an octave on the last word.
His sister dropped her hands from his bicep and crossed her arms over her chest. “Wyatt, you are about as thick as they come, so I’m going to use small words and talk slowly, okay?”
“I’m not stupid.” Carrie Anne was frustrating the tar out of him. All this talk of him being dumb and thick. He was no such thing.
“How many times did Gabby and I go to camp?”
Shrugging he said, “I dunno, every year since the moment you were old enough.”
“Okay, and each time we went, we came back and we were…” She let the sentence travel off as she waved her hand, indicating she was waiting for him to finish the sentence.
“You loved it.”
“So…Gabby misses a camp that she’s gone to year after year, something she loves, to stay here…and what does she do that week instead?”
His sister was reading way too much into things. “Her parents had planned a trip, and it fell through. They’d forgotten it was camp week when they planned it.”
Carrie Anne palmed her forehead as she sighed. “Oh, Wyatt…what am I going to do with you?”
“Carrie Anne, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Gabby is like a sister to me. We’re just good friends. That’s all. She hung out with me that week because Mom didn’t want to leave me alone. I mean, I sure wasn’t anything exciting.”
“Oh my stars.” She dropped her hand from her forehead. “She likes you, Wyatt. She has since we were kids. I’ve never said anything before this because I thought you’d eventually figure it out.”
He set his hands on his hips and cast his gaze to the ground. “You’re reading way too much into this. Gabby doesn’t think of me like that.”
“Except, she does. Why else would she go to all your events?”
“Because that’s what friends do. Friends who are more like family. You support each other.”
With another big sigh as she shook her head, she said, “That’s true, but have you asked yourself why she went to all your rodeo events but didn’t even let you know she was there?”
No, he’d not figured that out. He’d wanted to, but how could he when he could never get Gabby alone? “Not yet. Do you know?”
Carrie Anne held his gaze. “Because each time after you rode, she’d go looking for you, only to find girls hanging all over you.”
“What does that have to do with her never letting me know she was there?”
His sister threw her hands up. “You’re hopeless.” She turned to walk away and stopped. “One of these days, you’re going to figure out the real answer to that question, and she’ll have moved on. You’re going to wake up one day and realize you’ve lost her. You should spend some time simmering on that thought for a bit.” With that, she walked to the back of the car to unload gifts, leaving Wyatt with a lot to think about.
Lose Gabby? That wasn’t possible. They were family. Her meeting someone wouldn’t change that. Although, now that he was really chewing on it, it bugged him. A lot more than he cared to admit. Gabby with another man? The thought made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. She had said she was supposedly dating someone in Charleston, but Carrie Anne talked like it wasn’t true.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Why was he even going down that road? Carrie Anne and her meddling. That was all this was. She just didn’t understand the nature of his friendship with Gabby. They’d always been there for each other. That’s the way they operated.
Frustrated, he grumbled as he strode back inside the house. Gabby’s laughter filtered from the kitchen, and curiosity propelled him to find the source of it. At the entry, he froze.
Gabby was giggling like a schoolgirl, and Bandit had a huge smile on his face. She touched his arm, and he pulled her into a hug. “Oh, s-s-sweetheart, I m-m-missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
Bandit leaned back, kissed her on the forehead, and hugged her again. “You c-c-can’t stay gone so l-l-long this time.”
Wyatt cast his gaze to the floor, feeling like he’d walked in on something he wasn’t supposed to see. Was there something going on between Gabby and Bandit? And why did it bug him to even think about it? It made him even more frustrated with Carrie Anne.
Lifting his gaze, he cleared his throat, and Gabby and Bandit looked over at him. “Hey, W-W-Wyatt,” Bandit said.
“Hey. I thought you weren’t feeling good.” Wyatt directed the question to Gabby.
“I was just getting something to drink before I went to my room.”
He held her gaze. “I think you were doing more than getting a drink.” Where had that come from, and why was he suddenly mad?
Her eyebrows knitted together. “And if I was, what business is it of yours? I don’t answer to you. I’m just a family friend, right?” She looked at Bandit. “Thank you for the drink.” She kissed his cheek and stormed past Wyatt. Her footsteps could be heard all the way to her room.
Bandit lifted an eyebrow. “S-s-something wrong, Wyatt?”
“No,” he huffed. “Nothing’s wrong. Just…I didn’t know you two were an item.”
“You didn’t?” Carrie Anne asked.
He’d been so caught up in watching Bandit and Gabby that he hadn’t heard Carrie Anne come inside. Turning to her, he said, “They’re an item?” Hadn’t she just made a big deal about Gabby liking him? “I thought she was dating a guy named Tim.”
“She told me they’d just started talking.” Carrie Anne shrugged. “If you snooze, you lose, big brother. I told you that outside. I guess I just didn’t realize how serious they were.”
Wyatt’s stomach dropped to his boots. “You got me all twisted up. I told you Gabby was family, and this just proves it.” Heat rushed up his neck to the tips of his ears.
“Then why are you so mad?” She smiled as she tilted her head.
“I’m not. I’m perfectly fine.” He swore under his breath. His sister was pushing every button he had. It was just like her, too. She’d done it all the time when they were kids. “I’m going to my room. You’re just…just…” He waved her off and stormed to his room.
He stopped as he shut his bedroom door, fuming. He wasn’t mad that Gabby and Bandit were together. He was mad that no one told him. That Carrie Anne was making him think all sorts of things that obviously weren’t true.
Wyatt shook his head, crossed the room, and put his head in his hands as he sat on the edge of his bed. You’re going to wake up one day and realize you’ve lost her. Carrie Anne’s words floated to mind. Would he be upset if Gabby found someone to love? A someone that wasn’t him?
A few minutes ago, he’d had a solid answer, but now he wasn’t so sure. It was all his sister’s fault that he was so mixed up. What could he do? Or the better question was, what was he going to do? His career, his love life, and everything in between seemed so out of control lately. Coming home was supposed to help, not further complicate things.
Dropping back on the bed, he slammed his fist down on the mattress and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know what to do. If anyone’s listening, I sure could use some help.”
Wyatt sure hoped someone was listening because he needed a heaping dose of help, and now. His world was getting more and more confusing. His problems were turning into round holes,
and all he had were square pegs. If something didn’t find a way to fit and soon, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
Chapter 9
“Go away, Wyatt!” Gabby yelled through her bedroom door as she leaned against it. What right did he have to question who she spent time with?
“It’s Carrie Anne.”
Could she have just one break? Just one where she wasn’t feeling like a ship being thrown against rocks. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, you do,” Carrie Anne said softly. “My brother has a brain the size of a walnut, and it’s half-cracked.”
After crossing the room, Gabby crawled onto her bed and curled her legs under her. “No, I don’t.”
Carrie Anne entered the room and sat beside Gabby on the bed. “He was jealous.”
Of course, Gabby’s heart wanted to believe that. He’d sure looked jealous. He’d been red-faced when she stormed away, but her head knew the score. She’d learned long ago that reading into Wyatt’s actions or words often led to disappointment.
“He was caught off guard. He knows good and well that Bandit and I aren’t an item. I love the guy, but there’s no spark there at all. Believe me, I wish there was.” Gabby grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her.
“I understand not wanting to get your hopes up, but he was absolutely beside himself. He was not okay with the idea that you and Bandit might be together.” Carrie Anne paused and chewed her lip.
It was a Carrie Anne tell. That look was the one she made when she’d done something she shouldn’t have. “What? What did you do?”
The silence stretched until Gabby couldn’t stand it. “Carrie Anne, what did you do?”
“I told Wyatt you liked him.”
Gabby’s lips parted in a gasp. “You didn’t.”
Nodding, Carrie Anne winced. “He needed to know. I love my brother, but that boy could wave a red flag in front of a bull and wonder why it charged him. He’s not dumb, just wholly and completely clueless.”
A laugh popped out of Gabby. It was true. Wyatt was adorably goofy sometimes. Not that he was trying to be. He just…sometimes, he could hit a tree and wonder how that forest got there. “Okay, so you might be right about that.”
The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother (Caprock Canyon Romance Book 1) Page 6