“Well?” she asked, pausing a beat before adding, “You thought I’d never date, didn’t you? When I left for South Carolina, you’d asked Lori to marry you. Did you think you were the only one allowed to have a future with someone?”
“No, and…”
“I’m not the same little girl you teased as a kid.”
“I know that,” he huffed.
Of all the things that were true, that was the truest. Gabby was very much a grown woman. Not just gorgeous, but someone he enjoyed being with, kid sister’s best friend or not. And despite his effort to ignore what his sister had said, he’d been simmering on her words more that he liked to admit. Especially sitting this close to Gabby. He was most definitely not seeing her as a little kid. Not by a long shot.
He took a deep breath. “No, of all the people in the world, you deserve to be happy. If Bandit gives you that, then I’m all for it.” That’s what his lips said, but for the first time since coming home, his heart and his head were on the same page. Wyatt wanted Gabby to be happy…but with him.
The thought slammed into his chest like a battering ram, hitting with such a force, he was winded. Too late…whispered in the back of his mind again. He didn’t want to be that guy, but the idea of losing Gabby ate him up.
What was he going to do now? She was dating his friend. A guy that was more family than anything. Trying to come between Bandit and Gabby would be like stabbing a brother in the back. It wasn’t honorable. It wasn’t right. How could he fix all this?
“I’m sorry, Gabby,” he said and took her hand. “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that or to make you mad.”
Squeezing his hand, she smiled. “I know. Bandit and I have just started talking. That’s it. I enjoy his company.”
Man, that hurt Wyatt’s heart to hear. Not that she was happy, but that she was happy with another man. A guy that he respected and thought of as a brother. But they were only talking. That was good news, right?
“I thought you were dating Tim, anyway.” He raised an eyebrow.
A pink blush swept over Gabby’s cheeks, and she bit her lip. “There is no Tim. I had to do something to try to tamp down Carrie Anne’s meddling in my love life.” She sighed. “She thinks she needs to find everyone’s love since she’s found hers.”
Wyatt laughed. “Tell me about it. She just can’t help herself.”
They were quiet for a few more minutes before he broke the silence.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me you were at my events?” He glanced at her, watching for her expression.
She blinked, and her lips parted.
“I want the truth.”
Twisting in the seat, she faced forward again. “I think that’s water under the bridge.”
The house belonging to the orchard came into view, and he slowed the pickup down. “Well, that bridge is rickety and can’t hold any weight. I want to know why.”
She turned away from him. “Because every time I came to say hi, you had girls all over you.”
Wyatt parked the truck in front of the house and cut the engine. “Why would that have stopped you? They were just…girls. You’re family. That’s always been more important.”
With a small nod of her head, she replied softly, “Yeah, you’re right. I should have let you know.” She cleared her throat. “We should probably check out the orchard. Bandit and I have plans tonight.” She quickly opened the door and jumped out of the truck.
Why did it sound like she was on the verge of tears? All he’d done was ask a simple question. There was no need to be upset about it.
He shook his head. He was probably reading too much into it. Carrie Anne clearly didn’t know what she was talking about anyway.
He got out of the pickup and joined Gabby at the front. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” He pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I just…I wish I’d known. What I was trying to say was that you’re more important than a bunch of girls.”
“It’s okay. I can be too sensitive sometimes.” She set her forehead against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry too.” She looked up at him.
His heart skipped a beat and then hit marathon speed. He liked the feel of her in his arms. While they might not have been completely joined at the hip as kids, they were good friends. There had been a few times he’d gone looking for Carrie Anne, only to catch Gabby instead. She’d given him girl advice every so often.
Then there was the time he’d had his tonsils out when she’d stayed with him that whole week. At the time, he thought nothing of it. With the revelation that Gabby had skipped a summer camp she loved in order to be with him, it changed how he saw their entire history. On the surface, he’d always thought of her as family, but digging a little deeper…he was seeing that things weren’t as black and white now.
Gabby dropped her arms and stepped back. “I guess we should check out the house.”
He nodded, but his thoughts were jumbled. His whole world had been flipped on its head, and he didn’t know how to right it. All these feelings were probably off anyway. Carrie Anne had planted seeds of doubt, and his mind was letting them grow. That made more sense than anything.
Turning, he faced the house and shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to concentrate on why they were at the orchard. Now that his attention was focused on the house, a rush of excitement hit him as his mind began going a million miles a minute. Lately, bull riding didn’t even give him this feeling.
This place was full of potential, and he was sure Bear would let them buy this part of the ranch from him. It would take a ton of work, but there was a full-color picture of the finished product playing in his mind like a big screen at a drive-in. A little blood, a lot of sweat, and a bucket of tears, and this old house could be a fantastic place to hang his hat. He and Gabby could make this happen, just like they’d talked about years before.
Chapter 11
As Gabby rubbed her arms, she studied the house while trying to squelch the ache in her heart. Family. Even after talking about her not being a little kid anymore. He still didn’t think of her as anything else. If she thought actually spelling it out would help, she would, but not with the puzzled way he’d looked at her when she’d mentioned all the girls hanging on him. What would be the point?
She felt Wyatt’s presence next to her and stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Boy, it sure is a mess.”
“Yeah, the years haven’t been kind to it.”
“Nope.”
The one-story ranch-style home had been beautiful…at one point. It was mostly brick, with chipped white paint accents. The wrap-around porch, railing, and steps had been stained at one point, but now they were weathered. The roof was missing half its shingles, leading Gabby to think the interior was a mess. Restoring this home would be a serious project.
Why was she even considering it? A project with a man who only thought of her as family would be torture. Besides, all those talks about an orchard were just ramblings of a lovesick girl and a tonsil-less guy.
“Wanna check out the inside?” Gabby smiled and looked at him. “I hope the bones are still good, but I’m not holding my breath.”
Nodding, his gaze roamed from one side of the house to the other and then landed on her. “Me either.”
She nearly gulped. To her, he was the best-looking guy no matter who was in the room, but today he’d somehow managed to crank that up a notch. The way his jacket collar was pulled up, framing his jaw with his dark blue button-up check shirt peeking out, he was breathtaking.
“Okay, let’s check it out.” She pulled her gaze from his and tucked her head down as she reached the steps leading to the house.
Two steps up, she heard a snap before her boot went through it. Waving her arms wildly, she tried to keep herself from falling; the next thing she knew, Wyatt’s arms were around her.
“Whoa,” he said, holding her to him. “I guess we’ll mark that on the to-do list.”
Her hammering hea
rt and shaky nerves kept her from speaking, so she nodded.
He pulled her boot out of the step and set her on the ground. “Hey, it’s okay. Are you hurt?”
Part of her screamed to pretend it was broken so he’d have to carry her, but the more logical part won out. “I don’t think so. It hurts a little, but I think that’s just from my boot falling through.”
“You sure?” he asked as he kept his hold on her.
Stepping back, she nodded and said, “Yeah. At least you know what step to avoid.” She laughed, her nerves making her voice sound shaky.
Using his long legs, Wyatt stepped over the second step, onto the third, and then to the porch. He took a few tentative steps and then offered her his hand. “I think the porch is okay.”
Gabby took it, ignoring the tingles, and set her foot on the first step, letting him pull her up. “I should have been more careful.”
“Eh, it can happen to anybody.”
“I know, but I feel a little silly now.” Then she realized he was still holding her hand and pulled it free. “Time to see the house.” She took a few steps and tried the door.
It swung open, and sure enough, the ceiling was partially caved in. The large living room had once been painted a soft buttery yellow, but with rain getting in, it now had sheetrock peeling off. Several planks of the wood floor were curled up.
Shaking her head, she said, “Oh, wow. This is…” She took a deep breath. “A mess. This will take a while to fix.”
“Yeah, it sure will.”
“You think it’s safe to walk through the rest of the house?” She turned to face him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t think we should risk it. Let’s try the back door. Most of the roof damage looked to be concentrated in this room. Maybe it’s not so bad everywhere else.”
Gabby nodded, and they slowly made their way around the porch, checking the decking as they went. As they rounded the corner, they stopped. “Well, so far so good. At least the deck has held,” she said.
Wyatt nodded. “For the most part. Could be that step that broke was already weak from before the house was abandoned.”
They continued to the back door, which was standing wide-open with several inches of dirt acting as a brace to hold it in place.
Gabby sighed. “The back is almost as bad as the front, only with dirt instead of rain.”
Wyatt grumbled under his breath. “How did the door get open?”
“Who knows. Probably an animal or something.”
“Yeah, makes sense.” His lips turned down, and his brow creased. “At some point this was a really nice house, but it’s a wreck now. Wonder how many dust storms this place has seen.”
She laughed. “By the looks of this kitchen? A lot.”
Nodding, Wyatt inhaled and slowly let it out. By the sounds of it, they were both thinking it would need a lot of work.
They toured the rest of the house, and much like the kitchen, there was a layer of dirt on everything. The curtains were in shreds, and they found evidence of a nest in one of the bedroom closets. The bedroom nearest the living room was in the worst shape as the damage had spread to it because it shared a wall. The trim along that wall was warped, along with the floor. After surveying the rest of the home, they returned to the kitchen.
“So much work. It’ll basically need to be gutted, an electrician called out, and then put back together.” Gabby’s shoulders sagged. The dollar signs had added up to a point where she’d stopped calculating it. Even if she still had her job, there was no way she could help fix it up.
Wyatt sighed and nodded. “It would definitely need to be gutted, and that’s a good call about the electrician. There’s no telling what critters hid out in here or what they might have chewed on.”
“These cabinets might be salvageable, but I don’t know that anything else could be. And if that’s the case, would it be worth saving them?”
“It might.”
For a billionaire maybe. Sure, they’d talked about doing this when they were younger, but that was when they were kids. Not only were they ignorant about financing something like this, but they were equals at the time finance-wise. Fifty-fifty meant they contributed equally. If Wyatt was footing all the costs, it was no longer a partnership but a sole proprietorship.
Wyatt walked to the back door and stood there a second. “Let’s check out the trees. From what I could see from the truck, they’ll need pruning for sure.”
“I had the same thought,” she said, but the excitement waned with every dollar added to the project.
As they made their way to the first row of trees, he pointed out several that looked dead. “Those will need to be replaced.”
“Yeah, they’ve been neglected a long time. Overall, it’s not too bad.”
“I agree. Neglect is the issue. I think with some attention, they could be back in shape within a season or so.”
Gabby smiled. “Yeah.” She scanned the area. “It sure is pretty out here. I bet people would love to come here in the winter and take horse-drawn sleigh rides, drink hot cocoa, and enjoy the peace and quiet of the place.”
“With the amount of work needed to fix the house, there’s no reason it couldn’t be turned into a bed and breakfast. People could come, check out the ranch, and have a little slice of country.” The lines around his lips deepened as his smile widened. He glanced at her and winked. “The place isn’t perfect, but it sure could be.”
“I think so too, but…”
He turned to her, his gaze boring into her. “But what?”
She toed the ground. Should she tell him she was jobless? No, he wouldn’t care. “I can’t afford it even if we were being serious about starting the orchard project. I have a little in savings, but…” She motioned toward the house. “This is way more than what I’ve got.”
“I have the money. I’m not worried about that. Bear would be thrilled for us to be a part of the ranch. That’s what he’s wanted all along.”
Gabby held his gaze a second before shaking her head. “Wyatt, no. You may think it doesn’t matter now, but what about later? What if you begin to think that I only see you as a piggy bank?”
He set his hands on his hips. “I’d never think that.”
“You say that, but it only takes one little bit of doubt to ruin things. I can’t. I won’t.” She turned to walk away, and he grabbed her by the arm. “I need to get back.”
“I’m not done talking.”
The conversation was over as far as she was concerned, and she was cold.
“Well, I am,” she said, trying to free her arm. “I’m cold, and I want to go back to the house.”
“Fine, but this isn’t over.” He released her and stomped to his side of the pickup. Opening the door, he said, “You coming?”
The entire West clan was so stubborn. She marched to her side and got in. “Let’s go.”
Wyatt started the truck and gunned it a little to get the engine heating. “So, about this orchard. We—”
“I lost my job, Wyatt.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d blurted.
He stared at her a second. “What?”
She kept her gaze from meeting his. “I lost my job the day before I came here. I thought I was getting a promotion, but when I went to the meeting, they were letting me go. They’re going a new direction, and it’s out with the old and in with the new.”
“I’m sorry. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
She hugged herself. “I don’t know. Coming back home, no job. I felt like a failure.”
He was sorry. She’d spent four and a half years building a life in Charleston, only to fail. What if she went in with him and this failed too? It was only money now, but later…who knows what it’d be.
Scoffing, he said, “You aren’t. You never have been. You’ve always put your heart and soul into everything. You always worked to be the best at whatever you set your mind to. That’s why I always wanted advice from you. You always asked th
e questions most people didn’t think to ask.”
“Maybe, but maybe this is also a good thing.” Gabby waved him off, frustrated that she’d let that fact slip. “And besides that, you’re still bull riding. This is a lovely fantasy, but there’s no way it can be a reality. It was silly talk between two teenagers.”
“Yes, it can. Money isn’t the only thing that makes a partnership. It’s vision, determination, and hard work. Just because you don’t have the money doesn’t mean you can’t participate. You have other things that are just as valuable.”
Gabby lifted her gaze to his. “We need to get back, and there’s no point in talking about this, especially since you’re still bull riding.”
He swore under his breath, waited a beat, and then said, “I’m not.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Well, I am, but I can’t stay on eight seconds.”
“Why? Because of the accident?”
He scrubbed his face with his hands and nodded. “Yes, I’m…afraid. Every time I ride, all I can think about is getting trampled. I woke up after the accident in more pain than I’d ever experienced. I panic.”
Her Wyatt…frightened? No confidence? She couldn’t even picture it. Was that why he’d snapped at her that first day? He was ashamed to admit he was scared of getting hurt again? Gabby had never heard him talk like this before. When she didn’t say anything, he continued.
“See? I’m worthless. I’ve been living on ramen noodles and cheap frozen meals because I want to earn my keep. That lottery money is still just sitting in the bank, doing nothing.”
She moved closer to him, laying her palm on his chest. “Oh, Wyatt, no. That’s not true. You’re worth more than an eight-second ride. Is that why you’re wanting to fix this house up?”
He shrugged. “I thought maybe it would make me feel useful.” His voice was low and thick.
She lifted her hand and palmed his cheek. “Your worth is not tied to this house, bull riding, or anything else. You have value because of your heart. You’ve always stood up for the little guy. When Bear wasn’t around, you’d protect Bandit. Remember when Carrie Anne and I broke our arms? You’re the one who hugged us and whispered that everything would be okay.”
The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother (Caprock Canyon Romance Book 1) Page 8
