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“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.”
Chapter Nineteen
After a restless night of no sleep, Liberty got up the following morning and broke the news to her parents and Mimi that Jesse hadn’t come through. Corbin was taking the ranch. Daddy cussed a blue streak, Mama just sat there looking sad, and Mimi refused to believe it.
“I’m not giving up on Jesse,” she said. “He’ll fix it. You just hide and watch.”
Liberty had believed that too. She had put all her trust in Jesse. And he failed her. Last night, she’d been spitting mad at him. But after her temper cooled, she’d come to the realization that Jesse was only doing what she was doing: siding with his family.
“Jesse isn’t going to fix this, Mimi,” she said sadly. “Corbin is his family. We all know that family comes first.”
Mimi gave her a stern look. “Family isn’t just about blood, Libby Lou. Family is also about the folks who wiggle their way into our hearts without a trace of our blood. And I’d say we wiggled our way into Jesse’s heart as much as he wiggled his way into ours.”
Liberty couldn’t argue the point. She knew Jesse cared about them.
Just not enough.
After talking to her parents and Mimi, she’d texted the sister loop and called an emergency Holiday Secret Sisterhood Zoom meeting. Because the ranch still didn’t have Wi-Fi, she headed into town to Nothin’ But Muffins. Thankfully, the morning rush had already left and the place was empty except for Sheryl Ann who was baking tomorrow’s muffins in the back.
“So Jesse was in on everything from the get-go,” Sweetie said as soon as Liberty had finished relaying everything to her sisters. “I can’t believe it. He was so adamant about talking Corbin out of foreclosing on the ranch.”
“Well, if he lied about Corbin being his brother—or half brother,” Hallie said, “why wouldn’t he lie about wanting us to keep the ranch?”
Last night, Liberty had thought the same thing, but that had been her temper talking. This morning, she was thinking more clearly.
“I know Jesse. And I know he didn’t lie about wanting us to keep the ranch, Hal. But, just like we won’t go against what our sisters really want, he won’t go against what his sister wants.”
“So where does that leave us?” Noelle asked. As usual she was in the kitchen of her pastry school, scooping batter into a pan. But today she looked different. Hallie figured it out before Liberty did.
“What the hell did you do to your hair, Elle?”
