Chapter forty-four
Home is Wherever I’m With You
Quinn
The cool concrete kissedthe bottoms of my sore feet as I helped clean up. It was well past midnight, all the guests were gone, leaving our little crew once more. Well, minus Whit, who I hadn’t seen in a while. Something told me she was off somewhere with that older cowboy. We’d gained another cowboy though, the one who’d bought Hux’s painting—Reid. Turns out they were, like, best friends. They’d been almost inseparable since talking after the auction.
Ollie had already finished cleaning up the bar and was in the process of pulling all the table cloths off the tables and cleaning up any trash she came across.
“Hey,” I said, approaching her with a smile.
She glanced up at me, the thick blonde chunk of her hair falling into her eyes for a moment before she brushed it back off her face. “Hey. What’s up?”
“You did good tonight. Thank you again for saving my ass.”
She flashed me a confident grin. “Thanks for the opportunity.”
I started helping her clear the table she was working on, tossing whatever I could into the trash. “So, what are you going to do now?”
She rose to her full height, and even though she was maybe an inch or so taller than me, she had this larger than life air about her that made a shiver skitter down my spine. Blowing out an exhale, she shrugged. “Not sure. I’ll probably see if anywhere else is hiring in town. If not, I’ll probably start making my way up toward Dallas. Or I don’t know, Wyoming’s nice this time of year.”
“If you wanted, you could stay here,” I said, a bit hopeful. Her head cocked to the side in question, but I didn’t give her time to respond before I launched into the proposal I’d been planning in my head all night. “One of our hands just up and quit last week, and Hux will be taking on more responsibility with the ranch now, so we could use another hand. And hopefully soon I can start using your help for more events once we get that up and running.”
Ollie’s brows scrunched together, her lips pursing for a moment. “I don’t know much about horses. I’ve only ridden a couple times.”
“Something tells me you’d be a natural,” I huffed. “Besides, there’s more to this ranch than just the horses.”
Her mismatched gaze was full of contemplation, and each moment that ticked by had me more and more convinced she’dturn the offer down. Which was fair. But, I don’t know, I liked her, and I thought she would be a good fit here.
“You can stay in the other guest house too. That way you don’t have to be in the bunkhouse with the boys.”
She waved me off dismissively. “As long as I have a bed, I don’t care where I sleep.”
“So, is that a yes?” I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
Her lips pulled up into a lopsided smirk. “Sure.”
I smiled brightly back.
Hux had been right when he’d talked about making something nice out of a ugly situation. Tonight had opened up the doors for so many new opportunities. New friendships and some rekindled ones. New dreams, and the prospect of maybe a couple new relationships.
Overall, I was so happy and impressed with what we’d achieved. And above all else, thankful. I was eternally thankful for everyone who’d helped me make tonight magical
Iswear, I blinkedand two months flew by. So much had changed in that time.
I’d officially moved to Texas. Whit was in the process of finding a place to have her own salon and would likely be fully moved here after the holidays, which was her busy season. Huxand I were navigating through all the legal things we needed to do to get the therapy center up and running, while managing the new build on the property. I’d gotten quite a few inquiries about hosting and planning some events and weddings, which I was really excited about.
All in all, life felt pretty amazing at the moment.
Smoothing out my dress, I knocked on the door to Hux’s changing room. Reid’s team manager had been eager to make some calls and pull a few strings to get Hux one more ride. And at the PBR Teams Championship in Las Vegas, at that. Which I’d learned from having so many cowboys in my life now, was a pretty damn big deal.
It was a sold out show tonight, and even from down in the depths of the arena I could hear the rumble of the crowd and the echo of the music bouncing off the concrete walls.
Hux’s gruff, muffled voice called from the other side of the door, “It’s unlocked.”
I turned the handle and made my way in before shutting the door gently behind me. Leaning against it, I couldn’t help but admire him as he slid his left arm into a sky blue button up.
He’d been working out a ton in preparation for this. I’d thought that he was cut when I first met him, but now…dear God, he might as well have been sculpted from marble.
