“No, but I’m willing to hear you out.”
“As you may have heard from Renn, we lost his mother, our head wrangler earlier this year to cancer.”
“Yes, it was tragic she died so young.I think I would have liked to have met Ms.Walker.”
“She would have liked you for more reasons than one.But what you may not know is we grew up together.And she helped establish the Dixon brand.We’d like to bring you on as our next-generation wrangler, in charge of breeding and horse stock.”
“What?”
“Now I know you have this vision for your Beautiful Beasts, and we want you to keep building that while you work with us exclusively.Once you’ve built your own stock you can sell to whoever you want, but in the interim you’ll help us continue with our brand.We’d of course like to purchase multiple rounds of stud services with Beast, and I’d like to hear more about that horse Maximus.I didn’t see him on your website?”
“I bought him recently at an estate sale.He’s a four-year-old Appaloosa.I just loved his demeanor.He’s fast and has the highest jumps of any horse I’ve ever ridden.”
“I think your instinct about horses is your brand, Ms.Sutton.Don’t ever doubt it.”
“If I were to work for you, my brand would instantly be linked to Dixon—we’d have a shared lineage.”
“Yes, but we would gain an exclusive on all new foals sired by the BB studs we’re under contract with.Is your goal to build your business on breeding sales, or sales on horses you breed and train?”
“My goal is to establish BB as a premier company for racing and show horses that I breed and train here, and eventually not need to pimp out any of my studs.”
“Then all the more reason to partner with us.”
“But how would that work?I’d need to live out on Dixon Ranch.”
“Yes, and you could bring your family.We have top-rated schools.”
Miranda looked out at the home and land she didn’t want to lose but held a lot of bad memories for her.Her mama left her here when she was young with a father who didn’t really love anyone more than himself.
“It doesn’t have to be forever.”
“The truth is I’ve always wanted to get out of this town, but have felt stuck on this land.You’re offering me a golden opportunity.”
“Your instinct with these horses has gotten you this far, but only you know what it’s telling you to do now.”
Miranda nodded and looked back at the woman who was smiling like she already knew what Miranda would do.
“Did Renn ask you to offer me this deal?”
“No, as much as I love that boy, this is a business.You’ve earned this offer on your own.You have the touch and the grit we need out at Dixon, for our next generation.”
Miranda swiped at the tears that fell, because having someone else in the business tell her how much they believed in her was the type of validation she hadn’t thought she’d ever find.
“I’ll need to talk to my family about this.It’s a big step.”
The woman held out her hand for Miranda to shake it.“I’ll be staying in town tonight at the inn.Why don’t we have dinner and we can finalize terms, if they agree.”
Miranda couldn’t believe what had just happened and if she had to guess she already knew what Jeremy and Sara would say.But if they moved to Duluth, which was just outside Atlanta, she’d only be a short drive to where Renn was living and playing for the Aces.That might be the hardest part, living so close to the one man she couldn’t have.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Renn
Media Darling
“Hey, brother, howhave you been enjoying your first few weeks as the latest star boy in sports news?”Levi said, over the constant sound of the smack of the ball in the Sandy Point batting cages.
Renn had just driven back into town for the weekend before the season started the following week.It’d been a crazy couple of weeks of constant paparazzi, media, and training.
