I look up sponging off Bandit’s sweaty back to see Shayla walking toward me, arms crossed, a frown creasing her brow.
“Hey, slacker,” I say.
“I’m not a slacker.”
“I could have used a little help exercising these horses with Kayleigh off sick.”
Her shoulders tense up. “I’ve been helping Caleb with the financial stuff.”
I give her a long look. With all the Hollywood people on the ranch, Preston has been around way more than usual, and he’s been ‘helping’ Caleb with the money stuff. I highly doubt our older brother needs a second helper in that department.
“You know you’re going to have to hit the ring again eventually, Shay-Shay.” Barrel racing is her passion and always has been, and while she’s been hitting the trails occasionally, her avoidance of any performance training—especially involving barrels—since her accident last year is glaringly obvious.
“What I do with my time is none of your damn business. Besides, you’re the one causing all the drama around here lately. You know Jessa sent me a message with a bunch of links she saw online? She’s such a busybody. How’s it feelto be famous?” Of course her nosy best friend is all up in my business. Jessa has been a pain all our asses since we were in elementary school. Not enough excitement at her place I guess, so she spent way too much of her time at ours.
“Like shit. I actually thought we could make this work, but maybe I was delusional.” I rub the back of my neck. I know she’s just trying to distract me, but it still works. That’s the fun of siblings. When you’ve spent your lives together, you’re way too familiar with each other’s triggers.
She squeezes my shoulder in a rare show of affection. “Oh, brother, you’ve always been delusional. It’s one of your most charming features. For other people, I think.” She sighs, giving Bandit’s damp neck a pat. Without turning around, she says, “And I hate to say it, but I don’t think you were wrong about that. I’ve been watching you and her. Mostly because I didn’t trust either of you to make good choices. But from what I can see, she’s into you for real too, but she’s scared, and she doesn’t want to hurt you. And that’s something I can appreciate.”
I squint up at the sun, a little confused by this sudden about-face from my sister, who’s been very clear about her stance on the whole dating-a-celebrity thing. “Wait a second. Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
“What nonsense are you going on about now? I’m trying to be helpful.”
“Exactly. The last time you were nice to me was…I don’t know, maybe when I was in ninth grade and Travis Shepherd was being a dick to me.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. I’m just telling you what I’ve seen. Contrary to what you might think, I have had your best interests at heart, but you seemed to be doing just fine on your own, so I didn’t see any reason to meddle.”
I don’t know how true any of that is. She has butted into my business constantly over the years, just not so much recently. “So what exactly makes this situation so dire that you felt like you needed to step in?” I cluck to Bandit and start walking toward the far pasture. Shayla falls into step beside me.
“It just seems like you’re both into each other, and I do want you to be happy. If she’s the one that’s going to do that, then I guess I’ve gotta support it. But no one is going to be happy if you both walk around with your heads up your asses refusing to talk to each other. Cowboy up and deal with this.”
“How, exactly? She’s taking off for LA this afternoon. I can’t exactly follow her there.”
“Can’t you? What better way to prove to the press that you two are good than showing up on the red carpet next to her?”
I unlatch the gate, leading Bandit into the pasture before slipping his halter off. He launches himself away from me, kicking his heels in the air as he goes. You’d think he’d be tired after our ride, but apparently it was just a warmup for him.
Shayla is leaning over the fence with her arms propped on the top rail, watching the horse go, as I come back out.
“My delusional ways might be rubbing off on you. How do you figure I make that happen? You expect me to crash some fancy Hollywood thing?”
My sister turns around to face me. “Whatever they might say about you two doesn’t change the fact that you’re her boyfriend. You’re welcome there. We just need to get you on a plane, and I can handle that.”
There’s a gleeful whinny in the distance. Probably Bandit joining his buddies.
“I don’t think that’s it. I have to get a suit, probably a tuxedo. Get to the event, wherever it is, and then wish on a star that she doesn’t turn me away.”
“That’s the easy part. She’s not going to turn you away. And Sav is going too, she just decided to fly out tomorrow instead so she could film some extra scenes this afternoon. I already talked to her. You can stay at her place, and she’ll take you to the event. After that, it’s up to you.”
My arm freezes halfway to grabbing a hoof pick. I’ve seen Shayla and Savannah together a couple of times over the last month, but I had no idea they were this tight. Have I just been too wrapped up in my own stuff to notice what’s going on with my sister? “There are so many things wrong with this plan. A: Since when have you been on scheming terms with Savannah? B: How are you paying for a plane ticket for me? And a follow-up: why? And C: What makes you think you can go around organizing my life for me?”
“I’ve been hanging with Savannah for weeks, I’ve got a boatload of points saved up from traveling, and if not me, then who? Because you are apparently not doing a good job of it. Someone’s got to step in.”
At the back of my mind, I’m wondering if she’s sending me off on this wild adventure hoping I’ll fail and prove her right about Aura and me being destined for failure. But as annoying as she can be, I don’t think she’d really set me up like that. She’s much too protective.
“This is a lot. I’m going to need to think about it.”
She shrugs. “Don’t think about it for too long, flight leaves at nine a.m. tomorrow.” She walks away, and I just stand there, mouth hanging open, hand still hovering over the hoof pick.
