Page 53 of Hometown Hottie

26

CARSON

Before we headed out for the weekend, Vance and I went to the Murphy ranch. We were packed and ready, but we’d wanted to talk to Ryan before we left.

“You know it’s unlikely that he’s going to allow you to help like this, right?” Vance asked as we pulled up next to Ryan’s place. “I know you two were like brothers at one point and I realize that you feel like you have to help, but this might not be the way to go about doing it.”

“Maybe not, but no one has given me any better ideas. It’s time to take the bull by the horns or bow out.”

“Since when is Ryan a bull?” Vance smirked at me. “Although I guess you’ve gotten to know a whole different side of him since you fell for his sister.”

I scoffed. “This has nothing to do with Nova.”

He made a sound of disbelief but left it at that since Ryan had just walked out. He stopped on the porch of his house and frowned when he saw the two of us sitting in a truck outside. He pulled off the work gloves he’d been wearing, then cocked his head at us as we climbed out.

“Boys. It’s good to see you, as always, but am I missing something? Was I supposed to meet you?”

Vance slid his hands into his pockets, hanging back to give me the floor as he grinned like a loon who was excited for the show he was about to see. I cleared my throat, gesturing toward the shed I’d seen him glance at when he’d walked out.

“Anything in there we can help you with?”

His head inclined further. “You came out to help me with chores?”

“Sure.” At least this way, he’d have no choice but to talk to me. “You got anything for me?”

He snorted in an attempt to hold back laughter. “Always. I’m not about to turn down a couple extra pairs of hands, but why did you bring Vance?”

“Hey,” he protested, finally shuffling forward. “I have hands.”

Ryan glanced at him with an amused expression. “Yeah, you do, but you and I both know Carson came here to talk to me about the offer he made my sister. Did he drag you with him for moral support?”

“Nope, but we’re leaving for the weekend when we’re done here and I want to get on the road as fast as we can. Why waste good drinking time on not drinking?”

“You never change.” Ryan chuckled, starting toward the shed and not waiting for me to follow. He already knew I would. “So, you really spoke to Nova about the situation on the ranch instead of me, huh?”

“It was kind of hard not to, considering that I got home to find her about to have dinner with my mom,” I said. “Did she tell you that I didn’t know this was one of the properties Frank wanted to show me?”

“She sure did,” he replied, taking all of this a lot more calmly than I’d thought he might. “The guy is a snake. If it’d been anyone else, I’d have thought that maybe you were bullshitting, but with Frank, I completely believe that he’d try selling off pieces of a property he doesn’t have the right to sell.”

“Yeah, well. He’s a developer. He knows you’ve got prime property here, and unfortunately, he also knows that you’re going to have trouble hanging onto it if something doesn’t change soon. That’s any developer’s wet dream.”

Ryan exhaled through his nostrils before he shrugged. “Yeah. I fucking love this town, but sometimes, I wish it was just a little bit bigger. It’s pretty damn inconvenient having everyone in our business all the damn time.”

“It’s only because everyone around here loves you,” I said. “They care about your family and people talk about those they care about.”

“They also talk about those who’re having a tough time while they sit and watch how it plays out,” he said. “I appreciate you coming out here to clear the air, but you should know that I’m not mad at you. Hell, I even considered taking you up on the offer for a minute there.”

I stopped moving completely, my eyebrows jumping up. My mouth dropped open and my heart started pounding. “You did?”

“Yep.” He handed over a shovel from the shed. “Thing is, Carson, I don’t want a handout. If you really want me to even consider this, it’s got to be on the condition that Nova and I pay you back once we turn things around.”

“I just want to help, and this way, at least Nova gets to keep her house and her bakery. You don’t have to pay me back.”

He shook his head. “We know we don’t have to, but we want to, and again, if you really want to help, it’ll be a loan, not a gift.”

“How about we make it a gift, and if you want to, you can push all the profit you would’ve given me back into the ranch and name a barn after me or something? Or maybe buy me a herd of⁠—”

“Nope.” He strode toward me with his own shovel now in his hand, his jaw set and his expression firm. “Don’t argue with me about this, okay? I know you want to help and I don’t really know the words I need to thank you for it, but we’re not a charity.”