Page 79 of Hometown Hottie

38

CARSON

Football camp was awesome. I was surprised by how much I liked helping the new generation hone their skills. As a kid myself, I’d often felt a bit of pity for the coaches. Despite how deeply I respected them, I had wondered how they’d ended up coaching instead of playing.

I guess now I know.

I had done my playing, but I still loved the game and this was an incredibly satisfying way of remaining part of it. Grinning, I jogged off the field and waved at a few of the boys who were taking off after the day. I made my way to my truck, only for the grin to fade when I saw Ryan waiting for me.

My friend looked disheveled, his dark hair sticking up in all directions and his features resigned, like the life had been sucked right out of him. My heart constricted and I frowned, kicking my pace up to close the distance between us faster.

“Ryan, what happened?”

He pushed away from my truck and sighed. “I just wanted to let you know in person that things have changed. My parents are considering another offer for the ranch as a whole, and I think they’re likely going to take it.”

“Shit,” I breathed, all the air in my lungs suddenly gone.

Ryan grimaced as he nodded. “I wanted you to hear it from me before word gets out. They only told me about it this morning, but it’s a good offer and they wanted me to know that they’re giving it some real thought.”

“I’m sorry, Ry.” I shook my head, rocking back on my heels as my mind raced. “Do you think I should counter? Would that help? At this point, I’m not sure what else to do.”

“It’s a lot of money, Carson. I appreciate that you want to help, but this goes way beyond what we talked about. It’s in my parents’ hands now. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, feeling defeated. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he was feeling, and Nova had to be devastated. “You’re sure there’s nothing else I can do?”

He blew out a heavy breath. “We’ve just got to let this thing run its course, man. Dad knows exactly how Nova and I feel about it, and he and Mom aren’t fully convinced that they’re ready to say goodbye to the ranch, but it’s a numbers game now and they need to make a decision they can live with.”

“Tell them that my offer is still on the table,” I said, needing to make sure that they knew I wasn’t just going to walk away.

George and Mara both liked me, but this was serious business that went beyond my relationship with their family. Like Ryan had said, they had to make a decision they could live with and it might be easier for them to sell the ranch as a whole than to cut it into pieces and sell one of those to me.

I’d wanted to help, but I couldn’t push this issue too much. Not if there was another good offer on the table. It was their family property and they needed to do whatever was right for them.

“Thanks, man,” Ryan said. “I’ll let them know, but you may want to prepare yourself for them to turn it down.”

“Whatever happens, at least we’ll know we tried,” I said, moving around him to the driver’s door of my truck.

Ryan nodded and sent me a wave before he walked away, but he hadn’t gotten more than a few steps before I called to him. “Wait!”

He turned, looking at me over his shoulder with a quizzical expression on his face. “What’s up?”

My heart pounded. I’d meant to tell him about Nova and me, but as I looked at him now and remembered the promise I’d made to her, I sighed and shook my head. “Do you want to go get a drink later?”

“I’ll let you know,” he said, a tired grin spreading on his lips. “It depends on what’s happening at home when I get there.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Keep in touch. Vance and I are meeting at the brewery at six if you’re interested in joining us.”

He checked his watch and nodded, then took off, leaving for real this time while I wondered if I should’ve just done it. Sure, I’d told Nova we could keep our relationship from him for now, but with every minute that went by, I felt more and more guilty about lying to him.

On the other hand, he had more than enough on his plate and this was hardly the time to add another huge weight. In the end, I climbed into my truck and headed home to grab a shower before I met up with Vance, all the while thinking about how Ryan had had the decency to come to me to tell me about the other offer.

He had wanted me to hear it from him in person, which made me feel even worse about what I was hiding from him. I knew he should hear it from me that Nova and I were together now, and the longer we waited, the higher the chances that he found out from someone else.

It was still weighing heavily on my mind when I walked into the brewery, joining Vance at the bar and nodding at the bartender to bring me a draft. As he filled up a glass from the tap, Vance turned to frown at me.

“You look like hell,” he said cheerfully. “Care to tell me what happened this time? Your life has more drama than a soap opera these days.”

I groaned and brought my head down to bang my forehead softly against the counter. “It’s not that bad, is it?”