Page 81 of Hometown Hottie

In the kitchen at the bakery, I was putting the finishing touches on a few wedding cakes for next week. This was the first year I’d expanded my services to include weddings, and it was killing me. I wished I could hire a second, or even a third, assistant to help me out, but all of my income was going back into the ranch to keep it afloat.

Which meant I had to grit my teeth and get this done. No one was coming to save me. Wiping my brow, I added a few shards of tempered chocolate to the top of the first cake going out and tried my best not to get overwhelmed by the amount of detail that still had to go into it.

When the door swung open, I sent up a quiet prayer that Cassidy had somehow felt my desperation and had come to offer her assistance, but it wasn’t her. My brother strode into the kitchen instead, filthy from having been out in the field all day. My spine snapped straight.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

At the same time, I jutted a hand back toward the door. “Nope. You can’t come in here looking like that. Get out and I’ll meet you out back.”

He exhaled harshly and pretended to be offended. “Fine. Jeez. It’s not like I was going to get dirt all over the cakes.”

“These things are so delicate, they might get dirty if you so much as look at them. Get out. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Ryan chuckled but saluted me and left, and I turned back to the cake I’d been busy with, my heart pounding as I held my breath, waiting to make sure it had survived the encounter. When it didn’t suddenly collapse or melt, I heaved out a sigh of relief and quickly stowed it away in the freezer before going to meet my brother.

He was leaning against the back wall of the building, his features forlorn as he stared at the mountains in the distance. My heart lurched and flopped around in my chest like a dying fish.

Something’s wrong.

“What is it?” I asked.

He turned to look at me, defeat and remorse in his eyes as he shook his head. “Dad has been dragging his feet about making the sale to Carson, and Frank showed up at their house today. He pitched an offer from a developer for twice as much money. I think this is it, Nova. I think we’re going to lose the ranch.”

I blinked hard, my entire soul freezing over as I stared at him in silence, unable to breathe, speak, or even think. “No.”

“Yes,” he said gently, pushing away from the wall and striding over to put his hands on my shoulders. “I know this is a huge blow, but there’s nothing else we can do. If Dad decides to take this offer⁠—”

“Carson will match it,” I said immediately. “We can call him. We can⁠—”

“We can’t,” he countered patiently. “We can’t ask this of him, Nova. It’s completely out of the question. It’s too much. We’re going to have to cut our losses and hope⁠—”

“No,” I said firmly, my head shaking hard and fast. “No, we can’t do that. I’ll speak to him. I’ll ask. You don’t have to do it. We’ll pay him back.”

Ryan squeezed my shoulders tenderly, his eyes softening as he bent his knees to look directly into mine. “Is this really what you wanted to do with your life, being tied to this place and always struggling to keep our heads above water?”

My eyebrows mashed together, my heart still feeling like it was in the throes of death. “What are you talking about? How could you even ask me that?”

“Just think about it,” he said, gentle but insistent. “Dad’s getting old, Nova, and it’s starting to show. He’s better off retiring. I can start a contracting business and you’d get to start all over. The bakery would do so well in town and you’d be able to hire the extra help you need.”

My throat suddenly felt like it was closing up as my emotions got the better of me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from him. I’d always imagined our whole family growing up and old here, my kids running between my house and my parents’ place all day, every day.

I knew for a fact that Ryan wanted that too, so what the hell was he thinking? He didn’t want to leave. Maybe he did want to start a contracting business, but there was nothing preventing him from doing it right here.

“This is our home, Ryan. We need to fight for it.” Both of us loved this ranch, and if it were totally up to us, it would be a booming business with an event venue and the works. He and I could make it into that if given the chance, but we’d never get it if he gave up.

He stared deeply into my eyes, and I could see the pity in his expression. “Don’t get your hopes up, little sister. I think we need to be realistic about this.”

“I am being realistic,” I snapped as I took a step back. “I’ll talk to Carson about it if you don’t want to, but he’ll do it, Ryan. He’ll do it and we’ll pay him back. That was the deal, right?”

“I’ve already told him, Nova,” Ryan said in a hushed voice, sounding pained as he broke my heart. Again. “He already knows there’s another offer on the ranch and he said to tell Dad that his offer is still on the table, but that’s it. He didn’t say he’d buy the whole place outright.”

Surprise rattled through me. My feelings for Carson had definitely distracted me from the issue at hand, but I could lose my home and my bakery if he couldn’t, or didn’t, want to help, or if Ryan wouldn’t allow him to. I couldn’t let that happen.

It was time for me to step up and I planted my hands on my hips, lifting my eyebrows at my brother. “Did you ask him to buy the ranch outright, or did you just wait for him to offer?”

“We can’t ask him to⁠—”

“Maybe you can’t, but I can.” I started walking backward, shaking my head at him as I held his gaze. “I’m done letting the boys handle all of this. I’ll see you later.”