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Since she buys it at wholesale prices, I just invoice her monthly, but she never gets it without me. So she’s avoiding me on purpose.
“Oh. You want me to get it for you? I was on my way—”
Before I can finish, we turn at tires speeding against gravel. Grandma Bishop’s Cadillac speeds up to the barn like a bat out of hell. I immediately think something’s happened when she storms out of the car and marches toward us with a newspaper.
“Just the two people I was hopin’ to see,” she says with anger in her eyes. “Y’all care to explain this to me?”
She shoves the Eldorado Gazelle in my hand, and I blink a couple of times as I narrow in on what she’s freaking out about.
It’s a picture of Harper and me from the conference. We’re cheek to cheek as we smile at the camera. That’s not the issue, though. It’s the fact our photo is under Engagement Announcements.
“Holy crap,” I breathe out, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“What?” Harper comes over and leans in, scanning her eyes down the page. “Oh my gosh…”
Grandma grabs Harper’s left hand and inspects it. “Where’s your ring?”
“No, no, no…this—” I try to explain, but my throat goes dry.
“You’re engaged and didn’t tell your family first?” Grandma scolds. “My phone’s been ringing all mornin’, so y’all better start explainin’.”
“We’re not,” I finally say. “This is just a prank.”
“A prank? A prank?” Grandma lifts a brow as she scowls.
“Y-yes. It’s probably one of my friends getting back at me,” Harper quickly confirms.
“Right,” I add. “She really got ya good.”
I force a laugh.
“Hmph.” Grandma yanks the paper from my grip as if she’s not buying it. “Y’all better fix this because it’s already the talk of the town.”
“We will,” I promise, knowing we’re in a world of trouble.
She angrily storms to her car then speeds away.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your grandma that mad,” Harper whispers. “She hates me.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“This has to be Shayla’s doing. Why else would she do this, other than to get under my skin? Especially after the way we called her out at the dinner.” Harper’s face goes red with anger. “And I can’t even do anything about it because if I say something, she’ll know it was a lie.”
“My guess is she already does. Probably why she did it,” I admit.
“Well, I’m not gonna give her the satisfaction.”
“We should probably contact the newspaper and have them run a disclaimer that the announcement was false.” I shrug. “That’s about all we can do besides telling everyone what we told Grandma.”
Harper blows out a frustrated breath. “Okay. Thank you. And I’m sorry.”
I want to ask her why she’s apologizing, why she’s avoiding me, why she’s being this way when she’s the one who said she didn’t want anything to change between us. But instead, I give her a nod and walk away.
That night, I do something I haven’t in months and meet my cousins at the pub. It’s family-owned, and I used to bartend here during school breaks and in the summer. It’s mostly low-key, which is nice when you need to lick your wounds.
After the newspaper announcement, everyone’s been giving me shit, and of course, my sister gave me her two cents.
Elizabeth: Well, that blew up in your face.
Ethan: Thanks. I hadn’t noticed.
Elizabeth: Sorry, bro. You need anything?
Ethan: Nah. But thanks.
That’s when I decided I’d rather drink the night away instead of thinking about it. For the past week, that’s all I’ve done. I keep replaying our night and the morning after, wondering what would’ve happened had I told her I couldn’t go back to being just friends. I’m mentally and emotionally exhausted.
Grayson, the twins, and Payton are talking at the bar. I’m half listening, too broken to give a shit about what they’re saying. It’s not until I hear the words “Is Harper really single?” from Luke’s mouth that has me paying attention.
“Because if she is, I’m gonna ask her out. She was totally flirting with me the other day,” he continues.
“Not sure that’s a good idea,” Kane tells him, looking over his shoulder at me. “She doesn’t date ranch hands,” he adds.
“Why not?” Luke acts like he’s offended. “She too good for a cowboy?”
Knox snort-laughs, shaking his head. “Nah. You’re just not the cowboy she wants. Ain’t that right, Ethan?”
They turn their heads toward me.
“Wrong actually.” I shrug, then take a sip of my beer. She doesn’t want me either.
“Then that’s it. I’m askin’ her tomorrow,” Luke states confidently. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
I could kick your fucking ass.
Knowing I’ll do some stupid shit if he keeps talking about her, I decide to contribute to the conversation. “Actually, I think Hadleigh’s interested. I’ve been watchin’ the way she looks at you.”
“Really?” Luke’s voice rises. What a fucking sissy.
