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I get the most fiendish delight thinking about what my mother would say if she knew the truth about Boone. I wonder if she'd still snidely refer to her as Boone-docks again?
Oh, that was so infuriating, even when I thought Boone was just a math-wiz from the country. She was anything but a hick.
My mother would also crap her pants if she had any idea what the "hoedown" is shaping up to be.
It's been a day since I arrived. Nearly as long since I've seen Adam.
Thankfully, Boone has kept me busy with showing me around the ranch and talking about her plans for the July 4th Barbecue. The Starr family has been hosting it for decades and this year, Boone has taken over and she wants to put her mark on things.
I love planning parties so this is the perfect distraction for me. Though I am still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact Boone’s family is uber-wealthy and the "farm" is a huge Montana spread. And what I thought was the county fair or some other community potluck is actually a huge party hosted here on the ranch. I shake my head and laugh to myself. That’s Boone for ya.
"What else are you going to be serving?" I ask.
"Well, that's where you come in." She strolls closer to me. "You know how to do all this sort of stuff and I don't. And I want this to be, well, classy. Like you."
My heart swells up with pride. Boone isn't one to flatter people, even if it's deserved, so her praise means a lot.
Though considering the things I've done with her brother, I'm not so sure she'd call me classy if she knew.
Stop it. Don't think about it. Don't talk about it. It will all go away.
That method has served my mother pretty well over the years, it ought to work for me too. Right?
Boone looks at me expectantly so I shake off thoughts of sucking her brother's cock and think about side dishes.
"Well," I say, "Do you want to go traditional with baked beans and cornbread? Or more modern with something like a Caprese salad and fruit kabobs? Maybe some salmon?"
"Oh, we can't have a BBQ without cornbread and beans, but yeah, I like your other ideas. But no salmon. Trout." She pulls her phone out of her pocket and starts dictating into it.
"Okay," she says when she's done. "Let's go. We have an appointment with the caterer this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll go to the bakery and the florist."
Boone takes off and I trot along to keep up. Her truck is parked near the front of the house. My rental car has been shuffled off to some mysterious part of the ranch so it's not in the way. There's a lot of activity here and it's not all tractors and horse drawn wagons.
We hop in the truck and make our way down the long driveway. I take the time to really look things over. It's a massive property. How many acres did Boone tell me? Sixty thousand?
My parents brag about their half-acre lot in a fancy Connecticut gated community. I think the area set up for the barbecue is twice as big as that.
"Thank you for inviting me, Boone."
We pass through the giant iron gates and get onto the road to town. "No need to thank me. You earned it."
"What?"
She sighs. "I know I grew up in this friendly little town, but as I got older, it was harder to know if people were nice to me because of me, or because of my family name. And money." She lowers her window to wave at a woman out in her yard. "Hello, Mrs. Murphy. Hope we'll see you on the Fourth!" The woman smiles broadly and nods her head.
"Back to you," she says. "You never judged me. Even though your mother did. And just about everyone else on campus. You actually thought I was a poor farm girl and it didn't make any difference to you. As much as I missed the ranch and even my annoying brothers, going so far away for school was good for me. Helped me learn about myself, I guess."
For Boone, this was about as close to a heart-to-heart confession as anyone would ever get.
"Thanks." I blink back tears. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."
In reply, she punches me in the arm. "Don't let that go to your head."
* * *
ADAM
I sit in my office, staring at the computer screen. There are dozens of tasks I need to do, even though I am impressed by how well Caleb and Deacon handled things while I was gone. And Boone too. Now that she's home for good, I need to remember she's part of the team. Not just my kid sister who's gone off to college.
