AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She hoped Drew would like it, too.
As promised, Drew waited at the kitchen table, looking very much like a child who’d forgotten it was her turn for show and tell.
“Relax.” Maisie ruffled the top of Drew’s head as she passed. “This isn’t going to be as painful for you as it is for me.”
“Why you? It’s my ranch we’re discussing.”
“Because I’m in the hot seat,” Maisie replied.And it’s my ranch, too,she wished she could add but sensed it wouldn’t go over well in the moment.
It wasn’t that Maisie wanted to lay claim to the place. At least, not in the way Jolene had suggested. Maisie didn’t want half. But in the five months since she’d arrived, she’d grown to love the ranch and all of its inhabitants more than she could have possibly foreseen. Drew, most of all—even those damn geese had gotten under her skin.
Drew’s phone dinged, drawing her attention to a text. Maisie couldn’t tell who it was from or what it said, but the contents caused Drew’s brow to furrow.
“Everything okay?” Maisie looked to her stack of papers and the carefully prepared slides she was about to launch on her laptop, suddenly desperate to get through them all and get this nerve-racking presentation behind her. “You don’t need to rush off, do you?”
“Uh, no. I’m right where I need to be.”
Normally this would have been reassuring, but something about Drew’s tone felt off. Then again, Maisie had been up for almost twenty-four hours putting the final touches on the proposal, so it was no wonder she felt topsy-turvy. “Shall we start, then?”
“By all means.” Drew’s smile looked pinched, which wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Maisie knew how much the woman dreaded change, and that was exactly what Maisie was suggesting. Progress, yes. But to move forward, they had to be willing to try new things.
“Okay. Here goes.” Maisie laughed nervously as she opened the first slide. “Here are some stats about the ranch. Now, you have about thirteen-thousand acres—”
“I know how big the ranch is.” Drew’s jaw clenched, and Maisie feared she was already getting annoyed.
“Right. Of course.” Her pulse increasing, Maisie clicked through the presentation until she got through the preliminaries. “This section is about the YouTube channel. We’re at almost a thousand subscribers, which is amazing.”
“I don’t get how a thousand people would watch videos of birds,” Drew grumbled, “or how it will help a cattle ranch.”
“That part’s easy. We’ll be able to monetize the channel as soon as we hit the required number of subscribers and viewing hours. That means we’ll get paid for ads. We have a ways to go, but eventually, we can tie-in fundraising and merchandise.”
“We sell cows, Maisie. Not coffee mugs.”
The farmers market suggests otherwise,Maisie wanted to snap, but she held it in.
“It’s about establishing a recognizable brand, Drew.” Despite her best efforts, Maisie’s temper flared. “It’s about getting them to learn and support what you’re doing here and feel like they’re part of something. No one cares where a slab of beef comes from.”
“Well, I care,” Drew huffed. “What I’m not seeing in the presentation is how you’re going to get us to sell more slabs of beef, as you called it.”
Geez. Maisie had seen many variations of cranky Drew before, but this was plain rude.
“You know what? Why don’t you take a minute and go through the rest of it on your own?” Maisie’s voice was shaky and her hands equally so as she turned the laptop over to Drew, who read through each screen in stony silence.
This wasn’t going at all the way Maisie had pictured. She’d expected Drew to listen, to be proud of what she’d done.
She found herself wishing Drew would say something, even if it was a simpleno way. Maisie had learned how to handle Drew’s combative side, but this quietly simmering anger was as petrifying as it was totally unexpected.
“What do you think?” Maisie asked when Drew finally reached the end. “Do you have any questions?”
“I do.” Drew turned to her with an expression that sent a chill down Maisie’s spine. “Why were you at Dan King’s office the other day?”
Maisie’s eyes widened even as her throat constricted. “I meant questions about my presentation.”
Drew folded her arms over her chest. “And I’m asking about your motives for meeting with Jolene Davis atmylawyer’s office.”
Holy shit.What exactly was Drew trying to accuse her of?
“I didn’t meet with Jolene!” Maisie felt the room spin as she tried to make sense of what was going on.
