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I nod, impressed by Ruby’s tenacity. I realize I haven’t given her or her job enough credit. “Big names.”
“Well, we need big guns.” Her pretty face softens, and she studies me. “I’m not going to let them trash you, Charlie. It’s your ranch and we’ll save it.”
Right now, her determined words are the light I need. Scrubbing a hand down my beard, I lean in. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“This. So positive. So happy.” I let out a breath, the weight of the last week stacking on my shoulders. “You seem so damn sure that everything will work out. If I had half of what you did, I’d actually have some hope for once in my life.”
A shadow passes across her face. “I just ...I try not to worry about the future. I know it’s easier said than done, but I try to live in the now. I’m thankful for the day I have because you never know how long it’ll last.” For a brief second, her eyes cloud, then she smiles. “I think of my sunflower.”
“Your what?”
“Sunflower and thorn. It’s a game my brother and I’ve played since we were little. Your sunflower for the day is something happy that happened, like fireball happy. Thorn is your typical not-so-great shitty thing.” Eyes lighting up, she stands and moves to sit on the coffee table in front of me. Our knees touch, just a soft graze, but sparks flare in my gut. “Here. You do it.”
“Ruby—”
“C’mon,” she coaxes. “Try it.” Then my hand is in hers and she’s settling it on her warm thigh. “Tell me your sunflower for today.”
I grunt. “Didn’t have one.”
She frowns, her nose wrinkling with the motion, and damn if she doesn’t look cute. “Charlie, everyone has a sunflower.”
“Not today.”Not for a damn long time.
Ruby sits straighter, determined to pull something out of me. “Your thorn then?”
I want to refuse, to push, to growl, but the way she’s staring me down with those big blue eyes, I lose the battle.
Something tells me I always will with this woman.
“It’s not just the video threatening the ranch,” I say, and Ruby raises her brows. “We got some big-time developers on our asses. That car you saw last week—those folks offered to buy the ranch. I said no, and they got pissy about it. But ...sometimes I think I should have said yes.”
“Why?”
“Because of my brothers.” I glance down at her hand, the past sliding beneath my skin. “Sometimes I think they’d be better off elsewhere. They all followed me out to Montana. Gave up everything to help my ass out. Ford was in the major leagues. Davis in the military.”
Ruby squeezes my hand. “Why’d they follow you?”
I tip the lip of my beer toward her. “Why you runnin’?”
She juts her chin, defiant. “Who says I’m running?”
“I do. Why?”
“Why’s it called Runaway Ranch?”
Fine. Point taken. Her refusal to tell me why she’s here is bothering me more than I want to admit. Still. It’s her right.
I exhale. “This isn’t what my brothers signed up for and they’re stuck because of me.”
“You love the ranch,” she says.
“I do. But I love my brothers more. Sometimes what I’m doin’ to ‘em ...if I sold the ranch, everyone could get back to their own lives.”
Ruby’s eyes get big at my reveal. “Have you told them that?”
It takes me a second before I can look at her. “No,” I say grimly. “I don’t want them to worry about me. They’ve done enough.”
