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Her sister was starting to irritate her. “I never thought for a minute that you seeing Cooper was about Mother so why would you askmethat?”
“Are you telling me you haven’t had a run-in either with Mother or CJ or both?”
Oakley groaned. “It was just a kiss. But how can you judge me when you’remarryinga McKenna?”
“I’m not judging you. Cooper and I have been in love for a long time. Clearly, it isn’t about getting back at Mother. She just disowned me, threw me off the ranch, but I’m still marrying Cooper. Why do you suddenly think that you’re falling for Duffy?”
Oakley let out a laugh. “I said he kissed me. That’s all it was.” But it wasn’t, she knew. Tilly was eyeing her like a big bossy sister. “I love him but I’m not sure I love him like that.”
Her sister seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “I think you need to kiss a few more cowboys before you let one of them rein you in, little sis.”
She blurted it out. “I’m interested in Pickett.”
“You hardly know him.”
Oakley scoffed. “I’ve known him almost my whole life.”
Tilly raised a brow. “Did you know he had family back east? Exactly. I always wondered about the three of you, thick as thieves. I knew you’d end up in a love triangle feeling like you had to choose one of them. Both of them act like they’ve been in love with you for years. You really haven’t noticed?”
“They joke around all the time but—”
“So how serious is this with Pickett? I assume you’ve kissed, but—”
“Not yet.”
Tilly shook her head as if there was no reasoning with her little sister. “You haven’t even kissed?” Getting up from the couch, she headed back to the kitchen table. “I need to get back to my wedding planning.”
“What if Pickett doesn’t want to kiss me?”
Her sister rolled her eyes. “Clearly, you aren’t ready for a long-term relationship. You’ve only had a couple of boyfriends and neither lasted long. You need to sow more wild oats. In my opinion, neither Duffy nor Pickett is right for you. Duffy has no interest in ranching. Who knows with Pickett? I’m betting he doesn’t talk about the future or what he wants. Maybe he wants the rancher’s daughter. But don’t worry. When you kiss the right one, you’ll know.”
Oakley had her doubts since she’d kissed quite a few, but she could only hope that about at least this her sister might be right.
“There are also a lot more options than what we have here in this river bottom,” Tilly said as she returned to the table and her wedding planning.
“Is that why Cooper left? He wanted to see what was out there?”
“Maybe,” Tilly admitted. “He had some things to work out. But he came back. That’s really what matters.”
Would Pickett come back? Oakley had no idea.
“You scared me there for a moment,” her sister was saying as she began to check off items from the list she’d made. “If you had told me that you were in love with Duffy—”
“You’re marrying his brother Cooper.”
“Exactly,” Tilly said with a laugh. “I can’t imagine how Mother would have taken another daughter marrying into the McKenna family. It might have pushed her over the edge.” When Oakley didn’t say anything, her sister turned to look at her. “What?”
Oakley threw herself back on the couch with a groan. “What would Mother say about Pickett?”
“I thought you said you hadn’t even kissed him.”
“I haven’t yet. But I think we almost did.” Her sister groaned. “I know what you’re going to say.”
Tilly shook her head. “I doubt you do. Oakley, let’s consider what we know about Pickett Hanson. You’ve known him since you were fourteen, right?”
Her sister rushed on before she could answer. “And yet he never mentioned his family? Cooper said his father doesn’t even know anything about Pickett. He just showed up one day and Holden felt sorry for him and hired him, even though he clearly knew nothing about being a ranch hand. He’d never ridden a horse. He was green as spring grass, Cooper told me.”
“Well, he obviously learned to ride and to ranch,” she said.
