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Gia laughed. “His mother ate dinner with us, Xander. Spent the entire meal singing her son’s praises, talking about how much he did for her around the farm, how he was the perfect son—always there for his mother. Mrs. Matthews made it perfectly clear that any woman interested in her boy would have to pry Toby out of her cold, dead hands.”
“Wow.” Xander considered that, then bowed his head just once. “I stand corrected. Toby is out.” Then, because he was a competitive son of a bitch from the word go, he let his gaze resume its path around the room, his expression lightening when it landed on someone else. “What about Ryan Kelly? He’s a good-looking guy. Nice, has a job and his own place.”
“He came out of the closet at the Fourth of July picnic this year.”
“Really?”
“Yep. He’s dating Jeremy Phillips. Which sucks, because those two guys were in the top five as far as eligible bachelors in town.”
The way Xander muttered “shit” under his breath told her that Jeremy was the next guy he was going to suggest.
“Rodney Allan?”
“Our political beliefs don’t line up. At all. And he’s not shy about sharing them…loudly. I’ve come this close,” she pinched her forefinger and thumb together, “to banning the misogynistic asshole from the restaurant. TJ has intervened a few times, but he won’t always be there to hold me back.”
Technically, her uncle TJ owned Sparks Barbeque. However, he’d all but given it to her, her sister, and her cousins, the six of them working hard to put the restaurant on the map. Tourists drove for hours just for one of their barbeque rib platters.
“Plus, he’s Darlene’s ex,” she added. “Those two strikes are enough without looking for a third.”
Xander sent a dark glare across the room, and when she followed it, she realized he was directing it at an oblivious Rodney. She was pleased by his support of her opinions about the man.
Xander sighed, and she could tell he was running out of steam. “Brad McElwee?”
“He picks his nose. It’s disgusting.”
“Bobby Duncan?”
“He hates barbeque. How in the hell could I ever be with a man who calls barbeque—and I’m quoting him here—‘red slop on a bun’?”
Xander leaned back and took a long swig of beer. Obviously declaring defeat. “Damn. You’re not kidding. It is dire straits for single women in this town.”
She wanted to be happy about the win, but then she realized it was still a loss. She sighed. “I know. Hence the online dating. I’ve widened the search to surrounding towns.”
“How far out?”
“All the way to Douglas.”
“Douglas is seventy miles from here.”
“I’m aware. But it doesn’t matter because I haven’t found much there either.”
“You realize you might have to move to Dallas?” he joked.
“Ha fucking ha,” she replied grumpily. “Just be happy you’ve got your life all sorted out. There’s nothing worse than standing at a crossroads with no idea which direction to turn.”
She noticed Xander’s shoulders fall, and she wondered what she’d said.
“I might know something about crossroads,” he finally admitted.
“Really?”
He nodded. “I’m thinking of selling my company.”
Her eyes widened, certain she’d heard him wrong. Xander had spent the years immediately following college at a Fortune 500 company, working his way up the ranks at an impressive speed. Not that she’d been surprised. Xander, in addition to being the hardest worker she knew, was also brilliant. So brilliant, he’d earned his bachelor’s degree and MBA by the time he turned twenty-one.
After ten years of working for someone else, he’d struck out on his own, opening his own business, and in the past five years, he’d barely come up for air, putting his upstart company on that same Fortune 500 list.
“You’re kidding?”
