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He sighed and put on his paws before he got to his feet. He held out a paw to Liberty. “If I’m going, you’re going.”
“Oh, no, I’m not getting in that thing.”
“Afraid Fluffy can out bounce you?”
Her eyes narrowed and she stood without his help. “Not in this lifetime.” She headed around the bounce house. “Come on, girls. Let’s show this dog how to bounce.”
He followed behind, but at a slower pace.
Damn, he was going to miss her.
Chapter Thirteen
The Holiday Secret Sisterhood had started years ago when the Holiday sisters were just kids. The meetings took place at least once a month, either in person or by Zoom, depending on where all the sisters were at the time.
Tonight, it was on Zoom.
Noelle was in Dallas standing at a counter in what looked like one of her culinary classrooms, whisking something in a bowl. Hallie was in the brewery room of the brewery she worked at in Austin. Belle was at their office in Houston, the picture she’d had blown up of the Holiday Ranch directly behind her. Cloe was cozied up on a couch at the Remington Ranch. Sweetie was sitting on the porch of the quaint house she shared with Decker.
Liberty would have loved to be sitting in the swing on her parents’ porch. But since there was still no Wi-Fi at the ranch and she’d had a craving for Bobby Jay’s baby back ribs and twofer margaritas, she’d come to the Hellhole for dinner.
It certainly had nothing to do with hoping to run into a cocky cowboy.
She glanced around the restaurant and bar for what felt like the hundredth time while she tried to stay focused on the conversation. It seemed Noelle had met the love of her life. While she measured ingredients and whisked them into whatever she was making, she was expounding on her new boyfriend’s many virtues. Liberty might be more interested in the conversation if her littlest sister hadn’t found the love of her life every other week.
“I’m telling y’all, Luc is the one,” Noelle said. “He’s not only a hot Frenchman with a dreamy accent and a slew of awards for his pastries, but he’s also funny and polite and not at all arrogant . . . like some people I know.”
All the sisters knew she wasn’t talking about some people. She was talking about one person. Her archenemy, Casey Remington, Rome’s little brother. The two had been at each other’s throats since kindergarten. Something Liberty had always found amusing.
Tonight, she was too preoccupied to be amused.
She glanced around the bar again and scowled when she didn’t spot a rodeo bum with strawberry-blond hair and an impish smile. She hated to admit it, but she missed that impish smile. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of it since Pip’s party. The morning after the party, he’d picked up Tay-Tay while she’d been visiting Cloe and hadn’t been back to the ranch since. Nor had he stopped by Nothin’ But Muffins and she’d been there every morning for the last week. Nor had he shown up at Cooper Springs while she was taking her afternoon and nighttime swims.
She thought about texting him, but she flat-out refused to be one of those women who fired off a hundred texts to a man who had ghosted her.
That’s exactly what Jesse had done. He had backed out of the bet and cut her off without any explanation.
Of course, she didn’t need one. She already knew.
She’d let down her guard and showed him the needy woman beneath the tough businesswoman. The woman who wanted children and a family—even though she said she didn’t.
It was the dog suit that had done it.
While most men wouldn’t have been caught dead in a fuzzy dog suit, Jesse had not only worn it, but also embraced the part. The kids had adored him and so had their parents. Everyone at the birthday party had commented how great he was with children.
It had made her want something she couldn’t have.
Not just kids, but Jesse.
He was the type of person who made people feel happy to be alive. At least that’s how he’d made Liberty feel. He’d made her feel more alive than she’d felt in years. She’d laughed more, enjoyed life more, and slept more. Now she was back to being stressed, bored, and not sleeping.
And it was annoying. Damn annoying.
She didn’t need Jesse Cates to live life to the fullest. She could live quite nicely without him.
She pushed him from her mind and cut into Noelle’s fawning over Luc. “I’m sure Luc is amazing, Elle, and I’m real happy for you. But I didn’t call this meeting to talk about our love lives. I called it to tell y’all that Jesse has agreed to convince Corbin to stop the foreclosure proceedings.”
She thought her sisters would look relieved. She was surprised when they didn’t.
