“Of course! I’d love it. I was a little nervous about doing it by myself,” Elisabeth admitted. “Honestly, though, I doubt many people will come by the booth, but the company would be nice.”
“I’m sure people will come by. Wes is roping cattle in the rodeo, so I can help if you want, except I’d like to watch when he does his thing,” Callie said. “I swear, he’s so freaking hot.”
“Please! He is my brother,” Emily said. “That’s the problem. I’m related to all the decent men around here.”
“Sorry,” Callie said; then she turned to Elisabeth and whispered, “But he is freaking hot.”
Elisabeth laughed.
“We’ll all help with the booth. It’ll be fun,” Emily said as they all piled onto the couch. “I can’t wait for you to meet Jake. He’s doing his stuntman thing at the monster truck rally, or the demolition derby. I don’t remember which. He’s coming out on the red-eye.”
“His stunts scare the pants off of me,” Callie said.
“Me too. I can barely watch,” Daisy agreed.
“Well, I’m excited to meet him. So your oldest brother isn’t coming?” Elisabeth felt like she was already part of their big, glorious family.
“No. He had a big acquisition meeting that he couldn’t reschedule. I wish he and Rebecca could come.”
Elisabeth started the movie, and Emily jumped to her feet. “Wait.”
“What?” Elisabeth asked.
“Rebecca should be here. We need to Skype her.” Emily looked around the living room. “Do you have a laptop?”
“Of course. Doesn’t everyone?” Elisabeth rose to her feet, and swayed. She had definitely had enough alcohol. She grabbed on to Emily’s hand for stability, and they went together to get the laptop from the kitchen.
“Oh. Who’s this?” Emily held up the picture of Elisabeth and Robbie.
“Ex. Very long-ago ex.” She reached for the picture, and Emily pulled it out of her reach.
“He’s cute.”
“Yup.” She grabbed her laptop.
“Looks nice, too.” Emily traced the edge of the frame with her finger and looked at Elisabeth.
“Supernice.”
“So? What happened?”
Elisabeth sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to avoid this conversation with one-word answers. She took the picture from Emily and stared down at it. “He dumped me to finish his PhD.”
“Ouch.” Emily scrunched her nose.
“Yeah. It was a long time ago.”
“Are you still in touch?” Emily asked.
“Nope. I haven’t heard from him in more than a year.” She shoved the frame facedown in the box and closed the cardboard flaps. “Come on. Let’s go Skype. I don’t want to waste our time on that guy.”
“You’ll love Rebecca. She’s so great.” Emily lowered her voice to a whisper. “Her mom died, so she needs us.”
Elisabeth stopped cold. “Died? Oh my God.”
“She had cancer. It’s so sad, but Rebecca’s doing great, and you know Pierce takes great care of her—even if she doesn’t let him do everything. Rebecca’s the strongest girl I know.” Emily took out her phone and put the call on speakerphone.
“Hi, Em,” Rebecca said.
The other girls yelled, “Hi, Rebecca.”
Elisabeth’s heart swelled. She loved the camaraderie of the girls. She loved them.
“Becca, we’re all at Elisabeth’s,” Emily explained. “She’s Ross’s girlfriend, and we’re having a girls’ night. Wanna join us?”
“Oh my God! Yes! I’m so bummed that we won’t be there this weekend. I really wanted to come.”
“You should have come without him,” Emily suggested.
“Yeah, that’s what he said, too, but…” Rebecca’s voice trailed off.
“But she won’t leave her love bunny’s side,” Daisy said. Callie elbowed her. “What? I meant it nicely. I wouldn’t leave Luke for a weekend. I’d miss him too much. Maybe years from now, but at this point? No way do I want to wake up without him.”
“I’m so glad you guys called,” Rebecca said. “Pierce has a late meeting, so I’m all alone.”
“Not anymore,” Callie said. “We’ll Skype you, and you can watch the movie with us.”
They set up Skype, refilled their glasses, and settled into watching the movie squished next to one another on the couch. Emily shifted to her side and stretched her leg over Callie and Daisy; her foot landed beside Elisabeth, and she wiggled it.
“Foot massage?” Emily asked with hopeful eyes.
They all laughed, and so began a round of foot massages and musical chairs—and the best girls’ night of Elisabeth’s life.
ROSS SAT ACROSS from Wes and Luke in a booth in the back of the bar. Country music blared through the overhead speakers. It had been a few weeks since he and his brothers had gotten together for a drink, and Ross was having a great time, but he missed Elisabeth. He’d texted her an hour earlier, but she still hadn’t responded. He checked his cell phone again. Still no text.
“Would you put that damn thing away?” Wes said as he checked his own phone.
“Look who’s talking. What the hell happened to you two?” Luke slung an arm over Wes’s shoulder. “We used to come here and stay until one o’clock in the morning. It’s ten thirty and you’re both dying to get home to your women.”
“I was just making sure there weren’t any texts from Chip about the ranch. We had a big group arriving tonight.” Wes shoved his phone in his pocket.
“Yeah, right.” Luke laughed. “And what’s your excuse, Ross? Checking for animal emergencies?”
“Don’t even try to pretend that you didn’t go into the men’s room to text Daisy, you ass.” Ross held his hand out. “Give me your phone.”
“No.” Luke crossed his arms over his chest.
“Hand it over, big mouth. Five bucks says there are at least two texts to Daisy in the last two hours.” Ross narrowed his gaze, and Luke held strong.
For a minute.
“Oh hell. Yeah, so what? If you had Daisy to go home to, would you rather be here or home in bed with her?” Luke took a swig of his beer.
“I’d rather be with Lis,” Ross admitted.
“Says the man who said he’d never settle down,” Wes reminded him. “Pierce, too. What the hell? We all bit the bullet except Jake.”
“He’ll never settle down,” Ross said with a shake of his head. “His loss, too.”
Wes and Luke exchanged a look that Ross knew damn well meant, I told you so.
“So Mr. I’ll Never Settle Down has met his match. Happened quickly, too, didn’t it?” Luke asked.
“I think I got whiplash.” Ross took a pull of his beer.
Wes leaned across the table and asked with a serious tone and a dark stare, “Is this the big L-O-V-E?”
Ross met his stare and took another drink. Yeah, it was love. He had no doubt about it, but he didn’t need to admit it to his younger brothers before he told Elisabeth.
Luke and Wes exchanged another glance.
“Shit. You think we don’t know?” Luke smacked a hand down on the table. “I was the last one that was going to fall. Remember? Not me. Not Luke Braden. Women were like wine—too sweet not to enjoy a different one every night.”
Ross kept a straight face and held his steely gaze.
“You’re going to hold out on us? It’s us, man. We know. We’ve been there. We are there.” Luke ran his hand between him and Wes.
“We’re in the thick of it, Ross. Why’re you holding back? Unless…” Wes sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Unless you’re not sure.” He slid another look to Luke.
“True. Or maybe she’s not as into him as he is into her,” Luke suggested.
They were egging him on, and it was working. Big-time. When the waitress asked if they wanted another round, he slapped a credit card on the table.
“Struck a nerve,” Luke said. “The only question is, which one?”
“There’s another option. Maybe she seems like she’s sweet and all that, but she’s really a two-timer and our brother here got wind of—”
Ross reached across the table, grabbed Wes by the collar, and hauled him halfway across the table. “Shut the fuck up before I break your goddamn vocal cords.” He shoved him back to his seat.
The waitress brought his card back, and he signed the slip and handed her the receipt, his eyes never leaving Wes, who had a shit-ass grin on his lips.
A cell phone rang and they all reached for their phones.
“Chip, what’s up?” Wes lifted his chin at his brothers. “Yeah. Good. Yup. Tomorrow. Okay, bud. See you then.” He ended the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“Y’all are assholes.” Ross rose to his feet.
“Yeah, so are you,” Wes said.
Ross slung an arm over each of his brothers, and they plowed out to the parking lot as they’d done hundreds of times before.
“Daisy’s at Elisabeth’s house,” Luke said as they disengaged from one another.
“So is Callie.”