Читать книгу The Rancher's Fake Fiancée - Amy Vastine - Страница 13

CHAPTER FOUR

TYLER STRUGGLED TO ignore Hadley’s incessant fidgeting in the passenger seat of his rental car. He had warned her that she should be prepared to be in the middle of nowhere.

“We’re almost there. Can you try being still for a minute?” he asked. When she wasn’t peppering him with her millions of questions, she was distracting him with her anxious silence. After two hours on the plane and two hours in the car, maybe they had both hit their limit of togetherness.

“Any chance we can stop to use a bathroom?” she asked. That explained her wriggling.

They were only a few miles away from Falcon Creek. Tyler was more than happy to delay their arrival at the ranch. Actually, he wished he could turn around and get back on a plane headed anywhere but here. Being this close to the place he used to call home made his stomach ache with something other than hunger.

“Maybe we should grab some lunch in town. We’ll be eating at the ranch the rest of the trip.”

Hadley seemingly had no issue with that idea given that her stomach growled loudly. Tyler spotted the sign for Falcon Creek and exited the highway. This place was still a one-stoplight town. It hadn’t changed since Tyler was a baby.

The dive bar where Chance played his first real gig was still standing. Pops Brewster sat out front Brewster Ranch Supply playing chess just like he had for as long as Tyler could remember. Maple Bear Bakery was where Big E used to buy Ty and his brothers doughnuts when he was feeling generous, which wasn’t often, but that made the treat so much more delicious.

Clearwater Café was probably the best place to stop for a hot meal. Tyler sat in an open booth while Hadley ran to the bathroom. He glanced over the menu and ordered a couple of sodas for the two of them.

“That was the cleanest public bathroom I have ever used,” Hadley reported as she slid into the seat across from him. “I think I love this place.”

“They also serve your favorite—macaroni and cheese.” Tyler could tell anyone who asked Hadley’s favorite everything. She had been more than thorough in preparing him today.

She smiled and he noticed the way it lit up her entire face. “You remembered.”

“Tyler Blackwell? Is that you? Oh, my goodness, it is.”

Tyler had hoped they would go unrecognized, but that was impossible in this small town. He turned his head to find a pink monster headed his way.

“Grandma, is that you? You look so much older than the last time I saw you.”

Of all the people he didn’t want to run into, Zoe was at the top of the list. She scowled at him as she flipped her long, blond ponytail behind her shoulder.

“You’re really going to kick me when I’m down, Ty? That horrible excuse for a human being you call your good-for-nothing grandfather already did quite enough to make me feel like a worthless piece of trash.”

An unexpected guilt washed over him. Tyler didn’t realize he could feel sorry for Zoe given all she had put his family through, but he did.

“Big E has a way of making everyone feel small. Don’t take it personally.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she replied, her face softening a bit. “What are you doing back here? I thought you were never coming back. And who is this?” Zoe turned all of her attention on Hadley.

“Hadley, meet my ex-stepgrandma, Zoe. Zoe, this is Hadley.”

“His fiancée,” Hadley clarified.

Tyler internally chastised himself for not being prepared to begin this charade. Remembering to refer to her as his fiancée was important and he’d failed right out of the gate.

“Fiancée?” Zoe’s eyes nearly bulged from her head. “I can’t believe Rachel didn’t tell me.”

“We were pretty surprised to hear Ben and Rachel got married so quickly.” Hadley reached across the table and grabbed Tyler’s hand. “We thought we’d be first down the aisle. Right, honey?”

She was good at this fake relationship stuff. Maybe her brother wasn’t the only actor in the family.

“The Blackwell boys all caught the wedding bug at the same time, huh?”

“Guess so.” Tyler prayed she wouldn’t ask too many more questions or want to see the ring. Zoe was one of those people who might be able to sniff out a fake diamond when she saw one. “Well, it was good to see you again. We’ll see you around,” he said, hoping she’d take the hint.

“Oh, please don’t tell me Day Four is back,” a voice full of disdain said behind Zoe. That voice could belong to only one person.

“Is this where all of Big E’s exes come for lunch?” Tyler pondered aloud as Myrna Edwards, with her hair as white as the snowcapped Smoky Mountains, approached the table.

“I’m positive three Blackwells is all this town can handle. You should head back to whatever hole you crawled out of, Tyler Alexander Blackwell.” She may have been short in stature but her memory was long. Myrna was Big E’s second wife, who, thanks to the boys, didn’t last very long as Mrs. Elias Blackwell.

“I’m here to help my brothers sell the ranch so you never have to worry about the Blackwells ever again.”

One side of her mouth quirked a smile. “Oh, don’t tease me, Day Four. No more Blackwells? That’s too much to hope for.”

“Just give me a couple weeks. We’ll have a big ol’ sold sign hanging out front.” He glanced across the table at Hadley. Darn, he’d forgotten again. “We, as in me and my fiancée,” he quickly added. “Hadley, this is another one of my ex-stepgrandmothers. Myrna, this is Hadley, my fiancée.”

“You may call me Myrna,” she said to Hadley. “You, Day Four, may only refer to me as Judge Edwards. Don’t ever call me your ex-stepgrandmother again. Please stay on your ranch until you sell it. I am tired of seeing Blackwells in my courtroom and my restaurants of choice. Have a nice day.”

She walked across the restaurant and sat down at a table by herself. She probably never remarried after Big E. Leave it to Elias to make a woman give up on men completely.

“She hates you guys. Not that she likes anyone that much, but she hates you,” Zoe said with such awe.

Myrna had good reasons to dislike all five Blackwell brothers. Although in their defense, they were only kids when they ran her off the ranch a short five days after her marriage to Big E. She had tried to take over as the mother figure too soon after their grandmother left and their parents died. The boys were knee-deep in their grief and unable to welcome anyone into their lives.

“It was great to see you again, Zoe. Have a good one.” It was the last hint he was giving her. If she didn’t leave them alone, he was going to get rude.

Zoe wasn’t oblivious, but she was obnoxious. She grinned and, instead of moving along, sat down next to Hadley. “I’m late for an appointment, but I am so curious about how you and Ty got together. He was always such a little brat when we were younger. Maybe once you settle in, Rachel and I can take you out for some girl time.”

“That would be—” Hadley began.

“Unnecessary,” Tyler finished for her. “We’re only here for two weeks and supposedly have a ton of work to do to get the ranch ready for sale. I hear someone’s vision for the place was a bit out of touch with what’s marketable.”

“Ha! I have great taste and amazing ideas.” Zoe pointed a finger at him. Her hot-pink manicure was so her. “You just wait and see how popular the petting zoo is.”

“Are you folks ready to order?” the waitress asked, finally coming to the table to rescue them from this unpleasant family reunion.

“I’m not staying,” Zoe said, getting to her feet. “I hope Tyler doesn’t make you work the whole time you’re in town, Hadley. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

“Looking forward to it,” Hadley replied.

Zoe left and Tyler and Hadley ordered some food. When they were alone, Hadley smoothed her napkin on her lap. “You didn’t prepare me for all the ex-stepgrandmothers. How many more are lurking in this town?”

“Big E was married five times. The other ones don’t live around here, so you’re safe. We’re safe.”

“Until we get to the ranch,” she said, raising her water glass.

Tyler felt a tightness in his chest at the thought of stepping foot on Blackwell land. It had been a long time since he’d been there, and Zoe hadn’t been wrong—he’d sworn to never return.

With a dry mouth, he lifted his own glass. “Until we get to the ranch.”

* * *

HADLEY’S NERVES COULD not be more out of control. She had played it cool while meeting Tyler’s ex-stepgrandmas, but inside she had been shaking in her boots. Keeping up this ruse for two weeks might be the death of her.

Tyler drove like a little grandma the whole way out of town on their way to the ranch. Maybe he was just as anxious about getting there as she was. He slowed down to a stop and Hadley looked to the left. The metal arch over the entrance read Blackwell Family Ranch.

They were here. Time was up.

“Maybe we should drive around the property, take some pictures and jot down some notes before meeting up with Ethan and Ben,” Tyler suggested. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’m not even sure what changes have been made that we’ll need to play up when we market it.”

Classic Tyler, rolling up his sleeves and thinking about nothing but the job at hand. Perhaps that was the best plan. If they stayed focused on the work, the lie would create less stress.

“Good call.” Hadley grabbed her backpack out of the back seat. “I started a list of things we want to focus on, like what wildlife people might see and the different recreational opportunities. We have to play up these mountain views.”

Having grown up in Washington State, Hadley was partial to mountains. She couldn’t imagine living somewhere without them. The Blackwell Ranch had the gorgeous Rocky Mountains to the west. Location was not going to be an issue in the marketing plan.

Tyler drove in and turned left before they got to the enormous green-roofed lodge. He shared what he remembered about the wildlife from the area.

“We’re not far from an elk refuge, and whitetail and mule deer used to graze on the ranch when I lived here.”

“People will love that.” Hadley jotted down elk and deer on her list.

“I remember when I was around twelve, my brothers and I were playing a very intense game of capture the flag up in the hills. It was me and Ben versus Ethan and Chance. Ben and I had found the best spot to hide our flag, so we just needed to find theirs. Ben and I were like navy SEALs. Ethan and Chance didn’t have a prayer against us. Only when we found their flag, they had an extra teammate we weren’t expecting.”

“Who? Jon?” Hadley guessed.

“No,” he said with that cocky laugh. “Jon would have been easy to get past. There was this huge bull moose that had wandered into our game and decided to graze next to their flag. Ben and I had no idea how to get rid of it. Ben tried scaring it by throwing some rocks at its feet, but that only made it mad. Before I could try my idea, which totally would have worked, the hair on its back raised up.”

“I take it that’s a bad sign.” Hadley loved the way he got that sparkle in his eye when he told stories from his childhood.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve since learned that there are seven signs a moose is about to attack you, and that is number one. The second sign is it smacks it lips, but instead of smacking its lips, our moose urinated all over Chance and Ethan’s flag. It was disgusting and there was no way I was touching that thing after that.”

Hadley covered her mouth while she laughed. “Going to the bathroom is a sign a moose is going to attack?”

“It is! I swear. But I thought it was trying to make us mad. I yelled at it and the next thing I know, it came at me like it wanted to kill me, so I took off. Ben shouted at me to climb a tree, which I did, but the moose rammed the tree and almost knocked me out of it. I thought I was going to die that day. I was stuck up in the tree for a good hour before that animal decided it was bored of me. Ben and I made sure to learn everything there was to know about moose after that. We were never going to lose because of some dumb animal again.”

She had no doubts about that. Tyler was someone who didn’t get caught unprepared very often, and if he did, he made sure to be overprepared the next time.

Hadley giggled as she stared out her window at the green fields. There were a few horses grazing in the distance. She made a note to find out how many horses the ranch owned and to clarify if all the livestock would be part of the sale.

Tyler slammed on the brakes, causing Hadley to nearly knock her head on the dashboard. “What in the world?” she said, pressing a hand to her chest to make sure her heart had restarted.

“Katie,” Tyler said with a sigh.

Hadley glanced up and saw why Tyler had made such a quick stop. A redheaded woman stood in the middle of the dirt path with her hands on her hips and a tan-and-black shepherd dog by her side.

She walked over to Tyler’s side of the car. He rolled down the window as she bent down to get a look at them.

“Ty?”

“Hi, Katie.”

“I thought you might have been some guests who got lost. Welcome home.”

“Thanks. I’m driving Hadley around the property. We thought it would be nice to get a sense of what we have to work with before we talk to Ethan and Ben about the marketing plan.”

“The marketing plan...of course.” Katie dipped her head a bit lower to see farther in the car. “So, you’re Hadley. The woman who somehow managed to pin this guy down. Boy, do we have a lot of questions for you.”

Hadley’s full stomach ached. The questions would be nonstop now that they were here. She only hoped she could convince Tyler’s family they were a real couple. Her promotion depended on it.

She put a hand on Tyler’s leg. Thankfully, he didn’t flinch at the contact. “Well, I can’t wait to answer all of them. Tyler’s my favorite subject these days.”

Katie smiled and stood back up. “Well, you two have a nice drive. I’ll let your brothers know you’re here.”

“Great,” Tyler said even though Hadley knew he was less than thrilled about their arrival being discovered.

Katie waved at them as Tyler put the car back in Drive and rolled up the window. “We can’t spend too much time out here now. It won’t be long before the where-are-you phone calls begin,” he lamented.

“We could get the reunion over with and then hide.”

“I’m not hiding,” he snapped.

“Right.”

“I’m not. I’m...” His jaw tensed. “Fine. I’m hiding. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here, and there are a lot of things I left behind on purpose.”

That was about as vague as he could get. Hadley got the impression that there was always a lot of drama on the ranch, but at the same time, Tyler seemed to have good memories of his family. When he spoke about his brothers, there was always this small smile playing on his lips.

“There are clearly things you do not want to talk about, and I respect that. But we have to work with your brothers to get this place in tip-top shape so you guys can sell for what you want.”

“Why did I tell them I was engaged?” he asked himself aloud. It wasn’t like Hadley had the answer to that question. She wondered why he felt like that was the best plan, as well. “I didn’t want them to think I was the only one incapable of being normal. That’s why. I hate being the only one no one loves.”

His confession surprised Hadley. At work, he never seemed bothered by who he was or apologetic for what he wanted out of life. Tyler Blackwell usually had confidence to spare.

“Hey, I know a lot of people who aren’t in a relationship. That doesn’t make you abnormal. If that were true, then I’m abnormal. My best friend, Maggie, is abnormal. Half the people in my book club are abnormal.”

Tyler’s forehead wrinkled. “You’re in a book club?”

“That was the part that stood out to you?”

“I heard you. I get it. There are plenty of single people in the world. I wasn’t implying you were abnormal for being unattached. It’s more than being single for me. I can’t explain it.”

“It doesn’t matter. You told them we’re engaged and now we’re here and have to play our parts. Let’s go say hello and then get to work.”

“You’re good at this,” Tyler said, side-eyeing her.

“Good at what? Convincing you to man up?”

“That and playing the part of my fiancée. You’re a natural, so calm and cool. Your brother should be glad you didn’t go into acting. You might have outshined him.”

Hadley laughed. She had never outshined Asher at anything. He probably could out-woman her if he put his mind to it. “Asher has nothing to worry about. Trust me, I’m freaking out every time we talk to someone new.”

His phone chimed with a text. Hadley saw Ethan’s name. “Katie works fast. I guess we should head to the house. We’ll try hard not to freak out together,” he said, giving her knee a squeeze.

His hand felt nice until she realized how wrong that was. Tyler was her boss. His hands should not make her feel anything—good or bad. His hands needed to be the last thing on her mind. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about how warm and gentle his touch was? Or how that warmth seemed to spread throughout her body? Maybe Hadley didn’t have as much acting to do as Tyler thought.