Something Blue, page 21
Beth and Cece both stared at her, slack-jawed.
“Um, we could’ve lost the orchard and the inn,” Beth pointed out. “Your investments, our future. It could all be gone if we don’t have a good season.”
“I know that.” Aurora pulled in her legs and crossed them. “But what I’m saying is, that’s all material stuff we’d lose. Don’t get me wrong: that would suck, but we’d recover.”
Beth couldn’t fathom her sister’s meaning. “How? This place is more than just a structure and our money, though. It’s our connection. To our childhood, to each other.”
“Yeah, but even if this place crumbled to the ground tomorrow, we’d still have each other. We would still be here. That’s what I’m saying.”
Cece seemed to take that in. “Yeah, and this place isn’t our main connection. We’re sisters. We’re family. We are what makes us, Us. Not this place.”
“Anyway, I’m just saying, I thought I had it all figured out when I went to LA, right? Thought I knew exactly what I wanted and where I was going. But the truth is, life changes, stuff happens. And it turns out I’m way more resilient than what I thought. One guy, even a guy like Sawyer, isn’t capable of ruining everything. Trust me on this. He might screw up big time, but he can’t ruin you, or us, or Orchard Inn.”
Beth understood what her sister meant, and where she was coming from, but it was hard to describe how Sawyer had hurt her. “I thought he understood how important this wedding was to me, and I thought he believed me when I told him Shelby would never cheat on Garrett. And”—she took a steadying breath—“turns out he didn’t trust or understand me at all.”
The realization hurt more than she wanted to admit.
But she admitted it anyway.
“And I’d started thinking he might even be the one?” she confessed, her voice shaking with the admission.
Immediately, her sisters consoled her. Cece rubbing her arm, Aurora’s hand on her back.
“It’s silly, I know. I’ve only been around him a few weeks so how could I possibly think—”
“It’s not silly,” Cece insisted. “I’ve always heard the heart knows.”
“No, it is silly. I let myself get caught up, even though I swore I wouldn’t get derailed by relationships. Now is for ensuring Orchard Inn is solid, and focusing on my goals. I always planned on dating and guys and relationships and love coming into life later. On down the road, at some other time.”
With a soft laugh, Aurora patted her back. “Honey, I don’t think you get to plan for love or when people come into your life. In my experience, life never works like that. Or like anything you plan.”
“I’m with Aurora.” Cece reached for the carafe to pour all that remained into their glasses. “What if, for love, yours isn’t on down the road? What if love is here now?”
“What?”
“I know you’re hurting now, but I don’t know that it means you should turn your back on life and fall back into work being all you do.”
“I’m not—”
“You haven’t left your office in days. All you’ve done is sit in here, working on prospects or staring out the window.”
“You’re hiding,” Cece agreed. “You’re hiding from your personal life, and you can’t. You know he’ll be at the wedding. He’ll make up with his brother and you’ll have to see him again.”
“I don’t know if they’ll make up.”
“Of course they will. Sawyer will realize what a jerk move he pulled, and they’ll make up. The three of us always do.”
“And you’ll have to face him.” Cece reached for her hand. “But even if you didn’t, you’ve still got to get out and live your life. You can’t have a life in your office. You’re always thinking about us, and the inn, and the business, but right now you need to be thinking about yourself.”
Her sisters weren’t wrong, but the truth was, running a business was easier than dealing with a romantic relationship. Relationships were messy. Just look at the mess she was in right now!
“I get what y’all are saying, and I promise, once these next few weddings are over, I’ll work a little less and have a little more fun.”
Aurora set down her empty glass. “No. Not after the next few weddings. Now. There are three of us running this inn now. It’s not all on you. Don’t get so caught up in work, thinking you can have fun in the future, that you forget to live your life right now.”
What would that even look like?
All she’d ever known was managing everyone and everything, except for her time with Sawyer.
She tended to guests and vendors and family over herself, but the one who really needed her attention right now was herself. She needed to live now.
And right now, that meant dealing with her feelings for Sawyer.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I think I loved him.”
“Come here.” Her sisters wrapped their arms around her.
“I do. I really do. I let him in. I let my guard down. I wanted to spend time with him. I skipped work to hang out with him!”
Cece brushed her hair back. “And that’s saying a lot.”
“He made me feel good. Happy. I thought he understood. I thought he got me.”
Aurora nodded and passed Beth her drink to sip.
“But the whole time he was just spying on Shelby.”
“I don’t think he was just spying on Shelby. From what I saw that night of Cece’s accident, it was pretty obvious he was falling for you too.”
“Then why wouldn’t he listen to me? Why didn’t he believe me when I told him Shelby was a good person and faithful? Why didn’t he listen?”
“Because he’s a man.” Aurora laughed.
Beth rolled her eyes.
“No, I’m serious. I’ve dated a lot of guys. A lot more than both of you, and they don’t always hear you. They may listen, but that doesn’t mean they hear you. Not very well, at least. And usually not the first time you make a point. A guy like Sawyer? Who does he ever have to listen to? People listen to him, not the other way around.”
“That is true.” Cece nodded and sipped. “It’s probably a new experience for him. An amonaly. Anemone. Anomaly!” She giggled.
Aurora took her glass away. “That’s enough White Russian for you, but the point is a good one. I don’t think Sawyer meant to hurt you. Or anyone, actually. He was only thinking about protecting Garrett. Like a horse with blinders on.”
“Yes!” Cece flapped one hand and pointed at her. “And he just charged forward.”
“Yep, and hurting you wasn’t intentional. You were collateral damage.”
She didn’t want to be any kind of damage. She wanted him to realize what he’d done and do a complete turnaround about his brother’s marriage. She wanted an apology, and she wanted him back. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Tell him how you feel.”
“Yep.” Cece nodded in quick repetition. “And tell him that he screwed up. Big time.”
She should. She was always outspoken, and this situation certainly shouldn’t be any different. “I’m going to do it!” she declared. “I’m going to tell him he should’ve listened to me. And that I’m hurt and angry because I care about him.”
“Yes!” Cece pointed at her.
“I’m going to tell him exactly how I feel.”
Aurora took Beth’s glass away too. “But maybe not right now.”
“Nooo,” Cece drew out the word. “Definitely not tonight.”
“Agreed.” Aurora laughed. “I think nothing tonight but sleep.”
Beth imagined calling Sawyer now. Not a good idea. She wanted to be clear and concise when making her point. Regardless, she’d be emotional, but right now sleeping was a good idea.
First sleep. Tomorrow, she’d deal with Sawyer.
Chapter 21
Sawyer had been up for hours when Uncle Joe ambled into the kitchen the next morning.
In fact, he’d barely slept a wink. The winks could wait. He had fences to mend.
“What’s all this?” Joe asked, staring at the spread of food on the counter.
“What’s it look like? I made breakfast.”
Uncle Joe humphed as he surveyed the food.
“I made a breakfast casserole, some cinnamon rolls that just came out of the oven. Ready-to-bake ones, but still good. Coffee is brewed and I put out some fruit and spreads.”
“What’s the occasion?”
Sawyer put the plate full of hot cinnamon rolls on the counter and faced his uncle. “An apology, and a congratulations. With breakfast.”
Lina chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. “Look at this! You cooked! Something smells delicious!”
Her enthusiasm helped. “Thanks. I’m sorry for yesterday. For everything. You two became a couple and I was too wrapped up in my own stuff to even realize. I’m sorry for my attitude, what I said, but mostly for what I did with Shelby and Garrett.”
Both of them studied him, and Joe picked up one of the cinnamon rolls.
“I’m really happy for both of you. This is…this is great news. And I’m going to apologize to Garrett and Shelby after this. I was out of line. Regardless of what I intended, my actions were wrong. And hurtful.”
Joe stepped forward, already chomping on his roll. “I’m impressed—with the apology, the congrats, the food, and you. Look at you, growing the heck up.”
“Thanks?”
“You’re welcome.” Joe eyeballed another roll.
“How about some fruit instead?” Lina suggested before turning to Sawyer. “Apology accepted. From Joe too. He’d say it himself except his mouth is full of cinnamon roll.”
“Hey,” Joe said while chewing.
“I’m sure you’ll work things out with your brother too. And with Beth.”
Beth.
That was a big one. And he had no idea where to start. He didn’t have a lot of experience with screwing up and then trying to make it right. Instead, he tried just not to screw up at all.
One thing he did know was that first he had to make things right with Shelby.
As protective as Beth was over family and friends, going to her first, without making amends with her best friend, would be a dead end.
“How are you going to apologize to Shelby and your brother?” Lina asked, reading his mind.
“I don’t know.” He needed to make it up to them somehow. He’d tried to interfere at every turn and been totally unsupportive.
So…maybe he should do the opposite?
But how was he supposed to be boldly supportive of their wedding and marriage? Hire a sky writer? Big bag of cash?
No, those were tacky, even if people tended to love big bags of cash.
“I need to show them both that I’m sorry and that I’ve got their backs. I don’t think a plain ole ‘I’m sorry’ will do. They deserve more than that from me.”
Lina sipped her coffee, deep in thought. “I think it just needs to be from the heart. You’re sincere, and they’ll know you mean it.”
Sure, all of that was true, but he wanted to do more. He had to go big. Texas big.
The idea struck like lightning. “I know what I should do!”
“What is it?”
Sawyer shook his head. “You may try to talk me out of it, but it’s the perfect way to say I’m sorry.”
“Sawyer.” His uncle’s voice held a tone like he already knew Sawyer’s plan.
Didn’t matter. His mind was made up. There was only one way to show Shelby, and Garrett, that Sawyer wanted her to be part of this family.
A couple of hours later, he was back on Shelby Meyers’s front porch, his hat in his hand—literally and figuratively.
This time, Shelby came to the door, a look on her face that could strip leather. “Sawyer Silva, don’t you make me forget my manners. I think it’s best that you don’t come around here anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” he blurted before he could come up with any prettier words or she could run him off.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, for what I said, what I did, everything. I was wrong and stubborn and, well, I was mean to do you that way. And I am so sorry.”
She blinked at him with huge brown eyes. Then those eyes turned to puddles. Her lip quivered and Sawyer panicked.
“No, no. Don’t—don’t cry. I know I hurt you, and I wish I could take it back. I could kick my own tail for doing you that way. You’ve only ever been nice and—”
Shelby let out a shaky breath and then tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Uh-oh. Um. Please don’t do that. Don’t be upset. Garrett is going to kill me. I know you love him. And I want us to be family.”
Both hands flew to her face as a small cry escaped her lips.
He was about two seconds from a stress-induced heart attack when she lunged forward and threw both arms around him. She squeezed him tight and cried into his shirt.
Sawyer stood frozen for a moment, then his brain kicked in to what was happening.
Shelby was accepting the first half of his apology.
“There, there now.” He patted her back because he didn’t know what else to do. “It’s okay. I know I was a jerk. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
Eventually, she managed a sniffle and swiped at her eyes.
“All I ever wanted from you was your acceptance,” she managed.
“I know.”
“And your approval.”
“I know.” He shook his head. “I know that now. And turns out, I’m a more ornery cuss than I realized. I have a hard time letting people in and trusting them, and I took it out on you. But you have my acceptance now. And my approval.”
“I do?”
“Yeah, one hundred percent. And as a gesture of just how much I support y’all’s union, I have something for you. An, um, an apology gift, I guess.”
“What is—?”
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Shelby swiped at her eyes again, pulling herself together as she followed him.
But she started sniffling again when they turned the corner and she saw the horse trailer. “Sawyer, what is—?”
“I want you to meet someone.” He unlatched the door and led little Amber out onto the driveway. “This is Amber. Amber, this is Shelby. Your new owner.”
Shelby’s gaze flew to his. “Her wha— You…What?”
“I know you’re only learning, and you may still be nervous a lot, but bonding with a horse this young, especially if you come and groom her every day and talk to her, she’ll be your best chance at a horse you can trust, and one who knows you as well as you know her.”
“Sawyer…” Shelby’s eyes filled again.
“I want you to have her. She’s from the best line I’ve got, and you deserve her. I don’t want you to be afraid of riding any more than I want you to be afraid of me. We’re going to be family, and I want you to be happy and comfortable at the ranch. And with the extended family.” He stroked Amber’s mane.
“I don’t know what to say?” Shelby’s voice shook.
“Say hey to your new friend here.”
Shelby approached slowly, palm out. Amber sniffed her and nuzzled her, and let Shelby stroke her head, all the way up to her ears.
“She’s beautiful,” Shelby said.
“I know. Prettiest foal we’ve seen in years.”
“Are you sure about this?”
Sawyer took in Shelby’s smile, her ease with Amber, and the way she was no longer crying but breathing easily and calmly. “Never been surer about a new owner.”
Shelby rubbed the back of her knuckle above Amber’s nose. “Have you, um, talked to Beth yet?”
Just the thought of it made his stomach clench with nerves. What if she wouldn’t forgive him? What if he’d lost her forever?
“Not yet. I wanted to see you first. Make things right with you before I went to her.”
Shelby nodded. “Good call.” She turned to him. “You’re a wise man, Sawyer Silva. If you really want to make things right, in your life and everyone else’s, go see her right now. Set things straight and then snap her up and give her the life you both want. The life y’all deserve.”
Chapter 22
A bright beam of sunlight chased her under the duvet, stalking her.
Beth’s head throbbed, her eyes burned, dry and raw. Her phone pinged with a text, but she couldn’t bring herself to come out from under her protective shield.
What had Cece put in those White Russians? Besides vodka and Kahlúa?
No, wait, that was probably enough.
She groaned aloud at the second ping, but eventually her phone was quiet and she drifted back to sleep.
Then a soft, repetitive knock came on her bedroom door. “Beth?” Aurora called. “Beth?”
“Go away.”
“No.”
“Y’all tried to poison me.”
Aurora came into her room unapproved. “No one poisoned you. You had two and a half drinks, you silly lightweight.”
“My head hurts.”
“Hydrate.” Aurora tapped her shoulder with a glass of water. “I brought you some Tylenol too.”
Beth crawled out of her cocoon and folded the edge of her covers over her lap. She took a long swallow of water, two Tylenols, and more water. “Thank you. I love you.”
“I know.”
“Even though you poisoned me.”
Aurora laughed. “We’re never going to hear the end of you drinking those, are we?”
“No.”
“Yay. Well, keep drinking your water, drink water all day, and eat a burger and fries for lunch. You’ll be just fine.”
“Why aren’t you hungover?” Beth stared up at her sister, who appeared bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
“Because I am not an amateur. I ate actual food yesterday, not just pie, and drank twenty-four ounces of water before bed. You live, you learn.” Aurora patted her head gently.
“I take back what I said. I hate you.”
“I know you do. Oh, and Sawyer is here to see you.”
Beth coughed up her sip of water. “What?”
“Sawyer. He’s on the back porch.”
A vise squeezed her chest. Why was Sawyer here? She was supposed to call him up today. Tell him how she felt and give him another earful of what he’d done wrong.
