Wyatt
“Hey, Beau, can I talk to you?” I approached my eldest brother as he exited the office. He was frowning about something, and I hoped he wasn’t in a bad mood.
“Yeah, what’s up?” His blue eyes glanced at me briefly and then looked away.
“I had an idea for the ranch. A way for us to increase revenue.”
“Oh, yeah?” He nodded but kept walking. “Can we discuss it later? I told Olivia I would meet her to talk about plans for the cabins, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Sure.” I withheld a sigh. “But can we talk later?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So I heard Sadie is back.”
“She is.”
“I heard she’s got the hots for Shane Wakefield?”
“What?” I frowned. “No, she doesn’t. Mom needs to stop spreading rumors. He’s interested in her, but she knows better to waste her time on a loser like him.”
“Didn’t he just graduate from law school?” Beau raised an eyebrow. “I heard he just started at a big law firm making a hundred and fifty grand a year. Not exactly a loser.”
“Sadie doesn’t want to date a lawyer.” I scoffed. “She wants to have a life that doesn’t focus on kissing ass.”
“I bet she’d love to kiss Shane’s tight ass.” He laughed and then shook his head. “Lighten up, Wyatt, it’s a joke.”
“Not a funny one.” What was up with everyone making jokes about Shane and Sadie? Couldn’t they see what a douchebag he was? “Anyway, just in case you hadn’t heard yet. Mom is throwing a barbeque on Sunday to welcome Sadie back home.”
“She was gone for less than a month.” Beau rolled his eyes. “Mom will use any excuse for a party.”
“I guess she wants to continue the celebration after she and Dad partied it up in Seattle for their anniversary.” I shrugged.
“Yeah …” Beau said slowly. “I guess she’s still in the partying mood.”
“And now she has both Olivia and Lucy encouraging her.” I shook my head. “Three women. That’s a whole lotta estrogen.”
“Don’t be jealous, Wyatt.” Beau wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “You’ll have a real girl of your own one day.”
“I have a girl—” I started and paused as I realized I was thinking about Sadie, and she was very much not my girl. Not like that.
“Blow up plastic dolls don’t count, bro,” Beau added.
“You’re an asshole.” I pushed him off of me as he laughed.
“What? I’m just saying.”
“Your sense of humor is about as good as your fashion sense.” I gave his red plaid shirt a meaningful look. The same shirt he wore almost every day.
“And you’re the one complaining about the women?” He raised an eyebrow. “Who are you? Christian Siriano?”
“Who?” I had no idea who he was talking about.
“A designer that was on Project Runway.” He grimaced. “Don’t ask me how I know that.”
“I guess Olivia has her claws into you deep.” I laughed.
“Wait until you fall in love. You’ll be watching all sorts of crap too.”
“Never going to happen.” I ignored the fact that I’d just watched Bridesmaids against my will. He didn’t need to know that.
“Wyatt, there are many things we think are never going to happen in life, but never say never.”
“Spoken like a true biatch.”
“Is that any way to speak to your brother?”
“You mean my cuckold brother.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Nah, I think that’s you and Austin.” I grinned as we walked into the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the table chatting with Chet and Arya. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Arya was just telling us that she got a job interview at the bar,” Mom said. “Chet was trying to convince her it was a bad idea.”
“It pays really good money.” Arya looked at me hopefully as if she was seeking my approval. “It’ll help me get on my feet so that I can look after Eloise.”
“I don’t think a bar is a good place for you to work.” Chet’s lips were thin. “But what do I know? I’ve only frequented hundreds of bars in my time, and I’ve seen how men treat pretty women.”
Beau raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. “That is my cue to step out for a little bit. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said quickly, not wanting to get into the middle of another mess. “I need to do some research. Beau, we’ll chat later?”
“Yup.” He made a beeline for the French doors.
I grabbed a can of pop from the fridge and hurried back out before anyone could say anything else. I headed for the study so that I could get on the internet. I’d been thinking about purchasing some yearlings to train and race for a while now. I knew there was a lot of money to be made in racing, and there was a horse auction coming up soon in Kentucky. If I could convince my brothers to give me some capital to purchase some horses to train, I was sure I could make a success of it. I’d been a keen rider since I was young, and I’d broken many wild horses. But thoroughbreds sold for five or six figures. It was a big investment to ask of the family ranch, but all I needed was a real chance. I knew I could make this happen, and I was confident I could grow the business to the millions. I needed to convince my brothers that I could turn a hundred thousand into a million in a couple of years. To even have a chance, I’d have to know my stats and figures like the back of my hand.
All my life, I’d never really known what I wanted to do, but I knew now. I just needed my family to believe in my dream as much as I did.