Page 51 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

In the last two months, she hadn’t brewed one bottle of beer. Her plan for making a spectacular autumn beer that she could give to Corbin and say, “Here! This is why I want to brew my own beer,” had not come to fruition. In fact, she and Corbin hadn’t even talked about her business again. Instead, they had talked about her ideas to improve the ranch. And once Corbin hired Reid—and he’d be stupid if he didn’t—there would be no reason for them to talk about the ranch again.

There would be no reason for her to stay.

She had no explanation for the sadness that settled over her. She had never planned to stay. She and her daddy argued over everything . . . and yet, they had formed some kind of a truce in the last couple months. They still argued, but there was a softer tone to it. She didn’t know if he had grown softer or she had. Whatever the reason, their arguments no longer stung as much as they did when she was younger. She no longer saw him as a judgmental father she couldn’t impress. She saw him as a man who’d had the weight of an entire ranch on his shoulders and had handled it the best he knew how.

But she was a strong, independent woman and strong, independent women didn’t live at home with their parents.

Even if they wanted to.

The sisters started arriving in the afternoon. Tickled to have her girls all back home, Mama made a big dinner and they ate it out on the back picnic table like they had so many times in the past. Hallie didn’t talk much. Nor did she eat much. Her stomach was tied into too many knots at the thought of telling her sisters about breaking her oath.

When supper was over, she volunteered to do the dishes, a ploy to prolong the inevitable, but Mimi shooed her out of the kitchen.

“You go on now. I’m sure you have some catching up to do with your sisters.” Hallie figured her grandmother knew about the sisters’ secret meetings.

On the way to the barn, Hallie stopped by the cellar and grabbed a couple bottles of Mimi’s homemade elderberry wine. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

When they all got into the barn, they realized there was a problem with their plan to meet in the hayloft.

Or two problems.

“I’m not sure I’m going to fit,” Cloe said as she stood at the bottom of the ladder, looking up. Since she had an earlier due date, her stomach was much bigger than Sweetie’s, and Hallie agreed that it would be a problem getting her through the opening that led to the hayloft.

“You and Sweetie shouldn’t be climbing the ladder anyway,” Belle said.

“Belle’s right.” Liberty jumped in. “We can just meet here in the barn. Hallie and Noelle, help me place those hay bales in a circle.”

Once everyone was seated, Sweetie called the meeting to order.

“I called this meeting to welcome our newest member.” She smiled at Sunny who looked like she was about to burst from happy. “Welcome to the Sisterhood, Sunshine Brook Whitlock. We’re just tickled pink to have a new sister join us.” She looked at Hallie. “Why don’t you divvy up that wine, Hal, so we can toast our new member.”

Hallie cleared the guilt from her throat. “I will in a minute, but first there’s something I need to say.”

All her sisters and Sunny looked at her expectedly and she figured the best way to explain what happened was the same way you took off a Band-Aid.

Rip it off.

“I had sex with Jace Carson.”

There were a lot of wide-eyed stunned looks, but not from Sweetie. She didn’t look surprised at all. In fact, she smiled.

“I know.”

Hallie sighed. “I guess Mama or Mimi told you about me being with him last night.”

“No. Jace did. He came over today and we had a long talk.”

“Jace told you we had sex?”

“No. He told me that he wanted to date you and asked me how I felt about that.”

Noelle jumped in. “Okay, let me get this straight.” She pointed a finger at Sweetie. “You got with Jace’s cousin and now Jace is getting with our sister. Liberty got with Jesse and then Belle got with Jesse’s brother.” She shook her head. “I’m really starting to worry about how close knit this family is getting.”

“To make things perfectly clear, I’m not getting with Jace,” Hallie said. “It was just an error in judgment. Nothing more. He’s leaving town and I’m heading back to Austin to start my own brewery. We aren’t dating and there will be no more hooking up. That’s that. I’m truly sorry I broke the secret sister vow.”

Sweetie softly smiled. “I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to get rid of that vow.”

“I agree,” Cloe seconded.

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