Page 3 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

Or maybe not that much.

Being stuck with the name Halloween was much worse than being stuck in an uncomfortable dress that barely covered her behind. Years ago, she would have legally changed her name if she hadn’t thought it would break her mama’s heart.

Darla Holiday took great pride in having six daughters named after the holidays they were born on—or closest to. Sweetheart, Clover, Liberty, Belle, and Noelle had just been lucky enough to be born around holidays with normal girls’ names. Although Hallie had always thought that if her parents had just put a little time and effort into it, they could have come up with something better than Halloween. Mystic. Cat. Even Pumpkin.

No, maybe not Pumpkin.

“Hallie! Would you stop daydreaming and help me with my dress?”

Hallie pulled from her thoughts and turned to her little sister. While Hallie had gotten their daddy’s wheat-colored hair and freckles, Noelle had gotten their mama’s black hair and Snow White complexion. Unfortunately, her temperament wasn’t nearly as sweet as Mama’s or Snow’s. Being the youngest, Noelle had always been a bit spoiled and temperamental.

“Hurry up, Hal! I still need to fix my hair and do my makeup.”

Hallie walked across the room they had shared as kids to help her sister. “What are you talking about, Elle? You just fixed your hair and makeup.”

“I need to do some touch-ups before I do my social media post showcasing the wedding cake I made for Belle and Liberty. And you need to film me.”

Noelle was studying to be a pastry chef at a culinary school in Dallas. Her dream was to become a famous chef and huge social media influencer. If Hallie was around, she was always stuck being Noelle’s photographer and videographer.

“I’m not your personal flunky, Elle.” She turned her sister around so she could lace up the back of the dress and froze. “Uhh . . . Elle. What size dress did you order?”

“What do you mean what size dress did I order? I ordered my size.”

Hallie rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure what size you think you are, Elle, but it’s not this size.”

Noelle glanced over her shoulder with snapping green eyes. “Just lace me up!”

Since Hallie had learned there was no arguing with Noelle when she set her mind to something, she sighed. “Fine, but you’re going to have to suck in your breath if you want the two sides of this dress to meet.”

After Noelle was laced tightly into the dress and she’d spent a good twenty minutes touching up her hair and makeup, they headed down to the kitchen so Hallie could film Noelle on her live social media feed acting like Vanna White as she pointed out the different decorations on the cake and how she had made them.

Hallie had to admit it was a beautiful cake.

Since it was the Fourth of July, Liberty and Belle had chosen red, white, and blue for their wedding colors. The white cake had billowy ribbons of red and blue fondant cascading over the three tiers, along with clusters of silver stars. If Hallie ever got married, she flat refused to use her holiday colors. She was not about to have a black-and-orange wedding cake covered in pumpkins and ghosts.

Once Noelle was finished with her post, they headed to their parents’ room where the bridal party had congregated to help Liberty and Belle get ready. Not that the twins needed help. As event planners, they were used to getting brides ready for their big day . . . and the entire wedding party. As soon as Hallie and Noelle stepped into the room, both twins started issuing orders.

“Hallie, you need to smooth down your hair in the back,” Belle said in her calm voice. “And would you please keep a watch at the window for Daddy’s signal that it’s time to head over to the barn?”

Liberty was much less gracious and more commanding. “And for heaven’s sake, Hal, stop fidgeting with your dress. You’d think you’d never worn one before. And speaking of dresses, what’s going on with yours, Elle? Did you lace it too—?”

“It’s fine!” Noelle snapped as she gingerly sat down on the bed.

The other sisters, her grandma, and Mama looked at Hallie for an explanation, but she only shrugged. “If Elle says it’s fine, it’s fine.” Everyone looked at her with confusion. “What?”

“It’s just that you’re usually the one on Noelle’s case about . . . well, everything,” Cloe said. It was true. Hallie had always enjoyed hassling her younger sister. But lately, she had her own issues to deal with . . . like getting drunk and making a huge mistake and losing her job. Which had led to her getting drunk and making a huge mistake.

Up until a few weeks ago, she had been working at a brewery in Austin. She had just been promoted to head brewer when the owner decided to sell the brewery. He’d offered it to her, but she didn’t have enough credit to secure a loan. So he’d sold the brewery to a misogynistic jerk who pretty much thought women didn’t understand the nuances of making good beer and brought in his own head brewer, while demoting Hallie to waitress.

“I’m sure you’ll make even more in tips,” he’d said with a wink and a pat on her fanny.

She didn’t regret telling him off or, when that didn’t satisfy her anger, throwing a beer in his face. Unfortunately, the news of what she’d done spread like wildfire in the Austin brewing community—a community made up of mostly men who didn’t want some volatile feminist working for them. Now she couldn’t even get a waitressing job. Which just served to piss her off. She couldn’t throw beer in everyone’s faces, but she could buy her own brewery in Austin and rub their faces in her success.

But first she needed to get financial backers. And as luck would have it, her twin sisters just happened to be marrying two wealthy investors. Unfortunately, Hallie hadn’t been exactly pleasant to either one of them. Some of the names she’d called them had ranged from no-account cheats to villainous assholes, but only because she’d thought they were after her family’s ranch.

But that was all water under the bridge now. If you couldn’t ask family to invest in your dream, who could you ask? Not that she planned to ask them on their wedding day. She’d give Corbin and Jesse a couple weeks’ grace period before she cornered them to invest in her business venture.

Until then she planned to do some major sucking up.

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