Page 55 of The Cowboy Fix

Jumping up, she flipped on the garden lights and followed them around the edge of the garden until it suddenly hit her. There was one thing she had more of than Nathan. She was very persistent when she needed to be. And right now, she needed to be.

Izzy grinned. There was one thing she knew. If she asked him for a favor, he would have her back if it had anything to do with the ranch. She was sure of it, even though he was acting like he didn’t want to see her ever again. This time he wasn’t going to get his way.

On the way back to the ranch, her cell rang. Thinking it might be her mom with a report on how things were going with George, she pulled over, and frowning when it wasn’t her mom’s number, took the call.

“This is Izzy Payton,” she said.

“Hi, Miss Payton. This is Helen Nichols, Mayor of Strawberry Ridge. I’ll get straight to the point.” The mayor was speaking Izzy’s language. “I have a proposal to talk to you about and have an opening in my schedule tomorrow at ten. Will that work for you? We can meet at my office in City Hall.”

Curious. “I’ll be there.”

“Good. Stop at reception on the way in and someone will direct you. See you tomorrow.”

She stared at her phone for a while wondering what the call from the mayor meant, then shrugged because there was no point in trying to guess what her proposal was. She would find out soon enough.

Glancing at the box in the passenger-side front seat, she drove straight to Malorie’s. Blake had the kids out for a hike, so it was just the two of them trying on their dresses for the engagement party the next night.

Parking in front of Malorie’s rental, she grabbed her dress and knocked on the door.

“There you are,” Mal said as she let her in. “I was afraid you changed your mind about coming over.”

“Nope. I just went to the cottage first to do a couple of things.”

Mal led the way to the kitchen where she’d set up a charming tea service, this one cream-colored with roses and gold-colored handles. There was a matching plate stacked with sliced egg salad sandwiches. She’d had the set for as long as Izzy could remember. “I haven’t been there in a few days. How does everything look?”

“Beautiful.” Izzy took a seat at the breakfast table. “It’s perfect for your wedding.”

Mal grinned at her as she sat on the other side of the table. “And your wedding?”

“I’m not getting married. Not anytime soon anyway.” Izzy poured their tea and took half a sandwich, placing it on her plate.

She watched as her friend settled her napkin in her lap. Mal wasn’t one to hold back what she thought. It didn’t take her long to dive in. “Can’t you take a break and hang around here with me for a while?”

“You sound like Sylvia,” Izzy returned quickly.

“I’ve always loved your mom.” Mal raised her teacup. “To a smart woman.”

“You think that because you both think alike.” Izzy didn’t hold it against them. They were her two favorite people, not counting a particular cowboy.

“It’s a shame that things went sour between you and Nathan. I was looking forward to being your sister-in-law.”

She almost choked on her tea. “Nothing was going on between us.” Because Mal was her best friend and Izzy had kept it a secret she blurted, “We shared one kiss.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing.” Mal’s brows rose in speculation, not a good thing when her friend got into that mode. Sure enough. “You love him.”

“How can you tell?” Not sure that she had those kinds of feelings for the rancher, she didn’t know how Mal could possibly know.

She’d come to the ranch to help fix the Lohmen’s financial problems. And then she’d mistakenly thought she could rebrand Nathan along with the Triple L, maybe even fix Nathan and lure him off the ranch and back into his horse community. But he’d taken the reins and was the one who made the moves. Not with her of course, he was too much of a gentleman to rush her into more than one kiss.

Even if Mal was right, they had divergent futures. Nathan would never leave the Triple L, and she wouldn’t ask him to move just to follow her from job to job. Not when his whole life was the ranch. He wouldn’t be happy and that wasn’t fair.

Mal sat her cup down. “I’ve seen the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. It’s written all over your faces.”

That was one subject she didn’t want to discuss, even with her very much-in-love best friend. Izzy pushed back her chair and stood, leaving her half-finished tea and sandwich on the table. “How about we try on our dresses?”

“Okay. I’ll stop talking about Nathan, but I just want to remind you that Montana is a long way away.”

That it was. She had three job offers. Any one of them would help build her business to the next level.

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