Page 69 of Charlie Takes a Chance

I walk over to the grain barrel and scoop out some for Charger. He whinnies when he sees me coming. I drop the grain in his bucket, and he gobbles it up in about two seconds flat. I may regret giving him that treat when we’re out checking the pairs this morning. I’ll probably end up dumped in a snowbank somewhere.

“I don’t know. She may surprise you,” Alexander finally says as he takes the bottle from me and walks over to the bottle calf, feeding him his breakfast.

“Charlie has already surprised me. I’m just a realist. She’s a high-caliber woman who needs someone who can be the same. I don’t know if that’s me.”

Alexander shakes his head. “You’ve always been too modest for your own good.”

“Meh. I’m a realist. Look what happened with my ex-girlfriend.”

Alexander laughs. “Did you take my advice and never tell her about the ranch?”

I nod and lean against a post while watching him finish feeding the calf.

He nods. “If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years…money changes things for people. Take money out of the equation, and you find out who people really are.”

“Jessica showed her hand pretty fast, didn’t she?” When she met my brother, she found out he was taking over my parents’ ranch and wasn’t shy about spending money on her…even when we were dating. Well, she jumped ship.

I’d found out they were together when they went to Cabo for the week together. I drove her to the airport, thinking she was going on a girls’ trip.She posted pictures of her and my brother on social media.

Charlie would never do that. I know it deep in my soul. If she doesn’t want to be with someone, I just know she would say it and not go behind their back with someone else.

“Have you told Charlie yet?”

“No.”

Alexander shrugs. “For what it’s worth, she seems like that wouldn’t matter to her.”

“I’m afraid if I tell her I own half this place, she’ll run the other direction. I’ve told her there’s still lots to be repaired around here,” I tell him with a grin.

“Good point. Don’t scare her away this soon. In fact, maybe it’d be better not to tell her until you’ve got a ring on it.”

His words roll around my head for the rest of the morning. Put a ring on it? We just agreed to be a ‘thing.’ So why does forever sound so good?

CHAPTER 28

Charlie

“Charlie. Time to get up.”

That’s weird. The voice in my dream sounds just like my grandma.

“Charlie!”

My eyes fly open. I’m staring into my grandma’s face, which is hovering over me.

“Your boss is coming, and we need to take a pan of cinnamon rolls over there.”

“What time did you get up? Where on earth did you get the things to make cinnamon rolls?”

“I brought them with me, of course. You know I never leave home without a few staples.”

Staples?The woman brought the whole baking aisle.

Grandma continues, “And when Max said the boss was coming, I figured it’d be nice for them to have something to snack on when they arrive. But I remembered you locked the big house. I need you to open the door for me.”

I roll out of bed and stumble over to the bag that has my sweatshirts in it. Today is not a bra day. I lay awake until theearly morning hours, my mind racing with everything Max had said to me in the past seventy-two hours.

I pull my hair back in a ponytail on top of my head and head downstairs.

---