Page 3 of Pitch for You

“Thank you.” I hugged him close, the warmth of his small body providing a fleeting comfort against the overwhelming responsibility I faced.

As we walked back to the living room hand-in-hand, I felt inadequate. My mother seemed to manage the ranch effortlessly, never showing any signs of the strain that I now felt every waking moment. Would I ever measure up to the woman she had been?

“Alright.” I sat down at the kitchen table with a notepad and pen. “Let's make a plan. We'll set some goals for ourselves, and that will help us stay on track.”

Max climbed onto the chair.

“First, we need to make sure we're spending enough time together. I don't want you to feel neglected while I'm trying to manage the ranch.”

“Can we have a special day every week?” Max suggested. “Just for us?”

“Absolutely. We'll set aside one day every week just for us.”

“Next, we should find someone who can help us with the ranch work,” I continued, jotting it down. “Someone like Jake, who understands what needs to be done and can lighten our load. I’ve been looking, but maybe I need to look harder.”

As I wrote down more goals – improving the ranch's finances, fixing up the old barn, and finding ways to make the ranch more sustainable – the road ahead appeared difficult, but with Max by my side and a clear plan in place, we could do it.

“Ready to tackle this together, Max?” I asked, looking at the list of goals we had created.

“Ready!”

I squeezed his hand, heart still heavy with the loss of my mother, but now fortified with a fierce resolve to keep the legacy alive. We would face these challenges head-on, and together, we would ensure the future of the family ranch.

2

Brett

Rich: Sofia is back in town. Meet me at the pub

I had been punched in the stomach.Memories of her flooded my mind, and a knot formed in my chest. Was the day finally here? The girl I left behind, the one I never quite managed to forget. She haunted my dreams, her voice echoing in my head, her laughter ringing in my ears. After all these years…

I wanted to see her, to talk to her, to find out if she still thought about me too. But I was afraid. Afraid of what she might say, afraid of what I might feel. Would she even want to see me?

The last time I saw her was the day I left for college on my baseball scholarship. I promised her I would come back for her, but life got in the way and I never did. I always regretted it, always wondered what could have been if I chose her instead. This was my chance to make things right.

Rich was the only person that could give me advice in this situation. My longest running friend and the only one left that was present for Sofia and I’s previous relationship. If anyone could understand my need to make things right, it was him. He had been my best friend for two decades and the only person that kept me updated on Sofia after I left. He knew how deep my love ran for that woman.

I arrived at the pub and spotted Rich sitting at a table near the back. He looked up and waved me over. As I got closer, he was holding a beer in his hand, his fingers tapping nervously against the bottle.

“Hey man, I knew you’d need some company after that news.”

“Yeah, no shit. So...Sofia's back huh?”

When her mother passed, it only made sense she would return to Lawson Ridge. News travels fast in small towns. I wish better circumstances had brought her back.

“Yeah I saw her at the grocery store with her son this afternoon. She looks good. Her mom left the ranch to her… so I’m assuming she’s back to wrangle it.”

When we were kids, Sofia dreamed about running the ranch, but then she moved away and honestly no one knew if she would ever return.

“I need your help,” I blurted out before I could chicken out. “I want to talk to Sofia and tell her how sorry I am for leaving her all those years ago. And how much she still means to me.”

Rich studied me carefully before letting out a sigh. “Are you sure about this? She might not want to hear it.”

“I have to try. I can't go through life wondering 'what if'. She deserves an explanation and an apology from me.”

Rich nodded, considering my words. “Alright, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that she might not want to see you. A lot can change in twelve years.”

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. “I know. But I have to try.”

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