Page 13 of The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother
They walked together to the end of the table, and he pulled out her chair for her, placing her at the very end of the row, on his right. At the end of the table was her dad, and she hugged him again before taking her seat across from her mom.
Wyatt took his seat next to her and leaned over. “Told you it was a little quieter down here.”
His breath tickled her ear, and she giggled.
“What’s so funny?” her sister asked. Stephanie had taken a seat next to their mom, with Josiah on her right.
Gabby wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Nothing, really. Just funny that we’re finally all together at a table and it’s not suffocating.”
Their dad chuckled. “This was really nice of Bear to think of the family like this. He’s done a jam-up good job.”
Wyatt cleared his throat. “You scouted the property with Bear and Dad, didn’t you?”
“I did.” Amos paused as he took a drink of water. “We found a pecan orchard about five miles from here. It’s in rough shape, but I think we can save it. It’ll need better irrigation. That’s if Bear wants to keep it.”
Wyatt’s mouth dropped open. “A pecan orchard?”
Her dad nodded. “That’s what we all thought. I had no idea the Canyons had any such ideas. They must have started it right before they fell on hard times. There’s even a rundown old house over there, like they planned on having someone stay there and tend it.”
Gabby’s gaze drifted to the table as she lost herself in a memory. The summer after his graduation from high school, Wyatt had his tonsils out. She was supposed to go to camp, but Mrs. West was still working at the time. Gabby overheard her fretting about staying home with Wyatt.
In a split-second decision, she offered to stay with him, and then she’d torn up her registration for camp. She’d told Wyatt that her parents had planned a vacation, and then it had fallen through. Of Course, Carrie Anne had picked up on what she was doing the second Gabby said she wasn’t going.
Oh, he’d been miserable that week, but Mrs. West had supplied them with enough popsicles to build an igloo. In Gabby’s mind, it was a good trade. Not only did she get to spend time with Wyatt, but she got junk food too. Plus, she loved Mrs. West as much as she loved her own family. The look of relief when she’d volunteered was worth just as much as spending time with Wyatt.
She couldn’t remember how it had started, but they’d spent the entire week talking about owning an orchard. She was going to bake pies. They were going to have apple-picking days where families would come to the orchard. Once a month, they were going to have a farmer’s market so people could buy fresh produce.
Wyatt nudged her with his shoulder, pulling her from her thoughts. “You remember talking about having an orchard? That summer I had my tonsils out? Maybe this could be it.”
“Vaguely,” she lied.
“When did you two talk about all that?” Gabby’s mom asked.
“Oh, quite a few times,” Wyatt answered. “I’d go to her with girl trouble from time to time, and we’d wind up talking about all sorts of stuff.”
Stephanie tilted her head. “I didn’t know that.”
Shrugging, Wyatt looked at Gabby. “Well, we had this little spot at the playground by the school. We’d go there when we had stuff on our minds. Sometimes, I’d find her; other times, she’d find me.”
Gabby nodded, the memories filling her thoughts with so many good times. She’d loved those moments, especially when they’d grown older. She could remember it like it was just a second ago. They only brought her heartache now.
He smiled. “That summer after my surgery was a rough one. My first time back on a bull was rough. It left me feeling like I had no business being there.”
Yep, she remembered that too. He’d looked so hurt and dejected. “You were pretty upset.”
He shifted to tap her shoulder with his again. “You told me to put my chin up and keep going. That those seasoned guys might have had a better ride, but they didn’t have my style or my drive.”
“They didn’t,” she said and lifted her gaze to his. “You’d finish your eight seconds, hit that ground, and your joy would be infectious. You loved it, and I loved watching you.” Her cheeks burned when she realized she’d said all of that out loud. She pulled her gaze from his and avoided any eye contact with her mom or sister. “I mean, everyone loved watching you. That’s why we’d all go to your events.”
Why had she said all that? Now she was going to look like an idiot. She should have fought harder to sit by Carrie Anne. When was she ever going to learn that being in Wyatt’s gravity was only going to make her crash to the ground?
Her heart whispered,Never.
Six weeks. She was going to go down in flames.
Chapter 6
Gabby’s sister laughed. “Well, not the whole family. She bribed me to drive her to your rodeo events.” Stephanie smiled, shaking her head. “One of them even got me a six-month reprieve from trash duty. It was right after you graduated from high school. You’d just joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and I think you were somewhere in Oklahoma. The only way mom would let her go was if I drove her. I don’t think she ever missed one until she moved to Charleston.”
