“Not some wild cowgirl who rides better than you and fits in better at a rodeo than a bake sale? Someone like that nice girl who works in your clinic.”
Alex nodded, closing his eyes in shame. “I was a goddamn fool. Now Brenne is with Gavin and Emma’s got her sights set on me. But I just can’t stop thinking about your sister.”
“I must admit, that’s a tangled mess.” Johnnie let out a low whistle. “Still, you can’t give up hope. If you’re the right man for Brenne, then tell her so.”
“And Gavin Jeffries, the billionaire who’s about to buy our town? What am I supposed to do about him?” Alex knew what he wanted to do with the man. Catch him outdoors and feed him his own pompous face.
“I don’t have all the answers,” Johnnie said, “but I know that you can’t quit or you’re just giving her away to the man.”
“While I appreciate you taking my side,” Alex replied, “I don’t think you’re seeing the bigger picture. Gavin Jeffries has the power of life and death over Whiskey River. And you want me to go steal his girl and spit in his eye? What if he decides to get revenge? He could snap up the MacAllen ranch in a second and set in on fire, then salt the earth.”
“He can’t take it if we don’t sell it to him,” Johnnie said matter-of-factly.
“That’s where you’re wrong. Thanks to a little thing called ‘eminent domain,’ IG can buy the ranch even if you don’t want to sell it.”
“No, I’ve read the Landowner’s Bill of Rights. Here in Texas, land can only be taken for public use, like building roads and pipelines and such.” Johnnie grinned like a school kid getting the right answer on a test.
“And you don’t think the Governor and Gavin Jeffries’s lawyers can’t find a way around that? Maybe they say the ranch will be taken for public use. Maybe it will contain municipal infrastructure, or hell, even a park. It won’t matter in the end because we’ll never win if the state house and IG are in cahoots.”
Johnnie let out a long breath. “I see now what you mean.”
“So let me once again count the reasons why I can’t go pour my heart out to your sister.” He held up his index finger. “Number one, my best friend would never speak to me again.” A second finger joined the first. “Number two, your sister is dating another man. Number three,” he continued, his ring finger rising, “the man she’s dating is Gavin Jeffries.” His pinky and thumb were next. “Number four, Gavin has a vested interest in buying Whiskey River to do with as he pleases. And Number five, I’ve already proved to your sister what an asshole I am, so anything I do from here is only going to piss her off, or piss Gavin off. Or both.”
Johnnie glanced in his direction, brows furrowed. “You’ve done a good job of outlining the opposition, but I got one word for you—love. If you love my sister and there’s even a chance that she loves you, you gotta go for it.”
Johnnie turned back to the road, his expression sincere. “I used to tell myself that I didn’t need anyone, that girls were there for a good time but not a long one. Then I met Louisa and everything changed. For the better. If I didn’t have that woman, I don’t know what my life would be.”
Alex could feel the emotion in Johnnie’s words. It was moving, but he knew that at the end of the day, reality won out. “Sometimes you can’t get to love. Sometimes there’s too much standing in the way.”
“I don’t care if an army of mutant gorillas drunk on whiskey was standing between me and my wife. I wouldn’t give up until she was mine.”
Alex wondered if he had the determination that Johnnie did. Everything seemed stacked against him. How could he overcome all those obstacles and end up with a happily ever after? It seemed impossible.
Johnnie pulled down the driveway of the Parsons farm, circling around the garage and taking the gravel road to the clinic. He parked outside and let out a long breath. “You able to show yourself inside?”
Alex nodded. “Thanks for the ride. And the talk.” He let himself out of the car and walked slowly toward the door. Fumbling out his keys, he tried to insert them into the lock. It took some work, but he managed on the third try. Alex entered the clinic, locked the door behind him, and trudged up the stairs to his loft space.
Face-planting onto the bed, Alex let out a groan that held all of the angst inside him. Tonight was the lowest point in my life, he realized, turning over to massage his chest where an ache had taken up residence.
Could Johnnie be right? Am I giving up too easily?
Alex was too exhausted to rehash the arguments in his head again, so he cleared his mind and sent up a simple prayer. “If You think we’re meant to be together, then you’re going to have to work your magic, Lord, because at this point, I need a miracle.”
CHAPTER 28
BRENNE
A thunderclap shook the calving barn, and Brenne looked up, startled. An unexpected winter weather system had kicked up a storm, and they’d hurried to get the heifers that would be expecting soon into the barn before the worst of it hit.
Although cattle were generally used to shifts in weather, sometimes a heifer could spook and go into early labor. Which was exactly what had happened. Elijah and Evan got the barn doors secured, allowing the low moan from one of the cows to echo around the barn.
Tracy was a young heifer and this was her first calf. “Better call up to the house,” Jameson had said when he found out about the cow’s condition. “We might need some extra hands with this one.”
Twenty minutes later, one of the doors swung open, a flash of lightning illuminating the wet forms of her father and her brother Jack. “Which heifer is it?” her father asked. Brenne pointed to the enclosure where the cow sat panting.
They gathered around, Brenne at her father’s side while the others stood ready with any supplies that might be necessary. Bill got down in the straw beside the beast, putting a hand on her distended belly. “Something don’t feel right,” her father said, his voice like gravel. “Take a look.”
Brenne knelt next to him, minding the agitated cow’s hooves. She pressed gently on the womb. “I’m not sure.”
Bill turned to Jameson. “Call the doc. We might have trouble with this one.” Her brother nodded and did as he was told. Brenne repositioned herself at the birth canal. “With the way she’s carrying on, you would think she was past early labor, but she hasn’t expelled the water bag yet.”
Bill nodded. “We could have a breech or another complication.”
Brenne stood, making her way to the sink. She rolled up her sleeves as high as they could go, then turning on the hot water to scrub up. She tried not to think about the fact that Alex would likely be there soon. She still wasn’t over their last encounter, and she wasn’t ready to see him again. But if the cow needed help, then Alex was the best person to have on hand in case of emergency.
She and her father were standing vigil over the cow when the door opened again. She was expecting Alex, but instead, Gavin strolled into the barn. He was closing a large umbrella, the rest of him seemingly dry. “I heard you were all out here. Something exciting going on with one of the herd?”