AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, there’s something I wanted to tell you about first. It has to do with your birthday present,” Shelby says nervously, wringing her fingers together.
“I thought tonight was my present. You all pitched in to pay for the drinks and dinner. That’s more than enough. You know I don’t expect actual gifts. In fact, I think I told everyone no gifts this year.”
“Yes, but…” she looks at Sam and he just shrugs his shoulders. She’s not going to get any help from there. “We also pitched in for something else.”
“What?” I’m starting to get that feeling in the bottom part of my stomach that comes before throwing up. I’m not sure if it’s because of the way Shelby is acting or because of all the alcohol sitting there. It’s probably somewhere in the middle.
“Well, you love horses, right?”
I nod and wait for her to continue.
“You know about the Iron H Ranch, they do an auction, and the proceeds go to helping the horses.”
“Yes, isn’t it that the win a Cowboy-for-a-Day auction all the women have been going crazy for? I’ve heard that a lot of the cowboys and auction winners have fallen in love.” As I finish the sentence and look into my best friend’s eyes, I realize what she’s done. She’s gone and bought me a cowboy for my thirtieth birthday.
“You didn’t.”
“Um, we did?” Shelby answers, very much in the form of a question.
“Why would you do that?” My voice has risen and several of the other bar patrons are looking over at our table. I’m not mad, but I’m also not happy. Why she thought I would want to spend the day with some pretty boy cowboy who thinks women should pay money to spend the day with him I’ll never know. Maybe if I match the donation I can just skip spending the actual time with the cowboy.
On the other hand, I’ve always wanted to see how things are run on a ranch like the Iron H and how rescue horses are handled. Maybe this is an opportunity to learn some things we can use at our ranch.
“Georgia, we wanted to do something special for your birthday. You love horses and this was for a good cause. Plus, you get to spend the day with a super-hot cowboy who also loves horses. It’s a win-win. And you know the cowboy, so there won’t even be an awkward getting to know each other period. You know each other pretty well already.”
Shelby immediately covers her mouth like she can put the words she just said back in or keep more from spilling out. Sam coughs to cover the laugh, but I can see in his eyes that whatever Shelby just spilled is hilarious to him.
“What do you mean I already know him? I don’t think I know anyone from Iron H.” I search my brain thinking about all the people that I talk to dealing with the ranch things. Iron H isn’t a ranch we do any work with, so I draw a blank.
I am feeling more sober now, so yay for that at least. “Who is it, Shelby?”
“You remember Boone Lowe, right.” Shelby ducks in her seat when she says his name like I’m going to throw something at her head.
We are in public and I’m a lady. I’ll wait to get her for this when she least expects it. She and Sam are about to be matchmaker-ed the hell out of.
“Shelby, you know I know Boone Lowe. You were there when we dated and when he dumped me. Please tell me that I’m not supposed to spend a whole day with him.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, it’s him?” I want her to spell this out for me.
“Yes, the cowboy that was being auctioned for a good cause, to help the horses, was Boone Lowe, and you won.”
“Did you know that the man you were bidding on was Boone or did you just think you were bidding on a random cowboy?”
“Does it matter?” Sam, who’s decided to join the conversation and stick up for Shelby a little, asks.
I don’t even answer, I just hold both in my gaze. It might look ridiculous with how much I’ve drunk tonight, but I’d like to think that it looks like some death stare from a villainess in a movie. I don’t blink, until Shelby cracks.
“I knew it was Boone,” she sighs. “C’mon, you know that you still think he’s hot.”
“I have eyes that function, Shelby. Everyone can see that Boone is hot.” Hot is an understatement. That man is a walking fantasy, my walking fantasy, but that’s no one’s business but mine. “That doesn’t mean I want to spend a whole day with him. In fact, I don’t want to spend any time with him. You do remember that he called me stuck-up and broke up with me.”
“He didn’t call you stuck-up. He said that he wanted you to have everything you wanted in life and that was more than he could ever offer.”
“What does that mean other than he thought I was stuck-up and wanted some rich guy or something.” I never understood what Boone meant, but I moved on. We hadn’t dated long and although it could have been something amazing, we hadn’t gotten there yet. He stopped us before we could. My heart had been more bruised than broken, but I don’t want to risk that again. I have to find a way to get out of this Cowboy-for-a-Day nonsense and I will.
2
