good. Your father and I are driving down to Portland next weekend and thought maybe we could do lunch before we fly out to see your brother. Did you see last night’s episode? That was one of my favorites. I’m so glad they’re replaying episodes over the summer.”
Hadley occasionally watched Asher’s show. It wasn’t on her DVR, but if she remembered, she would have it on in the background while she was surfing the internet at night. She didn’t watch the reruns, though. Her parents, on the other hand, never missed an episode—new or previously aired. They wouldn’t want to miss a second of Asher’s brilliance.
“It’s always great. That’s why it’s getting all that Emmy buzz.”
“Can you imagine if your brother won an Emmy this early in his career? He’s been so fortunate and your dad and I are just so proud.”
So proud. Always so proud when it came to Asher. Even if Hadley could do something worthy of their pride, it wouldn’t make them so proud like her brother always did.
“If he does, it will only be the first of many,” Hadley said, knowing that was what her mom wanted to hear.
“That’s what I was thinking! I can’t wait to see him. He invited us to be there when they announce the nominees. He also said he’s got some good news about a movie. Did I tell you he auditioned for the lead in a movie directed by... Oh, I shouldn’t say. I don’t want to jinx it for him. Let’s just say it rhymes with Hint Leastwood.”
Hadley stopped listening. This was so typical. Her mom would call to ask her to lunch and they’d somehow spend the next twenty minutes talking about Asher. It never failed.
“I’m not in Portland,” Hadley said once her mom stopped giving her the latest details of Asher’s fantastic life.
“What do you mean you’re not in Portland?” Her mother actually sounded concerned.
“I’m away on business for the next couple of weeks.”
“Since when do you travel for work?”
“Since now. The boss asked me to help him with a special project, so I’m here in Montana.”
“Montana! What in the world could you be doing there?”
“We’re doing some marketing for a guest ranch out here. It actually belongs to my boss’s family. It’s pretty important to him, so it’s a big deal that I was asked to come help him.”
“You’re on a ranch? Asher’s new movie is a Western. What a coincidence!”
Hadley smacked her forehead. The Amazing Jane Sullivan could turn any conversation into one about Asher in ten seconds flat.
“Well, it was good to catch up.” Talking to her mom was almost as torturous as not talking to Tyler. She needed a good excuse to get off the phone. “I guess we’ll have to do lunch the next time you visit Asher. I’m gonna have to let you go, Mom. Tell Dad I said hello.”
“Oh, okay, sweetheart. I’m going to call your brother and tell him you’re at a ranch. He’ll get a kick out of you following in his footsteps.”
Her mother’s mind was a very strange place. Something told Hadley that when she got the promotion at work, instead of being excited for her, they would somehow make it about Asher.
Maybe Tyler wasn’t the only one who was tired of trying to compete with family when winning was never an option.
* * *
HADLEY SEEMED DISTRACTED. She played with a lock of her hair as she stared out the window of the car. The dress she’d picked out was probably too fancy for dinner at Jon’s, but she had insisted that looking out of place would only help him in the end. A city-girl fiancée would never survive on a ranch. Ethan would have to leave him alone about moving back.
She was so good at this. Bringing her along was the best decision he made even though things had been awkward this afternoon. Tonight might be as bad. Tyler hadn’t been to Jon’s ranch in years and the last time he saw Jon’s twins, they were babies. He had no idea what to expect from his brothers. He could be walking Hadley into a lion’s den.
“You look beautiful, by the way. I should have said that before we left,” he said, breaking the silence.
She turned her head in his direction and suddenly that word didn’t do her justice. Her blond hair had a soft curl in it. It framed her face so perfectly. Her lips were painted pink and the highlighter on her cheeks shimmered in the early-evening sun. She took his breath away.
“Thanks.” She smiled and averted her eyes.
“Only a few more hours of major pretending. Tomorrow, we should be on our own and we can be our normal selves. I’d like to work on the website, get the new one up and running.”
Talking business was easier than thinking about how good she looked and how comfortable he had begun to feel around her. Maybe his feelings were getting muddied because of the lies they had to tell.
Hadley crossed her legs and smoothed out the wrinkles in the skirt of her dress. “We’ll survive dinner and your family. I figure anytime one of them asks me something about you that I don’t know, I’ll say, ‘Oh, you know Tyler.’ And if they really think about it, they’ll know the answer.”
He chuckled at her reasoning. “Too bad I can’t use that when they ask me something about you. Although, you did fill my head with quite a bit of Hadley history. If they need to know which fictional character you would marry instead of me, I know it’s Ron Weasley.”
“Don’t you dare. That was when I was thirteen. I don’t know why I even told you about that.” Her cheeks turned red.
Stunning. It was the new word that kept running through his mind. He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and forced all the adjectives he could use to describe Hadley out of his mind as he pulled through the gates to the JB Ranch.
“Welcome!” A smiling brunette answered the door and ushered them inside. Jon’s black-and-white border collie was there to greet the new guests, as well.
“You must be Lydia,” Tyler guessed.
“And you must be Tyler and Hadley. It’s so good to meet you. Please come on in. The rest of the gang is in the living room.”
Hadley handed her the bottle of wine they had bought in town beforehand. “It’s nice to know there’s someone else here who hasn’t known the Blackwells forever.”
Lydia beamed, her blue eyes shining almost as bright as Hadley’s. “Oh, that’s exactly how I feel!”
The two of them hugged like they were longtime friends. Women had a way of bonding over the strangest things. Tyler didn’t get it, but he did appreciate the smell of some good home cooking.
“Is that chili I smell?” he asked, stepping farther in the house.
“It’s an old family recipe. We’re going to have chili with all the fixings and my famous jalapeño corn bread. I hope you’re hungry.”
“He didn’t sweat all day
