hold up your phone, and you say, ‘I don’t want to take a break. Life is busy, Holly Ann. Are we going to break-up every time you get a little busy? Heck, I’m busy all the dang time. I work overnight during birthing season. I ride for twenty hours during round-up. I go out at three a.m. to start planting, which takes over a month. I—”
“I get it,” Ace said, holding up his hand so Bishop would stop.
He did, and the two of them looked at one another. Hope started to collect in Ace’s chest, and it pressed against his heart, which banged like a drum.
“I go tell her no, I don’t want to take a break,” Ace mused. “I don’t just let her dictate to me how things are going to be.”
“That’s right,” Bishop said. “You go fight for her. For the two of you. For your relationship." He grinned at Ace. “Women like that. And we—” He gestured between the two of them, and then around the room, likely indicating every man on this ranch. “We never do that. We never just say, ‘no, that won’t work for me.’”
“Ranger did,” Ace said quietly. “When Oakley wanted to date him and other men…he said no. That won’t work for me.” He looked at Bishop, his eyes wide.
“And now she’s his wife.”
“This might work.”
Bishop chuckled and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. The moment sobered, and then he asked, “Why are you still here? Go. Go already!”
Ace got to his feet, his heart racing. He didn’t do things like this. He wasn’t even sure where to start.
“Teeth,” Bishop said. “Just in case there’s any kissing, you don’t need that frog eye breath.”
“Teeth,” Ace said, striding out of the office and taking the steps up to his room.
Bishop followed him, saying, “Then you need to wipe your face. Spray some of that sexy cologne on your collar. Drive down to her house, and wait. That’s it, Ace. You can do that.”
Ace brushed his teeth and washed his face. He let Bishop spray the cologne, and then he was ready to go.
“Drive, wait, talk to her,” Ace said, his fear diving through him. He really didn’t do things like this.
“You look great,” Bishop said, looking down to Ace’s boots and back to his hat. “Everything is on-point. You’ve got this.”
“Thanks.” Ace drew in a lung full of air and held it. “Okay, well, will you tell Mister and Ward where I am?”
Bishop started to say yes, and then said, “Mister?”
“He lives here,” Ace said.
“No, he doesn’t,” Bishop said. “He lives up in a cabin by my mother.”
Ace shook his head. “He told everyone that, but there aren’t even dishes in that cabin. Or toilet paper. He sleeps in one of the bedrooms in the basement.” Ace started downstairs to the kitchen to get the keys to his truck. “We keep tellin’ him to go get his clothes and just bring it all down here. He doesn’t want anyone to know he lives here.”
“Of course we’re going to know. We’ll see him go in and out.”
“You live right next door and didn’t know.” Ace cocked his eyebrow at Bishop. “He’s been here for months.”
“Huh.”
“He just needs to be left alone,” Ace said. “We all feel like that from time to time.”
“Yes, we do,” Bishop said.
“Okay.” Ace opened the drawer and took out his keys. “Here I go.”
“Good luck,” Bishop called after him, and Ace leaned on his luck all the way to Holly Ann’s.
Her windows were dark, but she had outside lights on. He pulled right into her driveway, leaving only half for her, adjusted the radio so it wasn’t quite so loud, and unbuckled his seatbelt so he could settle in to wait.
He didn’t have to wait long, actually. Only about twenty minutes went by before a pair of headlights carved their way through the darkness and her SUV eased to a stop next to his truck.
“Now or never,” he whispered to himself. He’d steadfastly refused to pray, because he felt like he jinxed himself every time he did. The Lord seemed to think it would be funny to do the exact opposite of what Ace prayed for anyway. He didn’t see the point anymore.
He got out of the truck and rounded the back of it so he was approaching Holly Ann as she got out of her SUV. She carried an oversized purse, a forty-four-ounce soda cup, and a bag of take-out.
“Ace,” she said, her voice