Chapter 1

Ophelia

“Good grief, Helena. The stack of bills is growing by the day,” I told my best friend as I sorted through the dreaded letters. I put my cell phone on speaker and set it down before grabbing a hair tie from my wrist. I swept my long, curly red hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way and started to open the sealed envelopes. “How did he let it get this bad?”

“He’d been sick for over a year, Lia. That meant no training for shows and hardly any income from boarding. Didn’t you tell me it barely covered the cost of keeping up with your own horses? Bills pile up. He probably thought he could get it back under control once he recovered.”

I dropped my forehead to the table and sighed. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen, you know? He was too young. I was supposed to have years of helping him run the ranch, doing it together until I could handle it on my own. Now it’s all my responsibility, and I’m going to fail! My Grandpa’s legacy snuffed out right before my eyes.”

“Wow, dramatic much?” she asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm. I stuck my tongue out at the phone since she couldn’t see the immature gesture. “Sorry,” she sighed. “It’s only been two months, Lia. Give yourself a break. He never told you he was sick and you’ve barely had time to process it, much less grieve.”

Spying an envelope with the name Booker, Peterman, & Finch, I snatched it from the pile and tore it open. It was yet another offer letter for the ranch. There had been a whole file of them in Grandpa’s desk and two more in the mail over the time I’d been living at Red Hill. “Won’t they give up?” I spat and tore the letter in two. I’d call tomorrow and tell them no. Again.

Helena sighed audibly. “Maybe you should consider selling, Lia,” she said quietly. “It’s only you and Andy now, right? And he’s what? Seventy?”

“No way.” I shook my head emphatically, the physical emphasis more for myself since Helena couldn’t see that either. I also avoided answering her question. “This ranch is my heritage. My great, great grandfather bought it and named it after his wife. Her hair was red, and her maiden name was Hill. I’m named after her, and Grandpa used to tell me that I was her spitting image. He always said it was why this land called to me because she wanted me to have it.” I chuckled at the memory, even as a cloud of sadness washed over me. I missed him so much. I refused to let him down.

“But, Lea—”

“No,” I cut her off. “I’m going to make this work. For now, I’ve got some money saved and hopefully it will be enough to hold off the collectors for a while. Like you said, the money coming in from boarding will cover the cost of care for all of the horses. And, Andy was still working with the last two foals born on the ranch. It was minimal but at least I won’t be starting their training from scratch. I just need to buy enough time to get them ready and sell them.”

There was a beat of silence before Helena spoke again. “Okay. Let me know if I can help.” I didn’t laugh because it was such a sweet offer, but it was a pretty humorous thought. Helena was a city girl through and through. The idea of her working on a ranch and breaking a nail almost had me in hysterics. It would be our very own version of The Simple Life. Still, it was the thought that counted.

“I will.”

“Okay, on to the fun stuff,” she chirped, her tone considerably more cheerful. “Banged any hot ranchers recently?”

I rolled my eyes. “And just when would I have had time to do that, Helena?” I stood and moseyed over to the coffee pot for a refill.

“Girl, I know you didn’t have time to date between training and competing, especially when you went to the Olympics. But, you’re twenty-five and retired. Now is the perfect time to get crazy and live a little.”

“First of all, I’ve got a drowning ranch to run, so I still have no time,” I rebutted. “Second, I’m assuming by ‘live a little,’ you mean sleep with as many cowboys as possible.” I loved Helena to pieces, but our views on love and sex were vastly different.

“I’d settle for one and getting your cherry popped, Mary” she grumbled.

Yup. I was a twenty-five-year-old virgin. But, in my defense, I’d been one hundred percent focused on my goal of being the youngest rider on the U.S. equestrian team at the Olympics. Boys weren’t even on my radar.

“I’m not going to bring home some random stranger just to lose my v-card.” I took a sip of my coffee and then whirled around to spit it in the sink.

“Lia? You okay?”

“Forgot cream and sugar,” I coughed, scrunching my face at the bitter aftertaste. Helena burst into laughter, and I joined her as I dumped my condiments in my coffee and stirred. I moaned after taking a sip. Now, that was delicious.

“Hey, what about Cowboy McHottie from next door!” Helena had perked up at her suggestion. Sounding excited as if this was the best idea ever.

“You mean Mr. Tall, dark, and asshole?” I snorted acerbically. “Not gonna happen.”

Helena harrumphed. “Why not?”

“Didn’t you hear his name? He’s a complete jerk. Every time I’ve run into him since I got home, he’s either ignored me or berated me for doing something incorrectly.” As if I didn’t know how to properly ride a horse, jackass. “Oh, and let’s not forget the time he flat out told me that I had no business trying to run this ranch and I should just sell it.”

“Doesn’t he know what you’ve been doing for the last twenty-five years?” she scoffed.

“Of course he does, but according to him, staying on a pony while it jumps over a barrel does not qualify me to run Red Hill.” I used my best imitation of James’s low timbre as I paraphrased his insult. “Ugh. I hate that guy.”

“Well shit,” Helena muttered. “I hate him too.”

I giggled at her reference to a tv show we used to watch together whenever she would visit me. We’d met in elementary school and became best friends. Despite the commonality of young friends drifting apart when separated, we’d stayed close even after I switched to homeschooling since I was often on the road competing. 

She even took time off to join me the two times I went to the Olympics. After the last disastrous event, I didn’t think I would have recovered without her. It was a dark time, and I didn’t like to think about it, so I shook it off and returned to our conversation about my infuriating neighbor.

“Seriously though, Lia. I need you to find a man, fall in love, and be happy so I can stop worrying about you all the time.”

Finished with my drink, I rinsed the cup and put it in the dishwasher as I answered her. “I am happy. The ranch is the only thing that could fill the void. It’s just another reason why I have to make this work, Helena,” I pleaded, begging for her understanding. Nobody seemed to think I could succeed at making this ranch a success, even my parents. I needed Helena to believe in me.

“I get it, Lia. I do. And, I have no doubt you’ll be amazing at this like you are with everything else. But, I also don’t want you to wake up one day and realize that everything you worked for is all you have and no one to share it with.”

Sighing, I walked to the table and picked up my phone, taking it off speaker. “I promise when things get a little steadier, I’ll put some effort into dating, okay? Will that satisfy you?”

Helena laughed. “For now.”

I smiled and shook my head. At least I managed to put her off for a while. “Listen—” The chime of my doorbell interrupted me, and I glanced at the clock. “Shit, I’m running late, and it’s likely Rose at the door. I’ll call you in a couple of days.”

“An in sexy cowboy’s sister?” she asked quickly.

“Yes. Bye!” I hung up before she could respond and hurried to the door. I opened it and smiled as my other neighbor waved sweetly. Rose was James’s sixteen-year-old sister and his complete opposite. She had a bright and funny personality, was a hard worker and it was clear that she loved her brother fiercely. I couldn’t blame her for that. It’s not like she chose him to be her family.

I’d tried to find some redeeming qualities in James, besides his great ass, for Rose’s sake. So far, I’d been unsuccessful. But, it didn’t stop me from hanging out with her. “Come on in, Rose,” I said, gesturing for her to enter. “Sorry, I had a phone call and got behind. Let me grab my hat and boots, and we’ll go.”

Rose had no interest in running the family Ranch, but horses were still in her blood. We ran into each other in Fort Mavis shortly after I moved here and it was clear that she was excited to have a female neighbor. She’d offered to help me exercise the horses a couple of times a week and seeing as how I could use a friend too, I’d taken her up on it.

I grabbed my oldest and most comfortable pair of riding boots and pulled them on. Taking out my ponytail, I finger combed the strands before swiftly putting them into a braid that fell down to the center of my back. Once I popped my hat onto my head and grabbed my keys, we set off for the barn.