The Ranch (A Second Chance Romance)

Muriel also stepped forward. “I can leave my number with you. You can give me a call—or the police, even—if you see her.”

“Ain’t got a phone around here,” he spat again. “And even if we did, we wouldn’t use it to call the law. This is Bailey land, and we handle our own family business on this property.”

“Right,” Muriel nodded, taking a step back. “Of course. Thanks for talking to us.”

He grunted and glared while we slowly backtracked our way to the pickup.

“Sweet lord almighty,” Cooper exhaled as he threw the truck into reverse and got us back onto the narrow road that would lead us back to town. “That guy hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Unfortunately,” Poppy sighed. “I hoped we’d get there and see Jas or that someone would tell us she’d been there and she was okay.”

“That’s what we all hoped for,” I said. “And at least now we know for sure that she hasn’t been there, so we can finally cross that place off our list.”

Hopefully forever, because I didn’t want to go back to that place again for the rest of my life.

Regardless, I would have preferred to find Jasmine there than still being stuck, wondering what the hell happened to her.

I wasn’t going to say it out loud, but I had started to get worried, really worried.

If Jasmine had somehow gotten caught out in the storm, she might’ve been seriously hurt—or worse. She might’ve been hit by falling branches or swept away by floodwaters. Hell, anything could have happened out there in all that rain with those high winds.

But with Poppy and Muriel around, I was determined not to dwell on the worst-case scenario.

“We should do a little brainstorming,” I said, more than ready to distract my mind from those depressing thoughts. “What does she like to do in her free time? Is there anyone else she may have been eager to see? Somewhere she might have gone to meet another friend or family member?”

Poppy turned in her seat to face Muriel and me. “I can’t... she could have gone anywhere. She knows the area as well as we do.”

Muriel nodded. “And if she’d gone and hidden somewhere to wait out the storm, she would have shown back up by now. Or tried to call one of us, at the very least.”

“What about for work?” I asked, grasping at straws. “Doesn’t she do fashion stuff, too? Like the two of you?”

“Fashion stuff?” Poppy smirked. “Is that what we do?”

“Yeah, it is,” I grinned. “Modeling. Designing. Instagramming.” I shrugged. “Fashion stuff.”

Muriel snorted. “Yes, by that definition, we all do fashion stuff. Jas is a costume designer and works as a historical seamstress.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what all of that meant, but I had the gist of it. “I wonder if she might have been in touch with Axel and Micah....” I was brainstorming out loud, but the expectant looks on everyone’s faces told me that I needed to give a few more details. “Axel Stevenson and Micah Walsh,” I continued. “Remember them? They’re working on some kind of Civil War drama show.”

“Oh yeah,” Coop nodded. “That’s right. Isn’t their production company near here?”

Poppy and Muriel both sat upright with surprised expressions that were nearly identical. “That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Jasmine would do.”

“Yeah,” Muriel clasped her hands together. “Can we stop by the production place? It might be a long shot, but we’ve got nothing else, and it’s better than driving around aimlessly.”

“Works for me,” Cooper said, speeding up as we drove down the highway. “Now, everyone needs to say a little prayer that we find her there.”

He’d read my mind, as usual. I had no clue how much my prayers might have been worth, but I had to hope someone up there was listening.

And please, God, let her be okay.

Chapter Nineteen

Poppy Evans

Even after all the excitement of almost getting shot by Jasmine’s uncle and the uncertainty over where the hell Jas might’ve gotten too, to my shame, my eyelids started to droop as Cooper drove us to the... movie production office, or whatever it was.

I wasn’t exactly sure about the details of our next destination, but that part didn’t matter. All I cared about was making sure Jasmine was okay.

And then, getting some sleep. But my body didn’t share my priorities about the order of these things.

God, it had been the longest day of my entire life—in both good and bad ways.

Waking up that morning seemed like a distant memory an entire lifetime ago.

If we hadn’t been hunting down Jasmine, I would’ve already gone home and be dealing with my parents rather than riding around with my guys.

At least Cooper and Nolan didn’t seem angry with me anymore, even if tension continued bubbling under the surface.

“Should be there in a few minutes,” Cooper said quietly, glancing in my direction. “Are you still awake over there?”