Redeemed Cowboy (Whiskey Valley Bryant Brothers)

I lie back on my bed and put my arm over my face. I want to scream into a pillow or something. "Thanks for the offer, Dad, but I'm good. I promise everything is fine here. Call me when you get to New Mexico, okay?"

He lets out a breath, and I wait for him to try and talk me into it, but all he does is tell me he loves me.

“I love you too, Dad.”

When he hangs up, I lie here for a while with my arm over my head, trying to figure out what I need to do, but it doesn't take me long because I know exactly what I need to do. I need to get over Ryan. I need to move on. I need to actually go on a date with someone... even if it kills me.

I grab my purse with my phone and my keys and stand up. I take one look at myself in the mirror and know it’s a lost cause. I don’t know anything about this kind of thing. I don’t own makeup—heck, my hairbrush is so old it’s losing its teeth.

I’m about to give up, but I’m not a quitter. I know I need to do this. I may not have a clue what I'm doing, but maybe I can get some help. I walk out into the main house, and Pauline and Natalie are in the kitchen talking about dinner.

"Hey, guys," I say as I walk in. I try to sound upbeat, but I don’t think I’m fooling anyone.

They both turn to me and say hi, and Natalie rushes toward me. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head. Man, I can't hide a thing from anybody. Instead of telling her what's bothering me, I decide to just go straight in with asking for a favor. "Do you have plans for today?"

She shakes her head. "Eli’s at school, and I don’t have anything going on I can’t do another day. What's going on? What do you need?"

I'm slightly embarrassed when I ask her. "Well, I'm thinking that I'm going to go and maybe get a haircut and get some new clothes, but I have no idea what I'm doing. Do you mind—I mean, do you care to go into town with me?"

Natalie claps her hands together. "Are you kidding me? I would love to have some girl time. That would be wonderful. I'll send a text to King and let him know."

I snap my fingers. I’m not even thinking right today. "Shoot, that reminds me. I should probably let him and the rest of the bunch know that I'll be in town for a while."

Natalie waves me off. "It's fine. I'll let him know."

I grimace. "Well, I'm actually supposed to be working, so I probably need to talk to him before I go."

Natalie keeps typing. "Mia, you're one of the hardest workers on the ranch. You never take time off. King is going to be fine with it."

I turn to Pauline. "What about you? You want to go see me do something with this?" I point at myself from head to toe.

She reaches over and gives me a side hug. "You're perfect just way you are, honey, but I can't wait to see you when you get back. I'll have dinner ready."

Natalie puts down her phone. "All right, we're set. King said that sounds great." She threads her arm through mine and says, "Let's go, but I'm thinking we might need to go into Jasper or Knoxville for this. What do you think, Mia?"

I shake my head. "I don't even have a clue where to start, so whatever you suggest is what we'll do."

Natalie all but skips out the door. "This is so exciting. We're going to have so much fun." My spirits start to pick up just a little bit. Her excitement is contagious.

Chapter 6

Mia

“All right, Mia, what's going on? Why the change?” I stare across the clothes rack at Natalie. I'm so thankful that she came with me today because I would've been lost without her. She instructed the hair stylist when we got to the salon. I now have reddish brown hair with some blonde highlights, and any time I pass a mirror, I keep having to take a second look because I love it so much. Nat helped me pick out makeup, and she insisted that we sit on a stool at the department store while the makeup artist showed me exactly how to apply it. And now I have probably way too many clothes picked out to wear, but I haven’t been able to resist. I was dreading this, but it’s actually been fun.

I’ve never done anything like this before. It's mostly jeans and shirts, but at least they're up to date and somewhat stylish.

“Earth to Mia, come in Mia?”

I laugh as Nat waves her hand in my face. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. What did you say?”

She points at my hair and the clothes rack between us. “Why the change? I mean I love it, don’t get me wrong, I’m just curious why all of a sudden you decided to do a complete makeover.”

"Nothing," I tell her with a shrug.

She shakes her head disbelievingly. “I don't believe that for a minute. Something happened.”