“Get to it, Greeley,” a voice yelled from the back of the room, and everyone laughed.

  “I am, I am,” Hank chastised. He pulled a pair of glasses from his breast pocket of his denim shirt and balanced them on his nose, then picked up the paper another member had placed in front of him. He read it to himself and smiled. “Well, alrighty, then! Distinguished members of the Kingsley Cattlemen’s Association, we have a chairman.” He looked around the room and a few men groaned because of his theatrics.

  “Congratulations, Mr. Chad Radford on a successful campaign. Please come up and accept your new title as the chairman of the Kingsley Cattlemen’s Association!”

  The whoop that filled the room was deafening. Both Jett and Shane clapped him on the back and side-hugged him at the same time. Chad bowed his head as other members reached out to shake his hand as he made his way to the front of the room.

  A mix of pride, humility, and nerves washed over him.

  He’d done it!

  “Care to say a few words?” Hank asked him over the noise as they shook hands.

  Chad nodded and waited for the applause to die down.

  “First of all, I want to say thank you,” Chad said. “For trusting that I can handle this important job. I’ve had a chance to talk one-on-one with many of you during the campaign, and I’m well acquainted with the challenges you’re facing, both on a professional level, and on a personal level. I’m can’t thank you enough for considering me the right man for the job, but I hope you’ll also remember me first as your neighbor and a fellow rancher with dust on my own boots.”

  Everyone chuckled.

  “I’m honored that you have confidence in my ability to lead this fine organization. But for tonight, I don’t want to start going on about business right off the bat, so I’m putting forward the motion that we end this meeting and move it to Saddle Joe’s. First round is on me!”

  The group cheered and the sound of scuffing boots and rattling chairs filled the room.

  Chad felt like he was swimming upstream to get back to his seat. The handshakes and back slaps didn’t stop coming. It felt incredible, like he was exactly where he belonged for the first time in his life.

  “Hey, Chad,” Hank called to him. “Congratulations. I’m so glad that we made the right choice. I never imagined when we had that talk in the parking lot that you were serious about this position. But you proved it. My son showed me everything you were putting up on that Facebook of yours.”

  “Oh, that was all my campaign manager, Hannah. Not me. She’s the one who made me look good.”

  “That pretty girl you were going around with? Well, I’d say all she did was show the world who the real Chad Radford was. You didn’t change, son, you changed what you showed the world. The stuff she was puttin’ out there was just Chad being Chad, am I right?”

  Hearing the old-timer speak the words really brought it home for him. Hannah had quickly assessed who he was and found the most direct way to show it to the world. Without her, he probably wouldn’t have won.

  “Well, I guess so, if you put it that way.”

  “Hey, I’m ready for that beer you promised,” Jett said, joining the two men. “Let’s head over to Saddle Joe’s. We sprang for a babysitter so Matilda and Noelle are joining us too. Anyone else you want to invite?”

  He gave him a long look, but Chad shook his head and opted to move on before the conversation could get too serious. “Nope, we’ll have a full house as it is. I’m gonna go broke paying for that first round.”

  “Okay, then let’s head over.” Chad shook Hank’s hand again and wished he could tell the one person who was just as invested in the outcome as he was.

  18

  “Hannah, someone wants to talk to you,” Tania said as she swept into the kitchen. “He looks important. I could see the diamonds on his Rolex from behind the counter.”

  Hannah froze with a frosting bag hovering above a naked cupcake, wondering what an important-looking person could need from her. “Did he say why? Did he ask for me by name?”

  Tania nodded. “He did. Go see what he wants, I’ll finish frosting those.”

  Hannah wiped her hands down the front of her apron and headed out of the kitchen, her mouth in a tight line. The last important people who sought her out had been of the law enforcement variety, but they rarely wore fancy watches.

  She peeked through the door and saw a massive man in his late fifties in a gleaming white Stetson standing near the front picture window. He was scrolling on his phone, seemingly unaware that he was blocking the server station. Hannah quickly assessed him and realized that there was no way he had anything to do with the law. He was too polished, in Sunday go-to-meeting clothing and spotless boots, but his comfort in the garb made it clear he was always dressed to impress.

  “You’re looking for me?” Hannah said as she approached him. She didn’t say her name on purpose, to see how he’d address her.

  “Well, there you are! Miss Hannah Smith!” he boomed and thrust out a beefy mitt to her. “I’m Harlan Oakes. Pleasure to meet you.”

  She reached out her hand and he shook it so hard that she felt like her teeth rattled.

  “How can I help you, Harlan?”

  “Can we sit for a moment? Is that alright?” he asked.

  Hannah turned to check in with Noelle, who was going over paperwork behind the counter. Noelle nodded and gestured to a corner table.

  “I’ve got five minutes, sure.”

  They settled in and Harlan continued to beam at her.

  “I’ve heard about you, Miss Smith,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

  Her heart sped up. “Is that so?”

  Harlan nodded. “You ran a winning campaign for Chad Radford. I watched the whole thing from Rosemont. Every little thing you did was masterful, young lady. You ran that campaign like he was up for President of the United States. I like your spirit. In fact, I like it so much that I want to steal you away from him!”

  She felt her pulse slow a measure even as she blushed at the compliment. “Oh, thank you so much. I really enjoyed working with—I mean, working for Chad. But my commitment to him is over now that he won. So, what exactly do you have in mind?”

  Hannah had a feeling she knew what he was after, and it filled her with helium. Harlan sounded like he was about to make her a job offer. Rosemont was two towns over from Kingsley, and a little bigger, but still far from a true city. It was just far enough away from Kingsley to potentially give her the fresh start that she and Aria needed. But she wanted to hear him out before she got too excited.

  “Well, that’s even better for me, seeing as I’d hate to have a Radford for an enemy.” Harlan beamed at her. “Let me give it to you plain. I’m getting ready to run for mayor of Rosemont and I need someone like you by my side. Doing exactly what you did for Chad, but on a much larger scale—and dealing with the news outlets along with social media. Think you’re capable of that?”

  Hannah hid a grin. Was she capable of running a small-town mayoral campaign? She’d handled interviews with every media outlet from the Today Show to The New York Times. There was no question she could manage whatever the Rosemont Daily might throw at her.

  “You could say I’ve had experience with that sort of thing, yes.”

  “Fantastic! I’d like to make you an official offer, then. I’d like to hire you, Miss Smith. Come to Rosemont as the communications director for my campaign.”

  It was as if she’d conjured Harlan Oakes up on a vision board. This cheerful hulk of a man was willing to take her away from the drama that was brewing all around her in Kingsley and help her get a start fresh in a new town. Exactly what she wanted. What she and Aria needed. Hannah was about to say yes when she saw Tripp’s unmistakable truck drive by outside the picture window.

  No matter where she went, her past would follow. She couldn’t keep running from it and living in fear. Doing so would almost guarantee that she’d never be able to truly rest.

  There was only one option. She needed to come clean before Harlan got too excited about hiring her. Hell, if he did any sort of a deep dive background check on her, there was a chance he’d uncover her past on his own, and it would look far worse to hide it from him.

  Besides, she wanted to stop hiding—not for Harlan’s sake, but for herself. It was time to start owning her mistakes.

  “Mr. Oakes, I’m in shock. Thank you for this incredible offer and your confidence in my abilities. I’m very interested in discussing this opportunity with you, but before we go any further, I need to be honest with you about a few things.”

  “Please, call me Harlan.” He tipped his head at her. “And say what you have to say.”

  “Have you heard of Green Spaces?” she asked in a tentative voice.

  Harlan squinted and pursed his lips for a moment. “That environmental group that poisoned the river? Yeah, I know a little about them.”

  Hannah looked down at her hands for a moment and before she could second guess what she was doing, launched into her history with them. She didn’t sanitize any of it. She admitted to her wrongdoing, her attempts to make it right by cooperating with the trial, and the backlash she’d faced that had deeply tarnished her reputation. The reason why she had a new name and identity. And how much she’d learned since the whole thing went down.

  She had a hard time meeting Harlan’s eyes as she told her tale, but the few times she felt brave enough to do so, he had almost fatherly concern in them. He didn’t say anything until she let out a shuddering breath and gave him a wan smile.

  “I wanted you to know, before you consider moving forward with me. I’m sort of damaged goods.”

  He regarded her quietly, for so long that Hannah started to feel like he was judging her.

  “Nonsense.”

  The single word filled her with hope.

  “Young lady, what you went through is inexcusable,” he continued in a soft voice. “Yes, you made some mistakes. Costly ones. But you realized what you did wrong and paid your debt. There’s no reason to keep hiding. I’m a firm believer in second chances, and I think I’m just the one to provide it for you. I still want you to come on board the Harlan train, as Hannah Smith, or Amanda Hastings, or Cowgirl Patty if you like that name better. Don’t matter a smidge to me, I just know I want you on my team—maybe even more now that I know you’re committed to being straight with me. Are you in?”

  For the first time in a long time, hope coursed through Hannah. He was offering her exactly what she wanted. What she needed.

  Which made it hard to figure out why she felt so damn sad. She wanted to leave Kingsley and get a fresh start … didn’t she?

  Noelle let out a long whistle as she checked out the end of day numbers. “Today was a good day.”

  “No kidding,” Tania answered, sweeping up under a table. “My dogs are barking.”

  Hannah gave her a quizzical look.

  “My feet hurt,” Tania said, pointing to her clogs. “Surprised yours don’t too. You ran around here like a lunatic all day.”

  The truth was that after her impromptu job interview, Hannah had been carried through the busy day on a bubble of hope and confusion. The crowds barely registered as she pondered how she was going to cut ties from Kingsley and move on. The salary Harlan had quoted made her eyes bug out in shock. The money, the second chance … it was almost too much to process. She knew she should feel nothing but gratitude for the angel in the white Stetson, but a creeping melancholy kept catching her off guard.

  Tania stopped sweeping. “Why are you so quiet? What’s wrong?”

  Noelle looked up from the register. “Yeah, you’ve been weird since you talked with that fancy dude. He bought out my entire supply of chocolate chunk cookies, so I’m thrilled that he stopped in, whoever he was.”

  They stared at her, waiting for her to fill in the details of her meeting with the mystery man.

  “He’s from Rosemont. He’s running for mayor, and he offered me a job on his campaign.”

  Noelle and Tania both seemed to process the information at the same time.

  “Wow,” Noelle said. The one word conveyed that she knew exactly what the offer meant.

  “Wait. Rosemont is three and a half hours away,” Tania said.

  “Are you going to take it?” Noelle asked. She knew Hannah had been planning to move on—but it appeared she’d kept that just between them. Tania seemed totally in the dark.

  “I think so,” Hannah answered quietly. “It’s an offer I can’t refuse.”

  “Wait, wait, hold up,” Tania said, throwing down the broom. “What’s going on here? You’re leaving us?”

  Hannah nodded.

  “But … why? I mean, I get that it’s a big opportunity, but you’re such a great fit here! And it seems like you love Kingsley.”

  “I do love it here. So much. But it makes sense for us to move on.”

  Tania had perched on the edge of a table, and Noelle was leaning on the counter staring at Hannah. The unspoken questions hung in the air. They didn’t understand, but they wanted to be supportive. She was filled with a sudden rush of affection for them both, and abruptly decided that they needed to know everything.

  She sighed. “Can we talk for a few minutes?”

  “I think we should,” Noelle replied, invoking her matriarch voice.

  “I think it’s time for me to tell both of you the whole story.”

  Before she could overthink it, Hannah launched into her autobiography for the second time that day. She watched their faces carefully as she described what she’d done, trying to tell if they thought she was an awful person. The deeper she got into the story, the more invested they seemed.

  “And that’s why I need to go,” Hannah finished with a frown and small shrug. “Do you understand now?”

  Both Noelle and Tania were silent for a moment while they processed everything she’d said.

  “I mean, I guess?” Tania volunteered first. “But honestly, it just sounds like Tripp’s being an ass. And I already knew he was an ass, so I don’t get why that means you have to leave. He might think he can hold some rants on Twitter against you, but you don’t really believe everyone in town will feel that way, do you? To me, it sounds like you didn’t realize what you were doing, and you did the right thing in the end. You’re not the villain in the story, your ex is.”

  “She’s right,” Noelle added quickly. “We all have things in our past we’re ashamed about, or things we wish we’d done differently. Yours just happened to be public.”

  “Yeah, and that was awful. People are so cruel when they’re sitting behind a keyboard. It was easier for me to just hide than have to face that all the time.”

  “I suppose it’s easy for strangers to judge people—but honey, you’re not a stranger here in Kingsley,” Noelle reminded her. “I don’t think you should advertise your role in what happened, but if people happen to find out, or you feel comfortable enough to tell folks, that’s a different story. I really don’t think many will judge you harshly. Not the way you’re expecting. Hannah, your shame about your past keeps it as this monster in your closet. This thing that you can’t bear to face. But if you admit to it, explain that you did everything you could to right the wrongs and then move on, it’s a totally different scenario. It’s not this deep, dark secret, it’s a life lesson that made you grow and change.”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” Hannah agreed. “But that’s going to take some time. I still have so much baggage about what I did.”

  “Yeah, it’s a process,” Tania said. “Listen, I got caught for shoplifting from my first job. I was in a tough spot financially, and I took $20 from the cash register to buy groceries. But rather than hide it, I told Noelle during our interview. We talked through it and she hired me anyway. Now, I’m not saying everyone is that kind, but the people who matter most will work hard to understand you and forgive you when necessary.”

  “Yeah, most people, including a certain Radford brother,” Noelle said softly.

  Hannah shook her head. “Not a chance. He felt like it was a total breach of trust. Maybe if I had told him at the beginning of our, uh, agreement, he would’ve been okay with it. But finding out the way he did, from Tripp of all people, blew everything up.”

  “Have you tried talking to him since it all came out?” Noelle asked.

  “No. I feel awful because I didn’t even send him a congratulations text after he won. But the way he looked at me the night he found out … it was like I disgusted him.”

  “Oh, stop,” Noelle scolded. “I think you’re projecting. He was probably hurt more than anything.”

  “There’s one way to find out,” Tania said with a smile.

  “I can’t,” Hannah said quickly. “Chad made it clear that me moving on was the best idea. And I agree.”

  But the truth was she missed Chad so much that it physically hurt. And she knew that Aria couldn’t understand why he wasn’t coming around anymore.

  A tiny part of her wanted to reach out to Chad, to see if there was a way for him to get past what she’d done wrong and try again. But what chance did their relationship have? From the start, it had been clear that he didn’t want a commitment. She still couldn’t forget the conversation she’d overheard between him and Jett. Even if he could overlook her past, was a relationship even something he wanted, with her or with anyone? She couldn’t be sure.

  For that matter, what about her? After John, she’d been unsure she’d ever be able to trust a man again. But Chad was nothing like John. Okay, maybe they both had egos, but it wasn’t like Chad was self-interested at the expense of everyone else. He could let his guard down and be silly with Aria. And he listened when people came to him with challenges, even if their opinions were different from his own. And he was thoughtful.

  And sexy. Oh, so sexy.

  Hannah felt the heat rushing to her cheeks and stood up abruptly.

  “Anyway, ladies. Thanks for listening and understanding. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.” She placed her hands over her heart.