A Cowboy for the CEO

Chapter 32: Takin' Care of Business

Although she was intent on focusing on the here and now, Ali still looked forward to seeing Hank the next day. She hung out by the lake with her feet dangling in the water, waiting for him to park his pickup by the barn and imagining herself running up to greet him, but that moment never came. When her shoulders began reddening from the sun even after the fourth layer of sunscreen, she gave up her vigil.

"He called in sick," Paulette said when Ali ran into the Aussie ranch hand and asked about Hank.

She went to double-check with Liz and got a similar response.

"He asked me to let you know he wasn't feeling well. Sorry I couldn't get to you earlier. I got totally sidetracked," Liz said, gesturing at the packing boxes, sporting equipment, and furniture crammed into the lodge's garage. Although much of the clutter had already been moved outside, there still wasn't even enough space for one vehicle, let alone the four it had been built for. "We have our annual fire inspection in two weeks, and I'm pretty sure we can't pass with all this junk in here."

"Is he okay?" Ali absent-mindedly lifted the flap of a nearby box as she tried to get a little bit more information out of Liz. While he had appeared fine the previous day, spending all night in the storm could have easily led to a delayed cold. Then again, she was also dismissive of him when she was rushing to Pete's side. The male ego was a fragile thing, and he could have just been using the old illness ruse to show her that two could play that game.

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry," Liz said, wrapping the cord around the cracked base of a side lamp. "He just needs a few days to get it out of his system."

Well, that didn't clear anything up. She needed to take a different approach.

"You know, I'm really sorry. We tried to be discreet." Ali wrung her hands. "I hope you don't have any problems because of me."

Putting down the lamp, Liz looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"

"When we saw the police car here last night, we rushed in without thinking and it was probably obvious to everyone that we'd been together." Ali looked at her sneakers, kicking a pebble aside.

"Well, of course I don't want all of my guests hooking up with the staff, but I wouldn't have set you up with my brother if I wasn't okay with it," Liz said.

Ali looked up. "Excuse me?"

Liz laughed. "I thought you'd realize by now, but I purposefully pulled out of going to the fair so I could have Hank go in my place," she said.

"Why?" Ali asked, taken aback by the unexpected admission.

Hank's sister looked unfazed. "He needed the nudge," she said matter-of-factly.

Ali paused, considering the alternative. "So he really is sick?"

Liz appeared almost offended. "You thought he was just blowing you off?"

"A little bit," she said with a sheepish shrug.

"Listen," Liz said as she put an arm around Ali's shoulder. "My brother isn't very complicated when it comes to people. He'll either like you or he won't. And you can be pretty sure he likes you."

The words were reassuring and Ali smiled. "Thank you. Oh, and by the way—how formal is your father's retirement party going to be?" She hadn't even let Hank finish the invitation, but she had to admit the idea of meeting the rest of his family was increasingly appealing.

Liz drew her arm away. "He's bringing you to that?" She sounded pleased. "Then there's no doubt about how he feels about you. Oh, and it's black tie. Dad was a big deal in the force, so they're going all out on his send-off."