“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. “I love this place. Every day I’m here, I wake up excited about what’s ahead, and that’s not only about Matthew or being on vacation. It’s this ranch. It’s so full of possibilities, and I haven’t had that in my life in a long time. When my marriage fell apart, I closed the door on so many opportunities and now…I’m opening it again, but only to things I really want to let in.”
“Okay, then,” she said resolutely. “Buy the ranch.”
* * *
The next morningwas a hectic one at the ranch. Gigi’s mom and stepdad arrived, and Tyler was busy loading the Shah family and their luggage into the Suburban for their trip to the airport. Matthew already seemed to have re-focused his energy on the large party arriving in a few days, and it felt like the right time for me to go home. I made a reservation to fly to New York in two days’ time, but there was one very important conversation I needed to have before I said goodbye.
Once a bit of late afternoon calm settled on the ranch, I was ready to pitch my offer to Matthew. I found him in the office standing behind the reservation desk as he worked on his computer.
His face lit up with a smile when he saw me. “Hey, there. I was just finishing up here and coming over to your cabin to ask if you wanted to have dinner with me.”
“Can we talk in here for a few minutes?” My body was vibrating with nervous energy. “I have something on my mind.”
“Sure. Let’s go inside my office.” He walked me into the tiny room the size of a closet where he had a desk, two chairs, and a bunch of cardboard filing boxes on the floor. I could see why he didn’t want to spend much time there, since it would easily induce claustrophobia. He sat in the desk chair, and I took the other one. There was no point in beating around the bush, so I launched right in.
“Matthew, you know I adore this place, right?”
He nodded and leaned back in his chair. “I know you do, and that makes me so happy.”
The tension in my chest eased a little. “Good. I haven’t been here that long, but this ranch is already part of me, and so are you and the rest of the people at Silver Sage. I want to make an investment in its future.” I took a deep breath. “If you’re still considering selling, I would like to discuss an offer to buy the ranch.”
Matthew blinked at me, speechless.
“I know this wasn’t what you expected me to say today,” I continued, “but believe me, I’ve done a lot of thinking and research before coming to this decision.”
CHAPTER24
MATTHEW
Lauren’s words swam in my head as she went through all the details of her offer. I tried to make sense of what she was saying, but it all swirled into word soup. When did she decide all of this? Did she expect me to respond with an answer right now? I thought she came over to talk about our relationship, not a business deal.
“I’m confused,” I said when she finally paused. “You want to become the owner of a ranch? My ranch?”
“Yes, I do. Obviously, I don’t know much about running this place, but?—”
“Much?” I couldn’t help emitting a rude burst of laughter. “What do you know at all about running this ranch, or any ranch for that matter?” This impolite reaction was out of character for me but, in my defense, I was in complete shock. My family had spent decades running Silver Sage, and she thought she could fly in with zero knowledge or experience and suddenly save it.
“Fine.” Her cheeks reddened, but I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or shame. “I’m not well versed in ranch management, but I have a lot of ideas about how to make this place profitable in the long term. I’m the chief financial officer of a highly successful business, which my sister and I built from the ground up, and we’re in a very competitive market.”
My ego felt like it was taking one-two punches. “And I don’t have a successful business.”
Owning a ranch must have seemed so simple to a businesswoman from Manhattan who had never spent a winter here. Never dealt with a horse with colic or a summer drought. Didn’t know a Toolcat from a tomcat. What could she possibly understand about what I did every day?
Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose. “That’s not what I meant. Can’t you even listen to my ideas before you say no? I was just getting started.”
I clasped my hands tightly around my coffee mug, which was uncomfortably hot.
“Go ahead.” I tried to sound calmer than I felt. “Tell me the rest of your ideas.”
“First, we’d use the ranch as a location to host high-end retreats for singles and couples who need relationship coaching. I have money to invest in renovations, so that’s not an issue.” I bristled at her breezy response, wanting to mutter something about how it must be nice to have money to throw at any project you found entertaining, but I held myself in check.
“We can make not having strong WiFi and cellular service a selling point instead of a deterrent to coming here. So many marriages can be saved, but there are constant distractions that keep us from dealing with our problems. Turn off people’s phones and reconnect them with nature and each other, and I think lives can be changed for the better. I know mine has.”
I wasn’t going to be lured in by her sweet smile. She was giving me the hard sell because she wanted to buy the ranch from me. Her ideas weren’t bad, but I hated that the ranch sounded more like a Cozzi sisters’ property than one belonging to the Hart family. Then she dropped a bigger surprise on me.
“I’d also like to wrap upMs. Matchat the end of this season and launch a new version of our TV show. It would be a Western version of what we do as matchmakers with Tori as the star. We’d probably film some scenes at the ranch, although she’d have to travel some too. We feel like it could be an exciting spinoff series.”
“You want to bring a film crew into Three Rivers and Silver Sage?” I sputtered.
