Braydon(76)

“You can take the day off if you’d like,” Kylie told her now, reaching out and touching her shoulder.

“That’s the last thing I need, thank you very much. I’d much rather find something constructive to do with my time.”

“Well, if that’s the case, don’t sit down.”

Jessie cocked an eyebrow at her sister.

“I need to go check out a prospective job.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Have you seen that old Victorian house that you pass on the way to town? Sits on like twenty acres, I think. Right before you take a left toward Main.”

Jessie thought about that for a moment. “The ugly blue one?”

“Yep. I fully intend to change that, by the way.” Kylie’s smile widened just as it did anytime she took on a new client.

“Finally got another house in town, huh?” Jessie asked as she turned and followed her sister toward the door.

“Yeah. Exciting, huh?”

After Kylie locked up, they both climbed into Kylie’s truck—technically Gage’s truck.

“Do I know who the client is?” Jessie asked as she buckled her seat belt.

The engine roared to life and Kylie was pulling through the parking lot before she answered.

“Cheyenne Montgomery.”

Jessie jerked her head toward her sister. “Did I just hear you right? Cheyenne Montgomery is moving to Coyote Ridge?”

“Looks like it,” Kylie said.

“Does Brendon know?”

Kylie glanced over, her eyebrows furrowed. “Probably not.”

Exactly. “And you’re okay with her moving here?”

“What do you mean ‘you’re okay’? I didn’t realize it had anything to do with me,” Kylie spat.

“Isn’t she like a mystery friend of Travis’s? Have you never wondered just what happened between the two of them?”

Okay, so Jessie shouldn’t have phrased the question that way. It made it sound as though she questioned Travis’s love for Kylie. That wasn’t the case. Truly. But it was weird that Travis happened to be such good friends with this woman and she just showed up out of the blue once and then all of a sudden she was around at all the Walker family functions.

“Jealous much?” Kylie bit out.

“No, I’m not.” She didn’t care if Cheyenne moved to Coyote Ridge. Granted, she wasn’t sure that Brendon was going to be ecstatic about the idea, but what did she care? Really.

“First of all, Cheyenne is twenty-four years old, Jess.”

Twenty-four? Really?

“Okay, so how does Travis know her?” Jessie asked curiously. Travis was thirty-six years old, Jessie knew that much. What in the world could they possibly have in common?

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got plenty of time,” Jessie replied.

“It was several years ago. Cheyenne was just eighteen years old when they met. Big dreams, that girl. She’s from West Texas, did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t,” Jessie answered quickly, not sure what that had to do with anything.

“Anyway, Travis knows a lot of people.”

“I know.” It was a little creepy how many people that man knew. For a small-town country boy, he did have some pretty impressive friends.

“Anyway, Cheyenne was just starting out. She was playing in small bars. She’s good. I mean really good.”

“I’ve heard her sing, Ky. I know how good she is.”

“You’d like her if you ever got to know her.”

Jessie didn’t bother to tell Kylie that she hadn’t had a chance to really even talk to Cheyenne. The few times the woman was around, Jessie was generally cast aside.

“She was playing in a bar close to here and Travis happened to be there that night. He was with one of his buddies, a music producer. They went to school together. The guy moved away after they graduated, but he and Travis apparently kept in touch, hung out when the guy came back to town to see his family, which apparently was quite often. Anyway. The guy was looking for talent, so Travis met his buddy at the bar, they listened to her sing.”

“He discovered her?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Sure, he heard her sing, but that’s not exactly how they were introduced.”

Confused, Jessie stared at her sister.

Kylie grinned wide and proud. “Bar fight.”

Jessie laughed. Now that made more sense.

“A fight broke out; Travis was at the right place at the right time. Some drunk guy hadn’t been too happy that Cheyenne wasn’t paying him enough attention, so he tried to start shit. Travis ended it. That’s all she wrote.”

Jessie laughed. “So, what? Cheyenne was forever indebted to him because he beat some drunk guy’s ass protecting her honor? Or because he actually put her on the map?”

Kylie laughed, turning down a dirt road that led to the old Victorian that Cheyenne had apparently bought.

“Kind of, but not really. Travis doesn’t see things like that. They started talking. Travis introduced her to his producer buddy. The rest is history.”

“She was an overnight sensation?”

“Not hardly,” Kylie told her. “She’s worked her ass off to get where she is. You’d like her, Jess. You really should get to know her.”