Woman Up (Port Ranch Book #2)

Chapter 9

I made a stop by my apartment and hung up my dry cleaning before I changed into a nice pair of denim jeans and a light blue dress shirt. If I ran into any of the guys, they’d probably laugh at me for still being too dressed up. Granger commented the other day that I probably shower and sleep in a suit too. Jokes on him, I usually sleep naked.

Even though the traditional working day was almost over, things were looking lively at the ranch. Seeing that it was almost the weekend, they were no doubt getting ready for another wedding party. There were a few delivery trucks parked at the reception barn and a grocery store van parked at the big house with a couple of guys unloading groceries. I used the same door to get into the house through the kitchen then headed to Tracy’s office.

“Tracy?” I lean in as I knock on her door.

“Walker! I wasn’t expecting you today. Did you need anything?”

“Yes, no, kind of.”

“Well, that isn’t confusing at all,” she said with a laugh.

“I was wondering if you knew where I could find Bev.”

“As in my daughter Bev?”

“Yeah. See I went to go pick up my dry cleaning today and apparently I didn’t owe anything on my bill.”

“Ahh, I see.”

“Yeah. I know she was trying to be kind, but I had a week’s worth of clothes on that bill, there is no way she should have paid the entire thing for a single shirt I would have taken to get cleaned regardless of any mustard incidences.”

“Sounds like something she would do. I’m not too sure where she is, but my best guess would be down at the reception hall helping with the setup.”

“Am I able to go down there?”

“Of course. You’re an employee, you’re welcome to the ranch as you see fit.”

“Thanks, Tracy.”

“You’re welcome, Walker.” I had one foot out the door when she called me back, “Oh and Walker…”

“Yeah?”

“I should save you time and let you know she’s never going to let you pay her back. Even if you force her to take some money, she’ll just figure out another way to pay you back. She’s a little stubborn like that.”

“That’s good to know. I can be rather convincing when need be though.”

“Good luck.” Tracy was laughing as I walked down the hallway. She was hilarious if she thought Bev could be more stubborn than I was.

I make my way across the property to the reception barn where all the women seem to be running around arranging tables and unfolding tablecloths. I don’t see Bev anywhere, but one of the other Port daughters recognizes me and makes me way over.

“Hi, Walker!”

“Brooke, right?”

“Yep. Can I help you with something? Mom should be in her office if you need her.”

“I actually just came from there. I was trying to find Bev.”

“Oh. BEV!” She turns and hollers towards the back and the girl with the pink hair comes out from the back with a pile of cloth in her arms. She spotted me right away and a grin spread across her face.

“Nuh uh, I know what you’re here about and it isn’t happening.”

I shake my head, “Can we at least talk about it?”

“Nope. You weren’t going to let me repay you, so I did it the only way I knew how. Sorry, Walker.”

She throws me a big grin and starts walking back to where she came from. I take a few long strides and meet up with her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face me. “Your mom warned me that you’d be stubborn.”

Bev straightened her spine and tilted her chin up at me. “Well she does know me pretty well. Listen, Walker, I know that you said like a million times that it was no big deal, but it was my fault and I didn’t need that bad juju hanging over me.”

“Bad juju?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Yeah, juju. Karma. Taylor Swift wrote an entire song about it. I don’t need any more bad luck in my life.”

“Fine, but you paid for my entire dry cleaning, not just the one shirt that you stained. At least let me pay you back for all of that. Aren’t you worried I’m going to have bad juju over my head now?”

She lets out a long sigh and then looks up at me. “Okay. How much did I overpay?”

I pulled out my wallet, feeling a sense of pride that I finally convinced her to let me pay her back a little bit. I take out $60 and tuck the bills into her pocket. I rushed my steps on the way out because I knew it was only a matter of time before she realized how much money I gave her. Just as I got to my car, I heard her call my name from the barn and I just waved. Something tells me that this back-and-forth won’t be done anytime soon. It may not be the most mature game to play, but I never claimed to be anything close to grown up.