1

Georgia

“Another round of drinks for the birthday girl.” The waitress, whose name I forgot three drinks ago even though we went to school together, says as she sets down her tray loaded with golden-colored shots, a bowl of limes, a couple of glasses of water, and one lone Dr. Pepper.

“Ugh, I don’t think I can drink anymore, guys,” I say to the table at large and my best friend, Shelby, in particular. “I have things to do tomorrow.”

“No, you don’t.” Shelby rats me out. The Dr. Pepper is hers, she offered to be my designated driver tonight and I’m starting to get the feeling she wants to give me alcohol poisoning for my thirtieth birthday.

Thirty. Damn. How did that happen? I thought I would be married and working horses with the cowboy of my dreams during the day and spending our nights doing some riding of a different sort. Ropes, optional.

Where am I instead? Working on my parents’ ranch, using the business degree they demanded I get to do the accounting for the ranch and sneaking out to work with the horses whenever they go out of town. Luckily my brothers don’t care that I would rather be mucking out stalls than working on P L statements.

Shelby elbows me in the side and mouths “Are you ok?”

I nod and paste the smile back on my face. I am having a good time tonight. My friends are the best and we rarely all get together like this anymore. One or more of us always have to cancel for some reason, so no more pity party for one. It’s time to turn this into a real Georgia Duncan night. One that will end with someone, probably me, regretting many decisions the next day.

“Shots! It’s time for shots!” I yell above everyone’s conversations. They all look at me and laugh.

“There she is.”

“About time.”

“Finally.”

“Sorry, for being a buzzkill guys. I think I was on a dirty thirty spiral, but I’m back. It’s time to make some bad decisions.” I take the two shots that have been put in front of me in rapid succession. Ugh, they burn as they go down and the second one threatens to come back up.

This was probably not my smartest idea, but that’s what I’m known for here in town. Bad ideas, being flakey, and just a touch crazy. No one would dare expect Georgia Duncan to be serious or rational. It’s not the true me, but I like that most people underestimate me. With the ranch, I’ve been able to negotiate some amazing deals for feed and animals.

In relationships, if no one takes you seriously then you don’t get your heart involved. I couldn’t seriously date someone who didn’t respect me and see beyond all the crazy. So far, no one has —except Boone. That was in high school though and everyone knows that high school boyfriends don’t count. We see each other in town sometimes and I always smile and wave. He does that sexy cowboy hat-tipping thing, but we never talk to each other. At this point, he probably thinks he dodged a major bullet by dumping me right after we graduated.

“Another round of shots, birthday girl!” Shelby announces.

“My liver isn’t going to survive this party if you keep making me drink, Shelby. Maybe you should cut me off, so you don’t have to become an organ donor,” I yell-whisper to my bestie.

“This is the last round. Macy and Taylor have to go home and relieve babysitters, and Clara has to be at work in a few hours, so she needs to get some sleep. It will just be you, me, and Sam left.”

So, maybe there will be no major shenanigans after all. Macy and Taylor are moms and Clara works at her family’s company, but the fact that they all made time to celebrate with me was making me a little bit weepy. Tears form in my eyes as I like the shot glass, “Let’s toast.”

“We’re supposed to toast to you, silly girl,” Clara says as she lifts her shot.

“I know, but I’m in my feels and it’s my birthday so I can do what I want.”

I hear Macy whisper, “She’s also very drunk.”

Everyone giggles.

“You are very, very right, I am very drunk and it’s your fault and I’m so grateful. Not for drunkenness. I’m going to have a really bad hangover in the morning and that isn’t fun. I hope that I don’t throw up.” I pause and look at my friends. We have been together since elementary school through thick and thin. Big loves and small. I was a bridesmaid at Macy and Taylor’s weddings and at the hospital hours after each of their babies were born. These are my sisters and I love them so much.

“Um, Georgia, are you done?” Shelby asks. “Our arms are getting tired.”

They are all still standing there with their glasses held in the air and I can’t help but laugh. “I love you girls so much. Thank you for being my friends forever. To friendship”

We then all take our shots. There are quick goodbyes and hugs as Macy, Taylor, and Clara leave.

Then it’s just me, Shelby, and Sam, our one platonic guy friend. I think that Shelby and Sam belong together, but neither of them agrees with me and I’ve asked them, separately, multiple times. They just gravitate towards each other in a way I’ve only seen in couples, and I feel like they are just fighting the inevitable.

“Can we go home now? However many drinks I’ve had are starting to make me very sleepy. I could put my head down on this sticky table and fall asleep with no problem.” My speech sounds a little slurred and slowed down even to my own ears. I need to go home. If Shelby isn’t ready to call it a night, I could always call one of my brothers.

“Well, there’s something I wanted to tell you about first. It has to do with your birthday present,” Shelby says nervously, wringing her fingers together.

“I thought tonight was my present. You all pitched in to pay for the drinks and dinner. That’s more than enough. You know I don’t expect actual gifts. In fact, I think I told everyone no gifts this year.”

“Yes, but…” she looks at Sam and he just shrugs his shoulders. She’s not going to get any help from there. “We also pitched in for something else.”

“What?” I’m starting to get that feeling in the bottom part of my stomach that comes before throwing up. I’m not sure if it’s because of the way Shelby is acting or because of all the alcohol sitting there. It’s probably somewhere in the middle.

“Well, you love horses, right?”

I nod and wait for her to continue.

“You know about the Iron H Ranch, they do an auction, and the proceeds go to helping the horses.”

“Yes, isn’t it that the win a Cowboy-for-a-Day auction all the women have been going crazy for? I’ve heard that a lot of the cowboys and auction winners have fallen in love.” As I finish the sentence and look into my best friend’s eyes, I realize what she’s done. She’s gone and bought me a cowboy for my thirtieth birthday.

“You didn’t.”

“Um, we did?” Shelby answers, very much in the form of a question.

“Why would you do that?” My voice has risen and several of the other bar patrons are looking over at our table. I’m not mad, but I’m also not happy. Why she thought I would want to spend the day with some pretty boy cowboy who thinks women should pay money to spend the day with him I’ll never know. Maybe if I match the donation I can just skip spending the actual time with the cowboy.

On the other hand, I’ve always wanted to see how things are run on a ranch like the Iron H and how rescue horses are handled. Maybe this is an opportunity to learn some things we can use at our ranch.

“Georgia, we wanted to do something special for your birthday. You love horses and this was for a good cause. Plus, you get to spend the day with a super-hot cowboy who also loves horses. It’s a win-win. And you know the cowboy, so there won’t even be an awkward getting to know each other period. You know each other pretty well already.”

Shelby immediately covers her mouth like she can put the words she just said back in or keep more from spilling out. Sam coughs to cover the laugh, but I can see in his eyes that whatever Shelby just spilled is hilarious to him.

“What do you mean I already know him? I don’t think I know anyone from Iron H.” I search my brain thinking about all the people that I talk to dealing with the ranch things. Iron H isn’t a ranch we do any work with, so I draw a blank.

I am feeling more sober now, so yay for that at least. “Who is it, Shelby?”

“You remember Boone Lowe, right.” Shelby ducks in her seat when she says his name like I’m going to throw something at her head.

We are in public and I’m a lady. I’ll wait to get her for this when she least expects it. She and Sam are about to be matchmaker-ed the hell out of.

“Shelby, you know I know Boone Lowe. You were there when we dated and when he dumped me. Please tell me that I’m not supposed to spend a whole day with him.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, it’s him?” I want her to spell this out for me.

“Yes, the cowboy that was being auctioned for a good cause, to help the horses, was Boone Lowe, and you won.”

“Did you know that the man you were bidding on was Boone or did you just think you were bidding on a random cowboy?”

“Does it matter?” Sam, who’s decided to join the conversation and stick up for Shelby a little, asks.

I don’t even answer, I just hold both in my gaze. It might look ridiculous with how much I’ve drunk tonight, but I’d like to think that it looks like some death stare from a villainess in a movie. I don’t blink, until Shelby cracks.

“I knew it was Boone,” she sighs. “C’mon, you know that you still think he’s hot.”

“I have eyes that function, Shelby. Everyone can see that Boone is hot.” Hot is an understatement. That man is a walking fantasy, my walking fantasy, but that’s no one’s business but mine. “That doesn’t mean I want to spend a whole day with him. In fact, I don’t want to spend any time with him. You do remember that he called me stuck-up and broke up with me.”

“He didn’t call you stuck-up. He said that he wanted you to have everything you wanted in life and that was more than he could ever offer.”

“What does that mean other than he thought I was stuck-up and wanted some rich guy or something.” I never understood what Boone meant, but I moved on. We hadn’t dated long and although it could have been something amazing, we hadn’t gotten there yet. He stopped us before we could. My heart had been more bruised than broken, but I don’t want to risk that again. I have to find a way to get out of this Cowboy-for-a-Day nonsense and I will.