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January 26, 2021

A Good Old-Fashioned Cowboy

Four best friends return home to find more than they ever dared dream of in this delightful quartet from bestselling authors Maisey Yates, Caitlin Crews, Jackie Ashenden and Nicole Helm.

When they were girls, best friends Hope, Charity, Pru and Kit made a pact. If, at thirty, they weren’t happy with their lives, they would return home to Jasper Creek, Oregon. And when Hope’s wedding implodes, they decide it’s time.

While Hope is uncertain she’ll find her way back to the man she left behind, Kit finds herself kissing the man of her high school fantasies, good girl Charity decides to have some fun with a bad boy and Pru develops feelings for the one man she shouldn’t touch—her brother’s best friend.

All they wanted was to make their small-town childhood dreams a reality. But along the way, these four women also have to contend with their very own good old-fashioned cowboys…

Also In this Series:

A Cowboy For All Seasons

February 25, 2020
Sweet Home Cowboy

March 29, 2021
The Comeback Cowboy

April 26, 2022
#4

Excerpt

Prologue

“Old friends are the bricks and mortar of your life.”

-Nora Roberts

On a slowly cooling summer night, the crickets chirping their low hum of incessant noise, stars spread out like a wave of celestial glow, four girls sat around a small campfire, and planned their future.

“After Princeton, I’ll probably stay on the east coast,” Kit said. Though college was a far off proposition, it was what her father wanted for her, and so it seemed a foregone conclusion it’s what she would do.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do after med school, but I’ll want to work at a hospital bigger than this area. Dad always says the important work is done in underserved communities.” Charity didn’t know what that meant quite yet, but that was what was expected of her. What else was there to do?

“I don’t know what I’ll do, but I want to live in a city. A real city with fancy stores and important people.” Hope smiled dreamily. She didn’t need a concrete plan yet. She just knew she wanted more.

Pru frowned at all of them. “But if you do all that, we won’t be together.” Her marshmallows were burning and no one noticed. “I’m staying right here, with my own piece of the ranch.” There was no doubt for her that the Riley ranch, where they were prepared to camp tonight just a ways from the main house, would be her future. Always.

“Maybe we’ll figure out a way to be together,” Kit said. “When you’re important, you can do whatever you want. We’ll visit.”

“Yes,” Charity agreed. “We’ll just have to go on vacations together.” She fiddled with the compass necklace that hung from her neck. Pru’s mom had taken the four of them to the mall just this afternoon. The’d saved up their chore and birthday money so they could go buy matching necklaces. No BFF broken hearts. Something grown up. Special.

They had searched the store, high and low, for something they could all agree on. Something the store had four of. When they’d been about to leave, Kit had gone over to the cashier and asked her if she had anything that fit the bill.

They’d walked out with four delicate necklaces with tiny compasses at the end and promised to wear them. Always.

“We can always take summers off,” Hope said. “Go somewhere fun and exciting together.”

“I can’t just take summers off from the ranch,” Pru said, pouting.

“Sure you could. You could take turns with your brothers. Maybe not a whole summer, but we’ll find time to be together.” Hope said firmly.

“I don’t understand why anyone would want to leave Jasper Creek.”

“Maybe you will,” Kit said philosophically. “And maybe we’ll change our minds and want to stay.” She knew she wouldn’t, but she had more faith in Pru eventually wanting to leave. There was so much out there. Why would anyone want to stay?

Pru grabbed onto them changing their minds. After all, Jasper Creek had everything anyone could ever want. Why would anyone want to leave? “If you guys leave and don’t like it, you have to promise to come back home.”

“I promise,” Hope said, though she could imagine wanting to be in boring old Jasper Creek. She knew Kit agreed, but they kept it between themselves, because Pru was so fiercely defensive of home.

“Sure. We’ll all promise,” Kit agreed with an easy shrug.

“We should come home and open our stores,” Charity said, fingering the compass, the gold seeming to come alive in the firelight. Just this afternoon, they’d pretended to run stores on Main Street, a game that even as they approached the ripe old age of thirteen they hadn’t left behind.

“Yeah, when we’re old—like really old. Like when we’re thirty, if we’re all unhappy, anyone that doesn’t live here has to come home.”

“And open the stores. You can’t forget that part,” Charity said. She liked the idea of a place that was all hers. Every time they played make believe store owners, she felt in charge of her own life. Like she could do whatever she wanted.

“It’s a pact,” Pru said firmly.

Kit nodded thoughtfully. “Pact needs words. Symbols. A talisman.” Like in all the books she readShe looked down at her necklace, then wrapped her hand around the compass. “Okay, everyone hold onto their compass and repeat after me.” Kit considered. “Best friends we are, and always will be. If life doesn’t give us what we want, home is where we’ll return.”

“It doesn’t rhyme,” Pru said with a frown.

Kit rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t have to rhyme, it just has to mean something. We need to look at the fire, hold the necklace, and say it all together.”

Pru grumbled a little bit, but after a few practice tries, they did just that. Said the words, looked deep into the fire. Immediately there was the lone howl of a coyote, and then a few answering calls as the wind gave a little gust sending the flames just a little higher.

“Woah,” Hope breathed.

“It’s a coincidence,” Pru insisted, though she looked around nervously.

“It’s a sign,” Kit said firmly. “We made a pact. The universe heard us and responded.”

“You need to lay off the poetry books, Kit.” Pru said disdainfully, but her heart jittered just like her three friends. Like they really had made a pact with the universe.

But the feeling faded with sticky marshmallow roasting and plenty of chocolate. They ate, they chattered, determined to stay up all night laying there on the grass looking up at the stars.

Charity had gone to a science camp last summer and learned the constellations, informing them the arrow looking one was Aquila. They’d searched it out every night they were together ever since.

“It’ll always bring us back,” Charity said softly. “Whether we’re thirty or not. Pacts with the universe or not. We’ll always come back.”

She reached across to find Kit’s hand with hers, then Kit gripped Hope’s, and Hope Pru’s. Until they were a connected chain, looking up at the stars, thinking about what their futures might hold.

And knowing, no matter what, the thing that would always bring them back together was each other.