Cody (10 page)

“Is that a problem for
you?” Cody’s voice was amused as he asked.

“Well, no, of course not,
but…..”

Amber couldn’t hold it in
any longer and laughed. “He’s just a person like anyone else,
Bryan.”

Bryan spent the rest of
the meal asking questions about Steven and Justin and the company
they’d worked so hard to build together. “I read an article on you
guys in one of my business classes. You’re legends!”

Amber watched as the two
of them talked, having little to contribute, because she hadn’t
spent years researching the three men.

Cody paid for the meal and
they all walked out to the parking lot. “Are you going to caravan
back with us?” He eyed Bryan’s truck. It looked like it was in good
shape. Amber had obviously made sure he had the best of everything
while he was at school.

Bryan nodded with the
awestruck look still in his eyes. “Yeah, if you don’t
mind.”

“It’s no problem. We’ll
follow you over to campus so we’ll be parked together and we can
meet up at the trucks.”

Bryan’s truck bed was
loaded with the accumulated belongings of four years in college. He
climbed behind the wheel and drove off.

Cody turned to Amber as
soon as they were seated in his truck. “Did your brother’s reaction
to who I am bother you?”

Amber shook her head
laughing. “Not at all. He was hilarious. I would have thought you
were the greatest quarterback of all time with the way he
half-worshipped you after he realized who you were.”

Cody leaned over and
kissed her. “I’m glad it didn’t bother you.”

*****

Cody helped Bryan unload
his truck when they arrived back at the ranch. When they were
half-finished, Amber emerged from her room back in her jeans and
thrilled to be out of the dress she’d worn for the graduation. “Do
you guys want sandwiches, or do you want me to order a
pizza?”

Bryan, who was on his way
back to his truck for another box, sighed and rolled his eyes. “You
still haven’t learned to cook?”

“Nope, and I don’t plan on
it. Sandwiches or pizza?”

Cody stopped behind Bryan.
“Pizza sounds good. I’ll take anything or everything. Order what
you like and I’ll eat it.” He continued toward the stairs to get
another box.

After they’d eaten, Amber
joined Cody on the front porch swing for a while before he headed
home. “I’m going to miss having you around so much,” she told
him.

He wrapped his arm around
her shoulders. “I’ve been really good and patient right? I mean, I
promised I’d wait and not pressure you until Bryan was
home.”

“Right.” Her heart started
thumping in her chest. She knew where this was going, and she knew
what her answer would be.

“Well, he’s home.” He
turned to her fully and cupped her face in his hands. “Will you
marry me?”

She met his eyes as she
calmly said, “Yes, I will.”

Cody let out a loud whoop
and pulled her to her feet, picking her up and spinning her in a
circle. After setting her down, he put his hand in his pocket and
pulled out a ring box, opening it so she could see the ring. It was
a simple diamond surrounded by small sapphires. “The sapphires
remind me of your eyes.”

“It’s beautiful.” She held
out her hand so he could slip the ring on. “I love it. Thank
you!”

He pulled her onto his lap
on the swing. “So, what’s it going to be? Elvis, space aliens,
horses, a beach, or jumping out of an airplane?”

She felt a slow smile
stretch across her face. “Why don’t we just do a simple wedding
here?”

“Sounds good. Next
week?”

“No way! I don’t want to
get as stressed out as Bailey did.” They’d attended Steven and
Bailey’s wedding in April, and that had been hurried, and Bailey
had been extremely nervous, but happy. “How about September? That’s
only a few months away, but gives me time to plan
everything.”

He sighed heavily. “I
guess that’ll work.”

Bryan stepped outside and
looked between the two of them. “Am I interrupting
something?”

Amber blushed and
scrambled off Cody’s lap and onto the swing next to him. She held
her left hand out to Bryan showing him her ring. “Cody just asked
me to marry him.”

Cody smiled. “I’ve been
asking her for months, but she finally said yes!”

A look of relief passed
over Bryan’s face. Cody noted the look and wondered what was going
on in the younger man’s mind.

*****

Cody received a call from
Bryan the following afternoon while he was watching a ball game.
“Would you be willing to meet me for dinner somewhere?”

Cody sighed. “What’s going
on?”

“I’d rather talk in person
if that’s okay.”

“Sure. Where do you want
to meet?”

“How about the Chili’s in
Roanoke? I’ll meet you there in about an hour?”

“I’ll be there.” Cody
sighed. Bryan needed money for something and didn’t want to talk to
Amber about it. He’d seen it on the younger man’s face the previous
evening. No wonder he was so excited to find out Cody was one of
the founders of SPI.

He drove to the location
and got out of his truck, going inside to get a seat. He was a few
minutes early, so he ordered his drink and watched the game on the
television. When Bryan slipped in across from him, he turned his
attention to the younger man. “What’s going on, Bryan?”

Bryan’s hand was shaking.
“Do I have to have a reason to meet with my future
brother-in-law?”

Cody sat waiting not
bothering to respond. The younger man would come clean when he was
ready.

“For spring break this
year, a bunch of my buddies and I went to Vegas. I didn’t really
have the cash, so one of my buddy’s friends loaned it to me, and I
figured I’d get it from Amber.” He sat staring at his hands, his
blue eyes, which were so much like Amber’s, were full of fear.
“Well, Amber said she didn’t have it when I asked her. Anyway, I
need to get twenty k to this guy within the next week, or he’s
going to send some guys after me.”

Cody sighed. “Did you tell
Amber that?”

Bryan shook his head. “I
just told her I needed the twenty grand. I didn’t think it would be
that big a deal.”

“It is a big deal.” He sat
for a minute debating how much to tell the younger man, but finally
decided to come clean. “Your dad had a gambling problem. He left
the ranch heavily mortgaged, and Amber has been fighting to get
everything back to the way it was before your parents were killed
in that plane wreck. She was determined to get the mortgage paid
off before you finished school, so you could start fresh. She got
it paid off just last month.” He paused staring at the younger man.
“She hasn’t let me help her with one dime.”

Bryan leaned back in his
seat and closed his eyes. “Oh, man. No wonder she wouldn’t give it
to me.”

“How much of the money you
owe is gambling debts?”

Bryan swallowed hard as he
met the older man’s eyes. “Eighteen thousand.”

Cody shook his head.
“That’s what I was afraid of.” He knew Amber wouldn’t want him to
bail her brother out, but he didn’t want her to go back to the
situation she’d just left. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll pay off the
debt, but you need to join a program for gamblers. I’ve heard
Gambler’s Anonymous is good. Will you sign a contract with me
stating you’ll attend Gambler’s Anonymous at least once a week for
a year?”

Bryan slumped in his seat.
“Do I have to? I don’t want Amber to know about this. She’s going
to be so disappointed in me.”

“Honestly? I’d rather
Amber didn’t know about this, either, but I don’t think we have a
choice. Will you agree? Or do you want to figure out how to come up
with the money some other way?”

Bryan nodded. “Yeah, I’ll
sign it.”

“Good. I’ll have my
brother draw up the contract. When do you need to have the money in
your hand?”

“Tomorrow or Tuesday would
be good.”

Cody pulled out his cell
phone and dialed a number. “Jonathan? I need you to do something
for me.” He explained what he wanted included in the contract. “I
need it by tomorrow morning. I know you don’t like to work on
Sundays. Whatever.” He pushed the end key. “When you hire family,
they tend to think it’s okay to say they don’t want to do
stuff.”

Bryan breathed a sigh of
relief the conversation was over. “Thanks, man.”

“Don’t thank me. Just
don’t get in trouble again.” He rolled his shoulders agitatedly.
“Now I just have to figure out how to tell your sister I gave you
money. If she breaks up with me over this, I’m going to hurt
you.”

Bryan’s eyes grew wide.
“She wouldn’t, would she?”

Cody shrugged. “I honestly
don’t know. She’s not going to be happy with me.”

Bryan leaned down and
banged his head on the table. “If there were any other way, I’d
take it.”

“I understand. I just hope
she does.” Cody tossed thirty dollars on the table. “Get what you
want to eat.” He stood and walked out of the restaurant. He needed
to talk to Amber right away and let her know what had happened. He
just hoped he hadn’t ruined his chances with her. Even if he had,
he couldn’t leave her in an unsafe situation, and with people
coming after her brother, there’s no way she’d be safe.

Cody practiced what he’d
tell Amber over and over on the way to the ranch. He always rode
with his music blaring, but he couldn’t leave this discussion to
chance.

As he approached the
house, he saw her riding beside the driveway, and waved. He’d never
really seen her ride when she was riding for herself before that
moment. Her hair was streaming along beside her, and her face was
lit up with a smile. She seemed so happy and so in tune with her
horse. He hated having to break the spell and ruin her
day.

He parked in front of the
house and watched as she rode toward him. “Hey! I wasn’t expecting
to see you today.” She dismounted and stood on tiptoes to kiss
him.

“I just need to talk to
you for a minute if you can spare the time.”

“Of course. Let me put
Sable in her stall.”

“You mean you’re putting
Sable in the stable?”

She grinned at him,
catching his hand as she led the horse to her stall. “What’s
up?”

“I’d rather wait until
we’re in the house. You can fix me a nice meal and we’ll have a
long chat.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I
guess I can get you a glass of ice water if you want.”

“That’ll do.” He watched
as she unsaddled Sable and rubbed her down. Once she was finished,
they walked back toward the house. He followed her into the kitchen
and watched as she brought them each a glass of water.

She leaned back against
the counter. “What’s up?”

“You need to sit down for
this discussion.”

Her eyes were wide.
“What’s wrong?”

“Bryan called me earlier
and asked me to meet him for dinner. He did some gambling over
spring break and needed twenty thousand dollars to cover his
debts.”

Her jaw dropped. “Is that
what he wanted that money for? I told him we don’t have that kind
of money just lying around.” She covered her face with her hands.
“What did you tell him?”

He reached across the
table and took her hand in his. “I told him I’ll give him the money
in the morning, but to get it, he has to sign a contract promising
to go to at least one Gambler’s Anonymous meeting every week for a
year.” He watched her face carefully for her reaction.

She let out a relieved
breath. “Thank you. For the money and for telling him that. I hate
that he came to you for it, but I certainly couldn’t have paid the
debt.” She shook her head. “What was he thinking? How could he lose
that much money in one week?”

Cody stared at her in
disbelief. “You’re not mad at me?”

“Of course, I’m not mad at
you. You didn’t do anything wrong. Now, Bryan needs to be strung up
by his toenails!”

“Okay, I need to tell you
one more thing. With the nature of the problem, I also told him
about your dad and all the sacrifices you’ve made over the years. I
know you didn’t want him to know, but under the circumstances, I
felt like it would have more impact than anything else possibly
could.”

“You did what?” She stared
at him as if he had two heads.

“I needed him to
understand how much his gambling would hurt you and how bad it
could get. I hope you don’t hate me for it.”

She closed her eyes and
thought of all the things she’d done to protect Bryan from the
knowledge for so long, but realized Cody was right. He needed to
know it wasn’t just a one-time thing. It was a problem in their
family. “I understand.”

Cody tugged her to him and
pulled her down onto his lap burying his face in her neck. “I’ve
been scared ever since I agreed to give him the money. I was so
worried you’d be mad.”