“I wish I could, man. I wish I could, but he cuts my checks.”
“Can’t mess with a man’s money. Until next time.” They said their goodbyes and Zach ended the call. He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms behind his head.
“You happy now?” Jesse asked.
“Brother, you know I am.”
It was the start of another stellar week at Big Rock Ranch, Southern California’s most exclusive luxury dude ranch. Christmas was just days away and they were completely booked with families and couples who wanted to do something a little different this holiday season. The ranch was even booked for a large New Year’s Eve wedding to close out their year. And now Zach was about to be the proud owner of a gorgeous black-and-white paint foal whose sire he’d not so quietly coveted for years, the perfect Christmas present for himself—and the ranch.
“I’m going to head back out. You need anything else from me?” Felix asked, looking between Zach and Jesse.
“No, I don’t think so,” Zach replied just as his office door popped open. His baby cousin and assistant, Lilah, poked her head in the door.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Jesse, there’s a Nicole Pruitt on the phone and she said it’s urgent. Something about someone named Evie Buchanan.” she said. At the mention of Evie’s name all the air was sucked out of the room. There wasn’t a day where Evie didn’t cross Zach’s mind, but there was a strange, unwritten rule amongst his family and any staff member who had been on since the days of Amelia Buchanan—no one mentioned Evie’s name.
The sound of Felix’s Stetson slapping against his thigh snapped Zack out of his state of shock. “I’ll let you boys handle this.” Felix knew better than to hang around for this conversation. With a nod to both Zack and Jesse, he made a break for it, giving Lilah a fatherly squeeze on the shoulder as he went.
“What the—” Zach’s gaze flashed back to his brother. To strangers Jesse came off as calm and cool, but Zach knew all his tells. He didn’t miss the way his brother’s throat worked. A thousand questions ran through his mind, and from the look on Jesse’s face, Zack knew he had the answers. Zack stood up so fast he almost knocked over his chair. “Did she say what it was about?” he asked Lilah, but Jesse spoke up before she could answer.
“Tell her I’ll be with her in a moment. You can put her through to my office.” Jesse made for the door, but Zach was quicker than his brother, who had at least four inches and fifty pounds on him. He vaulted over his desk and blocked Jesse’s exit.
“What are you doing? Move,” Jesse said.
“What is going on?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out, so unless you’re going to WWE me to the floor and stop me from taking this woman’s call, I think you better get the hell out of my way.”
“Fine.” Zach moved from the doorway, but followed Jesse as he marched across their shared reception area, by the sleeping form of Jesse’s dog, Clementine, and back into his private office. Jesse glared at him as he rounded his own desk, but Zach didn’t give a shit. He sat right down in one of the available leather chairs. “Put it on speaker.”
This time Jesse gave in and hit the speaker button at the bottom of his landline phone. “This is Jesse Pleasant.”
“Jesse, hi. My name is Nicole Pruitt. I’m Evie—Yvonne Buchanan’s agent. Yvonne’s assistant had you down as her emergency contact.”
“Hello, Ms. Pruitt. I’m here with my brother Zachariah. Is Evie okay?”
“She’s alright, but we have a bit of a situation.” Zach looked up and he could see the fear clamping down on his chest reflected in Jesse’s eyes. “There was an accident.” They both listened carefully as Nicole Pruitt detailed what had happened to Evie at the holiday party for the cast and crew ofThe Dish. Zach’s bedroom DVR was filled with episodes of the daytime cooking show, but he had only made it through one episode. Zach tried not to dwell on why that was as Nicole Pruitt went on to detail how Evie had been unconscious for nearly two full days and how she was now rolling through her third day of complete memory loss.
“Why didn’t you call me when it happened?” Jesse asked.
They could both hear the hint of annoyance in Nicole’s voice when she replied. “Mr. Pleasant, I found my client bleeding from a head wound at the bottom of a flight of stairs this weekend. I apologize if I didn’t think to reach out to a man that Evie has never mentioned before. She told her assistant only to call you in the case of a fatal incident. I needed to be sure calling you was the right thing to do.”
Zach and Jesse looked at each other. There were some details missing. Jesse let out a deep breath and rubbed his bald head. “Okay, well, what can we do now? How can we help?”
“Gentlemen, I’m willing to admit when I’m in a little over my head. The hospital is going to discharge her in a few days and I know Christmas is right around the corner, but she—”
“She still has no memory and you don’t have a game plan,” Zach said.
“Exactly. The doctors are optimistic that her memory will at least partially return, but I’m trying to think long- and short-term here. I’m thinking about her health and her career. She’s too recognizable and well-known to be walking around Manhattan with no clue who she is. And if we make it through the holidays without further incident, she has to be back on the set of a cooking show the second week in January, and I’m not sure if she remembers how to cook. Or how to play for the cameras.”
“Damn,” Zack let slip.
“Yeah, damn is right. And I know this is all kinds of wishful thinking on my part, but I’m hoping seeing your face might bring something back from her childhood. It’s not everything, but it would be something.”
“Understood,” Jesse said. “I’m going to send you back to my assistant, if you can give her the details. I’ll be on the red-eye tonight.”
“I’d appreciate that. Evie would too.”
Zach watched Jesse as he transferred the call back to Lilah. “You’re Evie’s emergency contact?” he asked.