“You’re probably right. Silver Ridge isn’t that big of a place.”
Cole reached for a broom and dustpan as she grabbed some paper to make a small sign for the door. Working in compatible silence, they got most of the glass cleaned up and the items in the case moved into the office so they could be locked up.
They spent the morning attempting to right everything in the store.
The cell phone on his hip started to ring. Unclipping it, he stared at the screen a moment before his gaze shot to hers across the room. He flipped it open and said, “Yeah.”
The voice on the other end came across in a murmur, but she gathered from the conversation the caller was Jimmy and he wanted to know when they were leaving.
“In a little bit. It’s not that far to Crawford.” His eyes met hers and she tried not to let him see the hurt she felt when she thought of him leaving.
How stupid! I've known all along he would leave when the rodeo ended. I shouldn't be torn up about this.
“All right.” He hung up the phone with a click. A soft knock on the window tore her gaze from his. Without a word, she went to the door and unlocked it for her sister. Once Jessica was inside, she relocked and met her sister’s gaze.
“You stayed closed?”
“Yeah. There was too much of a mess in here to let customers in today.”
Jessica’s gaze took in Cole's presence before her attention returned to her sister. They moved in tandem toward him.
“Hey, Cole.”
“Jess.”
“I thought you and Jimmy were leaving this morning.”
“We are.”
"Tell him to expect to hear from an attorney since he doesn't want to admit this child is his."
Cole's eyebrows rose. "Uh…I'll make sure he knows. I need to get going. Walk out with me.” It wasn’t a request. It was a command and one Carrie willingly followed, wanting to keep him with her just a little bit longer.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and they walked out together through the side door. Tears burned her eyelids, and her heart felt like it was shattering when they approached his truck.
I’m not going to cry. I’m not going to let him know how much this hurts. It was supposed to be a no-strings-attached weekend and that’s exactly what he’s going to think it was.
He unlocked the truck before he stopped next to the door and wrapped his arms around her. She inhaled his unique scent, all male and oh-so-sexy, when she buried her nose in his neck. She wanted to remember this, remember him, how it felt for him to hold her so she could pretend he loved her as much as she loved him.
Love him? No—I won’t do that. I can’t fall in love with him.
A sob caught in her throat and she forced it down with a swallow.
I won’t cry. I won’t cry.
He pushed her back and looked down into her eyes, and she almost lost it, almost let him know how she felt.
“It was fun while it lasted, huh?”
God, that hurt.
“Yeah. You know, next time you’re in Silver Ridge, look me up.”
“Sure. Never know when I might find myself somewhere close by. There are always rodeos all over these parts.”
She stepped back and shrugged, wrapping her arms around her waist as she tried to hold her heart together. “Thanks for all your help the last few days.”
“I’m glad I was there for you.” Brushing his fingers down her cheek for a second, he slid his hand toward her ear and tucked a stray strand of hair behind it. His hand went behind her head before his lips slanted across hers. All the desperation and need flowed from her lips when his mouth took hers and his tongue slid between her lips to caress hers.
When he finally released her and stepped back, his gaze held hers for a moment. “Bye, Carrie.”
She couldn’t watch—didn’t want to see him pull out of her parking lot and never to return. The sound of his truck pulling out onto the highway ripped her heart in half. Jessica wrapped her in a warm hug. A moment later, wracking sobs shook her frame and the tears rolled down her cheeks.
Chapter Nine
The snow whipped across the flat fields, blurring everything except what was within a few feet. Winter in Wyoming hit hard every year, but this one seemed especially bleak. Cole stood at the door of the barn and pulled the collar of his coat up around his ears before he started toward the house.
“Damn, it’s cold.” A shiver rolled down his back as he stomped his feet to loosen the snow from his boots. Abby would kill him if he tracked snow in the house. He smiled when he thought of his sister-in-law. She sure was grumpy these days, but being pregnant did that to a gal he guessed. Having not spent a lot of time around a pregnant woman, he wasn't quite sure.
Leaning his shoulder against the wooden door, he pushed it open and then slammed it shut again while the howling wind whipped outside. Hanging his coat on the rack, he toed off his boots, leaving them near the door.
“Hey. Would you like some coffee?” Abby asked.
“You bet. It can’t be more than about five degrees out there with that wind.”
“Well, nobody said you had to work the mare today. And that Mack truck of Mike Carroll's could have waited a day or two for your talented hands.” Abby gave him a playful smirk from the kitchen. “I know you want to keep busy, though. It must suck to have this down time from all the rough rodeo stuff.”
“Yeah. I need to keep my mind busy.”
She cocked an eyebrow in his direction, but he wasn’t talking. He hadn’t said anything to Chase or Abby about Carrie, but he had a gut feeling she already knew. After all, she told him way back when he would meet his match, and he was afraid she was right. He hadn’t been able to forget about the hazel-eyed beauty.
The rest of the summer, he and Jimmy had done the normal thing, going from town to town, winning and losing, but never staying long. He even tried hooking up with some of the women who showed interest, but he couldn’t get past the first kiss. Comparing each and every kiss to the rush he felt with Carrie’s drove him insane.
“Stop giving me that look, Abby.”
She just laughed, and he frowned.
“Are you finally going to give up and tell me about her? You have been back here for several months now. Always keeping silent even though I’m sure being away from her is tearing you up inside.”
His head snapped up as he caught her inquisitive look. He lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug.
“Come here and sit with me a minute. I need to get off my feet for a bit.” She grabbed his hand and forced him to sit on the couch with her. “Now. About this woman.”
“What woman?”
“Don’t give me that, Cole Wilder. You obviously need to talk, or would you rather talk to Chase? I’m okay with that if you would rather talk to him, you know, guy to guy. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to another man than a woman about matters of the heart.”
Air rushed from between his lips in a heavy sigh when he realized he might as well give into her demanding tone. Ever since the day he first laid eyes on Abby, he had never been able to keep a secret from her. Her sensitive nature made her more aware of things around her and the people nearby, but it kind of gave him the creeps.
“All right.”
“Good.” She grinned and tucked her feet under her and got comfortable. Obviously this was going to be a
long
conversation.
“Jimmy and I went to Silver Ridge, South Dakota back at the beginning of the season. It was one of the first rides, and I didn’t want to miss it. It was right after you and Chase got married. In fact, I think you were still on your honeymoon.”
She blushed slightly, and he smiled.
“Where is my brother anyway?” He scooted to the edge of the couch as he started to stand. “He could probably use some help and I…”
“Sit your cute little ass back down on that couch and quit trying to change the subject.”
“You aren’t going to let me get out of telling you this, are you?”
“Nope—continue.”
He let his thoughts drift back to the first meeting with Carrie and how she ripped into him in the bar that night. “The first night we were there, we had stopped at a place to get a couple of beers before we bedded down for the night.” He pressed his hand against his chest, just about where his heart lay when it ached for the woman he left behind. “A woman came in and started jumping my shit about her sister and how she was pregnant with my kid.”
Abby’s eyes widened with shock.
“Don’t worry. It was a mistake.”
“I’m glad. I can’t see you getting someone pregnant and walking away from your responsibility.”
A crooked smile crossed his face before he frowned. “Thanks, I think.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Anyway, after we figured out everything was a mistake and Jimmy had actually gotten the woman’s sister pregnant, she apologized and left.”
“That’s it?” She eyed him suspiciously. “I know there is more to this than you are telling so fess up.”
He shrugged.
Maybe I can get away with not telling her. Then again, maybe not. Abby is too aware of everything around her.
Abby took his hand in hers and closed her eyes for a moment before a wicked little grin crossed her face. He pulled his hand back. “Stop doing that, would you?”
“Well, if you aren’t going to tell me, I have to find out somehow because I know there’s something you are holding back.” Her lips lifted in a grin.
“All right. All right.” He stood up and began pacing in front of the fire. “I won that competition, by the way.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“Now get back to the story and quit stalling.”
He rolled his eyes before he continued. “We talked some more and she apologized again. I asked her out after my ride. She went and watched from the stands until I had finished and then we had planned on meeting back by my truck to figure out what we were going to do.” He stopped pacing and ran his fingers through his hair.
“And?”
“After my ride, I walked back to my truck and stood there taking off my chaps when I felt a hand on my ass. When I turned around, a blonde wrapped her arms around me and plastered her lips against mine.”
“Uh…I’m sure that just broke your heart, having some pretty woman throw herself at you.”
He chuckled. “It wouldn’t have been, except the other woman saw it and got pissed off.”
“Why don’t you just call her Carrie so I know who you are talking about?”
His gaze ricocheted to Abby sitting on the couch.
How the hell did she know Carrie’s name?
“But I never told you her name.”
She just shook her head and smiled.
“That’s just creepy, Abby.”
“Sorry. I can’t help it. Blame my mother. Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep anything from her?”
A soft chuckle left his mouth. “I can imagine.”
“Okay. Go on.”
He shrugged and continued to pace. “Not much else to tell. She met me at the bar later that night. We were having a good time and some guy got up on the stage and announced to everyone he and Carrie were getting married.”
“Okkaayy…” Her eyes searched his face, and he frowned.
“Evidentially he and Carrie had known each other since they were young and he had been asking her to marry him for several years. He was really drunk, but when I heard him say that, I got mad and took off. She caught me at my truck and explained. And…” He wasn’t sure how much detail he wanted to go into with Abby. If she already knew Carrie’s name, she could probably sense how intimate the two of them had been. He sat back down on the couch as sympathy swept across Abby’s face.
“Are you going to see her again?”
“I don’t know.” He wanted to. God knew he wanted to, but he wasn’t sure how to go about things. Two days after he left her side, when he had gotten into Crawford, he realized he didn’t even have her phone number. Oh, he knew the name of the store, of course, and could probably call directory assistance to at least get that number, but he just wasn’t sure how receptive she would be to his phone call.
It was just a weekend fling, wasn’t it?
Normally, women came easy to him with his blonde, blue-eyed looks and dimpled smile, and he rarely had a woman turn him down.
“Have you even talked to her since you left?”
“No.”
“Cole Wilder! I can’t believe you!”
“What?”
“You haven’t even called her?”
He dipped his head sheepishly. Abby’s indignant tone made him feel like shit. “No.”
Abby grumbled. “It would be a wonder if she would even talk to you now. Six months—six months and you haven’t even called her.” She struggled up from her place on the couch and grabbed the phone as she continued to grumble. “Jeesus…sleep with her then don’t call her for six friggin’ months. Men!”
“What are you doing?”
I don't like the looks of this.
“I’m going to call her for you, and you are going to talk to her.”
He pulled the phone from her grasp. “No, you aren’t. I can’t talk to her, not right now.”