For Sam: A new-girl small town cowboy romance

Chapter 57 Sam

Two sets of arms wrap around me as I cry.

Tears fall out of confusion, hurt, and heartbreak and they hold me through them, which makes me cry harder. At some point Courtney steps away and comes back with a box of tissues so I can blow my nose and sop up my tears.

Finally, I’m only sniffling, so I give their hands a little squeeze. They sit in the chairs next to mine and both wait patiently. It’s time to rip the band-aid off as efficiently as possible.

“Maisy came back for him,” I whisper.

“Maisy what?” Courtney asks, her eyes huge.

“She came back.”

Avery looks from Courtney to me and back again. “Maybe it’s best to walk us through what happened.”

My stomach knots in dread. This is when they pick Tommy over me. Their history is too strong to balance out a friendship with me if we’re not dating.

I think of their arms holding me. About our plans to go to Courtney’s tattoo consultation coming up and Avery putting in a batch of my favorite cookies when I show up unexpectedly.

Give them a chance.

So, I walk them through what I saw. Both looking confused and ready to interject, likely on Tommy’s behalf which I understand, until I tell them he held her hand.

“He did what now?” Courtney asks.

“She took his hand and they went to the back door.” My voice sounds small, even to myself.

“And she was wearing his Stetson? And you”re sure it was him?” Avery asks as if she’s trying to find an explanation to rationalize this whole situation in a way that makes sense.

“If it wasn’t him, then it was someone wearing the same outfit as him with his haircut, too. I mean, I wasn’t close, but his hat wasn’t on his head and she had a white one on that looked just like his.”

“It was definitely Maisy since you mentioned her purse,” Courtney mumbles. “What the fuck was he thinking?”

“It doesn’t add up,” Avery says. “He’s been over her for a long time.”

“And he’s crazy about you,” Courtney points out, looking at me.

I’m sure I look pathetic right now. “I thought so, too. But we were wrong.”

Tears well up in my eyes and I don’t try to hold them back. Courtney rubs my back and Avery holds one hand while keeping me stocked with fresh tissues and leaving only to get the cookies from the oven and bringing them down piping hot.

I cry for my naiveness.

I cry for everything I felt for him.

I cry for the future I saw with him.

Through all my sobbing and sniffling, Courtney and Avery stay with me.

And when my tears have dried up, we paint our nails, prep our face mask scrubs, and instead of watching a chick flick or a rom-com, we settle on an action/adventure movie with dinosaurs and no romance.

“Oh my goodness these are incredible, Avery,” I say around a mouthful of peanut butter cookie.

“Thank you. With Jackson around, I make huge batches now, especially my chocolate ones, but I love making peanut butter dough. I’ll whip up a mega batch so you can freeze the dough and bake fresh ones whenever you have a craving.”

Thankfully, the lights are low, so the little wince I made at the mention of Tommy’s oldest brother was hidden. “That sounds perfect, thank you.”

“What happens if you add chocolate chunks to the peanut butter cookies?” Courtney asks from the other side of me.

“You’d have chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies?” Avery replies as if she’s trying to figure out if Courtney was setting her up for a joke.

“Excellent. I request those for our next girls’ night.” Courtney puts her hand on my leg, giving me a soft smile.

My heart warms at the thought of more nights like this.

“Deal,” Avery says, doing the same.

Against every proper etiquette that has been ingrained in me, I shove the rest of the cookie in my mouth so both hands are free, catching theirs.

“Yes, please.” Except, it sounds nothing like that, but the girls seem to know what I mean before we all burst out laughing. Somehow, I manage to keep every morsel of that cookie in my mouth.

Halfway through the movie, the doorbell rings.

“That should be the wings we ordered,” Courtney shrieks, leaping over the back of the sofa with her long legs. Avery pauses the movie and offers to refill my water.

“Thanks, I’m just going to use the bathroom real quick.” I haven’t had a moment to myself since I got here, which is exactly what I needed, but this intermission has my eyes watering again.

I close the door and look at my reflection. My makeup is nonexistent and my eyes are a little puffy and pink, but not as terrible as I expected. I run the cold water and splash some on my face, grabbing one of Courtney’s rolled up wash clothes to dab it dry. I look around trying to see where she moved her hamper to since I came over with Tommy last week but can’t find it.

Nope, not thinking about him right now. I’m going to have to drink a ton of water just to rehydrate from all my tears so far.

As I reach for the doorknob, I hear Courtney whisper-yelling something that I can’t quite make out. I frown and pause, taking a breath as I clearly hear Courtney whisper, “Don’t you dare.”

But the door is already opening without my help, revealing a very frazzled looking Thomas Landen.