Chapter Nine
W hen his phone rang, he half expected it to be Daniel because he had heard from the disgruntled asshole more times in the last few days than he would like to. Actually just twice, but that was more than he would like, and he especially didn’t want to speak to him after having incredible transformative sex with the guy’s soon-to-be ex-wife. Not because Boone was ashamed, and not because he found it weird. It was because, as angry as he had been before, he was even angrier now. Wendy deserved better. She deserved a whole lot better, and he wasn’t going to be able to restrain himself from saying that. Because she was everything.
It wasn’t Daniel, however, it was Flint.
“Hey. Calling from your private jet?”
“She doesn’t travel by private jet. She thinks that’s problematic for the environment.”
“Wow. Not because you can’t afford to.”
“She’s very famous,” said Flint.
“You don’t find that threatening to your masculinity?”
His brother laughed. The sound deep and rolling across the phone line. “No. My masculinity is good. Anyway. Tansey and I are coming into town tomorrow, and I was hoping we could get together for a family barbecue.”
“Yeah. Sounds good.”
That would be time spent away from Wendy, though. He could bring her, of course, but that would be integrating her into the family in a way that...
Hell.
“I hear your hesitation. I’m wondering if it’s because of your houseguest.”
“I don’t have a houseguest,” he said, mentally trying to determine which person might have told Flint what was going on.
“I talked to Jace,” he said. “He mentioned you had Wendy Stevens staying with you.”
“Not with me. Wendy and her daughters are staying in the cottage on my property, and Wendy is doing some work for me. I’m paying her, and I’m giving her a place to stay while she works on extricating herself from that situation with her cheating husband.”
“Got it. And it has no connection whatsoever with your personal feelings for her?”
“Of course it does. I don’t just go offering a place to any random woman.”
There was no point lying about it.
“Yeah. Well. Maybe you should bring her.”
“Yeah, I was thinking...”
“I know you were thinking. I could practically hear you thinking. But you might as well bring her. And the kids.”
“That might be weird.”
“It’s only weird if you make it weird, Boone. Maybe you should figure yourself out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. I’m not in any way confused about what’s happening right now.”
“Well. Good for you. You’re the only one of us who’s managed to get entangled with somebody and not be confused.”
“It’s not an entanglement. I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s a friend. She needs somebody right now. And I’m not going to lie and say there’s nothing more happening. But, you know, I would never put pressure on her to make it too much. And that’s the problem,” he said. “Yeah. That’s the problem. If I go inviting her to a family thing she might think I’m pushing her for too much too soon.”
“Or she might be grateful. You should leave it up to her.”
That was the second time he’d had that feedback from one of his brothers. The second time they had pointed out he was making the decisions for Wendy, and maybe he shouldn’t do that.
He could understand. And he even agreed. Because he didn’t think it was right to make decisions on a woman’s behalf. But he was just... He could foresee issues here, and again, he didn’t hold out blind hope something wouldn’t be awkward when it was clear it would be.
Except not inviting her...
Dammit.
“Fine. I’ll invite her. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
“You too.”
He got off the phone, and decided to walk straight back to his place. And there she was. In all her glory. He’d already been back to see her today, already made love to her. And she was looking at him with wide eyes. “I have to go get the girls in, like, ten minutes.”
“I could get it done in ten minutes.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “I’m sure you could...”
“That isn’t why I’m here. My brother Flint and his fiancée, Tansey, are coming into town tomorrow. We’re having a barbecue and I thought maybe you and the girls might come.”
“As in... Tansey Martin.”
“Yes. Tansey Martin. I know she and their breakup are very famous. As is their reconciliation, since there are now songs about that, too, and about to be a whole album.”
“My girls are going to freak out.” She shook her head. “We probably shouldn’t go. Because it’s a family thing, and they’re just going to be starstruck.”
“Oh, they are. Not you.”
She laughed. “Okay. I will be a little bit, but I’ll be able to control it. Because I’m an adult.”
“It’s okay. She brings that out in people. You can be starstruck. But also if...if it seems weird to you to come to a thing with my whole family...”
She frowned. “It’s weird for you, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Your face said it. You don’t want me to go.”
“Wendy,” he said, regret tugging at his chest. “I do want you to go. I’m honest, right? I’m being honest. I was just a little bit worried about some of the...”
“You’re worried about getting too involved.”
“Yes. Because everything feels great right now, but it isn’t going to last.”
“Why not?”
She looked at him, so open and trusting, and it killed him.
“You know why. I’ve still got some time in the rodeo left. You and Dan aren’t even divorced...”
“That sounds like a lot.”
“We don’t need to get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“Don’t pull away from me just because of all that.”
He let out a hard breath. “I’m not. You’re the one who said you wanted to leave at the end of the month.”
“I might not leave town.”
“Great. I’d love it if you didn’t leave town.”
Except that felt like something clawing at his chest, and he couldn’t quite say why.
“Maybe we both just settle down a little bit. And I will come to the family thing, as long as you’re good with it.”
“I’m very good with it. Perfectly happy.”
“If the girls found out Tansey Martin was going to be a thing at your parents’ house and they weren’t allowed to go...”
“You’re welcome to be there. I’m sorry.”
He looked at her, and he felt... Wounded. It was the strangest thing. He had messed that up. He hadn’t handled it well, and he just had to wonder if in the end he was going to do more harm than good to her. It was the last thing he wanted.
Of all the things, he knew that. But she was just asking those questions. Why couldn’t they be together? Why not?
There weren’t simple words for why not. That was the problem. Maybe he’d been avoiding thinking about whether or not his plan was to end up by himself because he hadn’t planned on finding somebody or because that was the way it was going to be.
The fact was, the one woman he’d been able to imagine himself being with was Wendy. And it had been one thing when she was with another man. One thing when she was married. That had been destiny. She was safe from him when they’d met.
And now, everything else was due to Daniel’s shortcoming. It didn’t count.
It wasn’t a thing.
It meant he got to have her now. It didn’t mean he had anything different up ahead of him.
He had to keep clearheaded about it.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah. I... I probably won’t make the girls come over and have dinner tonight.”
“Hey. Fair.”
“But they’ll enjoy the family thing on Saturday. So. And I’ll see you before then. I...”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Okay, I’ll see you.”
He didn’t move. She did, though, headed past him and out to her car. And somehow, he felt like he’d made a mistake. He just didn’t know what it was.