Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
His name could have been Trouble. Both words started with the same letter.
Wendy had to remind herself of just how bad it would be for her to like the guy let alone fall for him entirely.
For the most part, she’d planned on avoiding Tripp.
Serenity was gone on a honeymoon for the first week.
Three of those days, Tripp had bumped into her when she’d been in town.
She had her suspicions he knew exactly what he was doing.
How else could she explain that she’d gone from never seeing him to seeing him three times in one week?
Neither one of them had brought up the kisses they’d shared. Honestly, the thought of discussing it terrified her. They’d agreed they would go their separate ways.
But that was before everything happened.
Of those three ‘random’ meetups, Tripp managed to rope her into getting coffee with him. Thirty minutes later, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d finally lost her mind.
Was it actually possible that she liked him?
No more. She wasn’t going to let this escalate any further. If she had to run the other way when she saw him walking down the street, she would.
Wendy dug her hands into her hair as she sat at her desk.
The end of month paperwork sat before her, strewn and messy like her bedraggled thoughts.
Tripp was an enigma of sorts. He could be infuriating.
Definitely obnoxious when he got too cocky.
But then there were the tender moments that gave her a glimpse of the person behind his reputation. Endearing.
She groaned. At some point he’d gotten to her. Now she couldn’t help but entertain the idea of ‘what if’. What if he wasn’t as bad as she’d thought he was? What if he was boyfriend material? What if he was different because he wanted to be with her?
Stomach swirling, Wendy shot to her feet. There was no ignoring these thoughts. She’d done her best to do just that after the wedding, after that kiss. There was only one thing she could do now and that thought scared her even more than opening her heart to the man who she’d sworn she’d never like.
The phone rang three times before Olivia answered.
“Wendy? It feels like forever!”
Wendy smiled, but the pain and uncertainty in her chest only intensified. Olivia sure sounded happy. Her voice was bright, excited. It had been too long since they’d checked in with each other. “Hey, Liv.”
“What’s up?” The sound of a child screeching in the background was followed shortly by Olivia’s painfully patient voice. “I know, baby. Lunch is almost ready.” Then her voice got louder. “Please tell me you’ve finally been swept off your feet.”
Wendy flinched. She paced the small office and chewed on her lip. How was she supposed to jump into this conversation like that?
Olivia laughed. “You have! I knew there were only a couple reasons you’d reach out to me out of the blue. You either finally finished that book you wanted to write, or you found a guy who grabbed your attention. So, who is he?”
“I’m not,” Wendy argued a little too sharply. “I actually called because I bumped into Tripp. Did you know he lived in Montana?”
There was a pregnant pause. “Tripp?”
Shutting her eyes tight, Wendy suddenly wished she’d started this conversation via text message. “Yeah, Tripp. You know, the guy you were in love with?”
Another long pause. Then Olivia laughed. “Wait, are you talking about Tripp Gilley?”
“Yeah?” Wendy’s quiet voice was more of a squeak than it should have been. She shook her head at herself. “I know with the way things ended—”
“Wait a minute!” Olivia gasped. “You… are you dating?”
“What? No!” Wendy said it far too quickly for her statement to be believable. “Really, Liv. We’re not.” Inwardly, she was beating herself up. This was bad. So, so bad. What happened to the girl code? She should have talked to Olivia before she even kissed the guy.
While she waited for Olivia to respond, she steeled herself for the worst. Olivia had every right to tell her that she was a bad friend.
Heck, if she told Wendy that she didn’t want her to ever speak to Tripp again, Wendy would probably agree.
Their friendship was more important than a growing infatuation for a guy who was known for breaking hearts.
“Wendy,” Olivia admonished. “You don’t have to lie to me.”
She couldn’t tell if Olivia was upset. There wasn’t even an ounce of dismay in her voice.
Nor was there any excitement. The words were said with caution if anything.
“I’m not lying,” Wendy murmured. “Nothing’s happened.
” She grimaced at that statement. Technically that kiss wasn’t nothing.
“We’re not dating. His cousin got married to my friend.
We were paired up in the wedding party.”
The background noise faded as Olivia clearly moved into another room. The soft sound of a door clicking shut was the only thing Wendy heard for several moments. Then Olivia sighed. “Honestly? I barely remember him.”
Wendy nearly choked. “Yeah right. I remember how upset you were. You cried yourself to sleep about this guy.”
Olivia made a grunting sound. “Yeah…” she drawled. “I was… young. Tripp was my second serious boyfriend. I thought…” She blew out a breath. “Honestly, I don’t know what I thought. Dating Tripp was fun. But when I look back at what we had…” She blew out a breath. “It wasn’t going to last.”
The way Wendy’s mouth dropped open would have made Olivia laugh if she’d been witness to it. “What?”
Her friend laughed. “I don’t know what to say, Wendy.” She hummed to herself for a moment. “Do you remember who I dated before Tripp?”
Pressing her fingers into her eyes, Wendy shook her head. “I don’t remember all of them.”
“No, I mean my first serious boyfriend. Do you remember who it was?”
As hard as Wendy tried, she couldn’t recall a name.
Olivia’s first serious boyfriend had been in her first semester of college.
It had been short-lived and Olivia had broken up with him because she didn’t want to be a statistic.
She’d insisted she couldn’t marry her first boyfriend because those relationships never lasted. “I don’t remember,” Wendy murmured.
“It was Ben.”
“Ben?”
Olivia laughed. “Yes, Ben. As in my husband, Benjamin.”
Wendy froze. “What?”
She laughed again. “I thought you were aware. After Tripp broke up with me, I dated a couple other people then Ben and I got back together. The rest is history.” She waited for another beat.
“I’m happy, Wendy. Really happy. And based on the way you’re acting, I get the feeling that Tripp means more to you than just a date to some wedding. ”
Heat flushed Wendy’s cheeks, burning her from the inside out. “But—”
“Maybe there’s something there. Maybe not. But you won’t know if you don’t try, right?”
“You wouldn’t be… mad?”
“Mad? Oh, goodness, no. Why would I be mad? I married the love of my life. Maybe Tripp is just a blip in the grand scheme of things. Maybe he’s more. But don’t hold back on my account.”
Wendy scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“Just saying. Have some fun. Life’s too short.
” Olivia quickly changed the subject as if she could sense that Wendy planned on arguing with her even more.
She talked about her baby and the plans she and Benjamin had for the summer.
They ended their conversation promising to stay in touch a little better.
When Wendy got off the phone, she felt even more ill at ease. There was nothing holding her back but herself. So why couldn’t she bring herself to do anything about her attraction to Tripp?
The answer hovered beneath the surface. Just because Olivia was fine with Wendy’s interest didn’t change the fact that Tripp had been known to date around. When Olivia had been bouncing back from their breakup, she’d lamented that fact.
If Wendy gave in to him, how long would it be until he got bored and moved on to someone else? Would her heart be able to take it? She didn’t want to find out.
The bell to the shop rang and Wendy ducked out of her office. Sebastian stood near the door and when she came into view he beamed at her. “I’ve got that end table all done.”
She grinned. “Really?”
He nodded, pulling off his cap and running a hand through his hair before replacing it.
He was about half a foot taller than she was and lean.
Once upon a time she’d thought there was nothing cuter than his brown eyes when he let out a genuine laugh.
But now, all she could think about was Tripp’s dark, soulful eyes.
Sebastian thumbed over his shoulder. “It’s in the back of my truck. Where do you want it?”
Wendy leaned over her checkout counter and grabbed a pair of keys. “Can you help me put it in the back of my delivery truck?”
“Sure thing.”
In no time, the end table was loaded, Wendy was behind the wheel, and she was on the road.
It wasn’t until she got closer and closer to her destination that she realized there was only one place she could be going.
Sagebrush Ranch.
She rationalized that it was a big place.
There were lots of people who lived here.
And the moment she pulled in front of one of the smaller homes on the property, she wished she’d written down the name of the person who’d called her.
Heck, she should have looked at the invoice better before she came to see who’d paid for the piece of furniture.
Please be one of his cousins.
Wendy came to a stop at the house and glanced around the small cul-de-sac. One of these homes belonged to Tripp and his family. At any moment he could come or go from one of them and she’d have another awkward encounter.
Now that she knew she had Olivia’s blessing, that thought filled her with more trepidation than she wanted to admit.
Straightening her shoulders, she marched up to the house and knocked.
Normally, she’d have someone deliver this for her, but they were out sick.
Maybe she should have just waited until they were back at work.
Regrets flitted away the second the door opened revealing a familiar woman about her height. She had dark hair and dark eyes. Wendy had seen her around, but she didn’t know how she was related to Tripp.
“Wendy?”
Her blood ran cold just as Tripp came into view from behind the woman. He smirked and that smile alone had her body going weak. Of course this was his house. The universe was laughing at her.
The woman glanced over her shoulder to her son, then to Wendy. “Oh, are you here for—”
“The end table you ordered. The restoration is done,” Wendy blurted. “I just came to drop it off.”
Before she could say anything more, Tripp gently moved his mother out of the way. “I’ll go grab it.”
Wendy stepped back a little too suddenly to allow Tripp passage. She watched as he headed for the truck and when he gave her a strange look, she lurched forward to unlock the back. Tripp made it look so effortless—to pick up the bulky item and carry it toward the house.
Reminding herself not to stare, Wendy turned and retrieved the delivery paperwork. When she reached the front door, Tripp’s mother was no longer in sight. She handed the documents to Tripp and turned to leave, but his hand wrapped around her wrist and he tugged her to a stop.
“Wendy,” he whispered.
Slowly, she lifted her eyes to meet his. “It was nice to see you, Tripp.”
“Go out with me.”
She stared in stunned silence, his request hanging in the air between them.
“On a date,” he whispered. “A real one.”
Blinking, Wendy attempted to make sense of what he was saying.
“Please?”
Shaking her head, she let out a startled laugh. “No.”
His brows lifted. Of course he expected her to agree. That was who he was. “Really?”
“Tripp, we agreed—”
“Then a walk. You can do that, can’t you?”
Wendy glanced at the truck longingly. She wanted nothing more than to agree to all of it and yet she felt the instinctual need to escape with each passing second. “Fine,” she acquiesced.
He chuckled, finally releasing her wrist.
It didn’t seem like he had anywhere specific he wanted to go, so they wandered aimlessly.
What did he want? What was he thinking? Her skin itched and the silence was getting to her.
She was nearly bursting at the seams, prepared to demand answers to those questions when his voice shattered the quiet.
“You going to Hallie’s birthday next week?”
She stiffened and glanced over to him. Right. They were related. “Yes,” she drawled. “She’s my friend.
He wasn’t looking directly at her, but his knowing smile said it all. They were going to be at another family event, and he was going to take advantage of it. She stopped suddenly, forcing him to turn to look at her. When he gazed at her with question in his eyes, she folded her arms.
“I’m not going with you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Tripp lifted a brow and raised placating hands. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to come with me.”
She frowned.
Before she managed to demand to know why, he clarified, “Because if I did, we’d end up married.”
Wendy snorted at that prediction. “As if.”
“I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again,” he chuckled. “One day. Sooner or later. You’ll fall in love with me.” It was a variation of what he’d said to her before, and she smirked in spite of herself.
“Not if you were the last guy on earth.”