Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Tripp threw his whole weight into tossing the bale of hay off the truck. It went a little farther than necessary, which earned him a startled look from his brother—a look that quickly turned into something amused.
Brent knew better than to bring up Tripp’s terrible mood.
They’d already discussed at length what was bothering him and Brent was no help.
Of course he empathized. But then he’d shrugged it off.
“Maybe she’s not worth the trouble.” His words echoed in Tripp’s mind.
They were the fuel that had been added to the fire in his chest.
His brother didn’t know anything.
How could he say something like that if he hadn’t found someone to spend the rest of his life with? What irritated Tripp the most was that his brother would say it out loud knowing full-well that Tripp had it bad for Wendy.
No one held a candle to the woman. And she was the only one who couldn’t see it.
With another grunt, he flung another bale.
This time Brent jumped back and muttered something under his breath.
His eyes shot daggers in Tripp’s direction.
But then he softened as Tripp settled onto the edge of the truck bed.
His legs hung over the side and he yanked the leather work gloves from his hands.
With a swipe of his wrist over his forehead, Tripp heaved a frustrated sigh.
The other men who’d been working with them initially had wisely slipped away to do something else. It was just the two of them. A soft chuckle reached Tripp, and he glanced over to find Jacob and Tate heading in their direction.
What Tripp wouldn’t do to wipe the amusement from his friends’ faces.
Shoulders rounded, Tripp rested his forearms atop his knees.
His jaw tightened. The last thing he wanted was to hang out with people who seemed to have their lives put together.
Jacob and Tate were well on their way to becoming well-known rodeo stars.
And lately Brent was spending more and more time with them.
That probably meant that Brent was putting a few of his own chess pieces into play.
Tripp glanced at his younger brother but didn’t see anything but concern reflected back. That made him scowl. “I’ll finish up here. You go do whatever it is the three of you had planned.”
Jacob scoffed and clapped a hand on Brent’s shoulder before draping a hand round his neck. “You should know your brother better than that. He called for reinforcements.”
Reinforcements?
Tripp straightened and the deadly look he sent his brother’s way was enough to have his brother finally breaking eye-contact. “What are you talking about?” He directed the question at Jacob, but he still stared hard at his brother.
“Your brother is worried. This isn’t like you.”
The amused sound that came from Tate was overshadowed by Jacob’s next words.
“I’m all for finding a girl to spend time with, but at some point we have to accept that finding love isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Relationships eventually fizzle out and die.
We don’t live in our parents’ generation.
Divorce is up among other things. It’s smarter just to remain friends with the fairer sex.
Tripp shifted his attention to Jacob and his eyes narrowed.
His friend couldn’t be serious. Could he?
Tripp had seen the way he was around Hallie.
Granted, Tripp had never witnessed anything romantic between the two of them.
But Jacob also didn’t date much because he was always on the move.
He liked to enter as many events as he could in the surrounding states.
One time he was gone for three months straight.
“Just because you’re married to your job doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be,” Tripp muttered.
“And I want a family at some point. I want to be able to come home at the end of day and wrap my wife in my arms. I want to hear my kids bickering or laughing. I want to teach them how to ride. I want to take them camping and show them what the world has to offer.”
All three men stared at him like he’d grown antlers.
“You can’t tell me Wendy isn’t worth it,” He gave Brent a pointed stare.
“Because she is. And I want her to be mine.” He blew out a breath and shook his head.
“The problem right now isn’t if she’s too much trouble.
The problem is that I might have already lost my chance and I can’t even figure out what I did wrong. ”
The tension around them seemed more somber, now.
No one bothered to argue with him. Tate didn’t meet his eyes.
Brent seemed a little lost in thought. But Jacob seemed fidgety.
He’d dropped his arm from Brent’s shoulders and now his hands were shoved in his back pockets.
But he wasn’t meeting Tripp’s gaze and he was shifting his weight from foot to foot.
The man was clearly uncomfortable about something.
Tripp opened his mouth to demand what was going on when Brent spoke first.
“Tripp’s right.”
Everyone looked at him.
“If we’re allowed to go after what we want in terms of career goals, we shouldn’t get any trouble for going after the women we want, either.”
Tate frowned at Brent but didn’t offer anything more.
Jacob still looked anywhere but at Tripp.
“Maybe we need to help Tripp get her back—”
Jacob cleared his throat. Or maybe it was a strangled cough that slipped from his chest. Either way, he’d garnered the attention now.
“What is it?” Tripp demanded.
“What? I didn’t say anything,” Jacob insisted. He glanced only briefly at Tripp. Then he turned his gaze to Brent. “Sometimes matters like this one can’t be helped. If the girl wants to move on, then Tripp needs to know when to cut his losses.”
Tripp jumped down from the tailgate, his boots kicking up dirt at his feet. “What do you know?” he snapped. “And don’t try to brush me off. I know you know something. So spill it. What did she say?”
“Who?” Jacob asked. “Wendy? I don’t talk to her. How would I know—”
Tripp grasped his friend’s t-shirt with both of his hands and pulled him closer, their faces inches apart. “I told you not to brush me off. And don’t play this game with me. Semantics. You know something. Whether it came from Wendy or it came from someone else, you know something.”
“Jacob, just tell him,” Tate sighed.
Tripp’s eyes cut to his friend and his eyes narrowed further. “Are you—”
His growl was cut off when Tate’s eyes widened with what could only be fear and he raised both hands palms outward. “What? No. There’s nothing going on between Wendy and me. I know better. I saw the way the two of you were the other day.”
He couldn’t decide if he believed the guy. Jacob wrestled out of Tripp’s hold and shot him a withering stare. “Sheesh, man. Lighten up. The only thing I know is that Hallie wants to set Wendy up with someone. She said she thought it would be best for Wendy to get you out of her system.”
Tripp muttered a curse. There was no way he’d allow that to happen. She couldn’t just run away like that. They had been doing so well together. Granted, they weren’t dating, but he could see a future for the both of them if they’d stayed on the track they’d been heading down.
“No,” he snapped.
“No?” This time Jacob laughed as he smoothed out his shirt over his chest. “Really? Last I heard, you have no jurisdiction over what Wendy Scott wants to do with her time. This isn’t up to Hallie or me.
It’s up to her. And if you want to stand in her way, be my guest. Unfortunately, from what I heard you can’t do that if she won’t even let you speak to her. ”
Tripp shoved his hands into his hair, knocking his hat from his head as he paced back and forth.
This was bad. Wendy was finally taking action.
He’d thought he had more time to give her space before she gave into her fears and completely pushed him away.
“I don’t care what you say, Jacob. You’re not setting her up.
Hallie can recruit some other idiot for this. ”
Jacob laughed, drawing Tripp’s focus. “I didn’t realize you had it this bad.”
“Oh, he’s got it bad.” This time Tate was the one to speak. “You should have seen the way they were at the burger place off tenth.” He scratched at his temple and a frown replaced his amusement. “Only…”
“What, Tate. Spit it out,” Tripp snapped.
“It’s a little weird now that I’m thinking about it. I can read people pretty well. And from what I could see, that girl had it just as bad for you.”
For the first time in a long while, a glimmer of hope shone through the frustration Tripp had been drowning in.
“Really?” Jacob’s tone was flat and disbelieving.
“Really.” Tate crossed his arms. “Lydia tried flirting with Tripp and that did not make Wendy happy. I thought we’d have a catfight on our hands.”
Jacob’s expression turned contemplative. “Do you think that could have triggered this whole thing? Jealousy?”
“No,” Tripp muttered, rubbing his back. “I teased her a little about being jealous and she denied it.”
“Did you show any interest in anyone else?”
Tripp glowered at Jacob who only laughed, taking Tripp’s reaction as answer enough.
“And if you didn’t do anything specific to make her mad, there’s no other logical reason she’d ghost you.”
Tate snorted. “Since when are women logical.”
Jacob’s lips twitched but Tripp’s mind was already working. Hallie wanted to set Wendy up on a blind date. She’d gone to Jacob to make that happen. And she didn’t know all of Jacob’s friends.
He tossed a look at Tate out of the corner of his eye, briefly wondering if Jacob had already offered to set him up with Wendy and they’d come here to see how Tripp would take it.
He swallowed down the vitriol that came with that idea and shifted his focus to something that would actually be helpful.
“Maybe it would be better if Jacob did set her up with someone,” Brent murmured.
Tripp stilled, his hands balling into fists. “What?”
His brother shrugged. “He could find someone totally not Wendy’s type. Make her realize how good she had it with you.”
Tate snapped his fingers. “That’s not a half-bad idea. Sabotage the outing so she doesn’t want to go out on another date with anyone else.”
“I have just the—”
“No,” Tripp growled.
Three sets of eyes turned his way once more.
Brent tried again. “You realize if Jacob refuses, then Hallie will find someone else who is interested, right? This would be better. More controlled.”
“I said, no.”
“This is out of your hands,” Jacob tried again. “You’ve been trying to reach her, trying to figure out what’s wrong. But nothing is working. Sometimes we just have to cut—”
“Don’t say it.” Tripp closed his eyes tight. “I’m not giving up. I won’t let her go.”
They were all quiet for several moments then Tripp’s eyes flew open. “Actually, you’re going to do it.”
A surprised bark of laughter came from more than one of the men present.
“What?” Jacob asked. “Okay, I’m confused. I thought you were going to wring my neck for even suggesting—”
“You’re going to set her up with me.”
More deafening silence.
Tripp took a step closer to Jacob. “Think about it. She doesn’t have to know that it’s me you’re setting her up with. She’ll get all ready for the date and she’ll show up. Leaving wouldn’t be respectful. I’m sure she’ll stick around for the date if only to avoid making a scene in public.”
Tate chuckled. “That’s not a bad idea either.”
“Right?” Tripp could feel that glimmer of hope turn into a solar flare. “I’ll go on an official date with her. I’ll ask her to be honest with me. And if she says that she doesn’t want to see me anymore, then I’ll let her walk away.”
Jacob snorted. “I doubt that.”
“I will.”
“You just said you wouldn’t let her go.”
Tripp nodded, his happiness fizzling at the reality of what he was about to say.
“Right now, she hasn’t given me anything.
She hasn’t told me why she wants her distance or what it is that I did to scare her off.
Heck, I don’t even know if I did do anything.
If this is a matter of her losing interest, then fine.
If she realized we don’t fit, okay. But if this is because she’s scared or hurt then I’m going to do whatever it takes to make it right. ”
Jacob let out a low whistle then laughed. “Dude, you really have it bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so hung up on a woman before. Not even your cousins.”
Tripp glanced over at his brother, surprised to find him actually looking pleased with this plan. “I thought you said she wasn’t worth it.”
“But you are.” It was a simple statement and one that filled Tripp’s heart with more warmth than he’d expected.
“Thanks, man.” Then he turned to Jacob. “Okay, make sure you don’t tell Hallie who you’re picking.
It’s gotta be a surprise or Wendy won’t bother showing up.
” He almost prayed that Wendy would refuse the blind date as it was, but something told him he knew better.
Hallie was a force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be.
And if she wanted her best friend to settle down with a man who she deemed better than himself, she would stop at nothing to make it happen.
Brent and Jacob nodded their agreement to the plan.
Tripp finally felt lighter than he had in over a week.
This was his final opportunity to win Wendy over. It had to work. He’d lay his whole heart out on the line. Either she’d accept it, or she’d turn him down.
He just hoped that he’d be ready for the fallout if that was where this went.