Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
R onnie didn’t even remember the walk home.
She spent the entire time lost in an inner rant, thinking about what she’d said, what he’d said, what she should have said.
It wasn’t until she was halfway to her room and heard her name called that she realized…they had company.
“Ronnie, is that you?” her dad called from the living room.
Ronnie quickly backtracked, and when she saw her dad, sister, and Lewis all sitting there staring at her, she forced all thoughts of Dallas King from her mind.
Putting on her best smile, she wove around the couch with her arms stretched wide. “Lewis! How good to see you.”
He stood with an answering smile. The word dopey flittered through her mind, but she replaced it with sweet .
Her sister’s fiancé was definitely sweet. He gave her a big hug that nearly lifted her off her feet. And when he backed up, she found herself basking in his good-natured grin.
“Hey, Ronnie. We’re so glad you can be here to help prepare for the wedding.”
“My pleasure.” It was hard not to keep smiling when he was grinning like that.
But Ronnie would be the first to admit she wasn’t exactly a smiley person by nature, and her cheeks were starting to ache.
“How are things with your family?” she asked when her dad shifted on the couch so she could visit with them.
She immediately wished she hadn’t asked.
Not that she didn’t care about Lewis’s family. It was just his extended family and the lengthy tale about his father’s dental issues that she hadn’t anticipated.
But she really should have.
Despite Dallas’s unnecessarily rude remarks about her being some sort of diva who never comes back to her small town, she managed to get back here plenty.
More than Dallas, of that she was certain.
So she’d spent plenty of time with Lewis. And his extended family. And she was actually already pretty well acquainted with his dad’s long-standing issues with his teeth.
So. There was that.
It took more effort than she’d counted on, but she managed to nod and murmur the correct responses…and the story eventually dribbled to a stop.
Phew.
Slumping back against the couch, Ronnie waited a polite beat, then decided it was okay to make her move.
And that’s when Margot pounced.
“We were just talking about our wedding.” She said this to Ronnie.
And while Ronnie itched to shoot back that this sounded like a personal conversation she didn’t need to be a part of, she couldn’t do that. Not with her father beside her, watching her with the sort of big puppy dog eyes that made her feel guilty without even trying.
Margot had inherited those eyes, along with their mother’s adorable dimples and brilliant smile.
So, really…
Margot was impossible to deny.
And so Ronnie found herself sitting there, an absent smile on her face as her mind recalled in excruciating detail every moment of her encounter with Dallas.
She fought a wince as she recalled her snappy responses. Had she been too harsh?
But then again…
“I thought you left us small-town folks behind.”
Who did he think he was, judging her like that? She’d never left her family behind. Or anyone else she’d truly cared about in this town.
She shifted on the couch, trying not to call attention to herself while also restoring circulation to her legs after sitting on this too-soft cushion for so long.
She always hated it when people acted like she’d changed just because she’d gone pro.
She hadn’t changed. The way people treated her had. But that wasn’t her fault, was it? She didn’t think she was better than anyone else. And she’d followed this path to help take care of her family, not to abandon them.
“Right, sis?” Margot asked suddenly.
Ronnie blinked, a deer in headlights in the face of her sister’s sweet, searching smile. “Mmm-hmm.”
That was apparently all that was required. She turned to her dad to see if he might give her a hint as to what she’d just agreed to. But all she got was a wink, a grin, and a pat on her knee as Margot and Lewis waxed on about the varying merits of having a live band at the reception.
For a little while there, Ronnie tried to pay attention. She really did. But her brain couldn’t seem to focus for more than a minute before it drifted again.
Back to Dallas. Stupid Dallas, ruining her day.
And did he have to be so hot? Dang it. He’d been conceited enough when he was a teenager, and back then he hadn’t been so…so…
Hot. There was no other word for it. Except maybe…sexy. He had a dangerous air about him. Always had.
Not like serial-killer dangerous, obviously. But he had an edge that never failed to heighten her senses when he was around.
She never knew what he’d say next. Or how he’d make her feel.
Ronnie squirmed in her seat as she watched Lewis grinning like a devoted yellow lab as he gazed at Margot.
Lewis was Dallas’s exact opposite. Everything about her soon-to-be brother-in-law said comfortable. Easygoing.
Boring.
She shook her head. That wasn’t nice. Just because he didn’t pick fights and smirk at her didn’t mean he was boring.
And being an aggressive, cocky jerk didn’t make Dallas interesting.
She crossed her arms with a huff that had everyone looking her way. Margot’s expression grew worried. “You don’t think so?”
Ronnie looked from Margot to Lewis to her dad. No one offered a clue.
“Um, no, I do,” she said.
Margot smiled, clearly relieved, then went back to her earlier monologue.
Ronnie sighed and settled in. This conversation was clearly going to take a while.
With every minute that passed, she had to work harder to fight the urge to yawn. Or fidget. Or…run away.
Lewis and Margot’s conversation was painfully tedious. She was quietly dying inside. Or, at the very least, falling asleep with her eyes open.
It was like night and day from the run-in she’d just had with Dallas. It was impossible not to compare. Sure, she’d been annoyed, irritated…vexed! But she’d also felt…
Alive.
She blinked.
Huh. How long had it been since she’d felt that way?
Lewis started talking at great length about his Aunt Mary’s experience at a resort in Mexico.
When had the conversation shifted to resorts?
Ronnie let her thoughts drift once more to Dallas and the spark of fury in his eyes just before he’d turned away.
Her lips twitched with amusement.
Say what she would about Dallas…
It was undeniably clear that she’d rather fight with him than sit here listening to Lewis any day.