Chapter 2 #2
He coughed this time, and Winnie couldn’t believe it, but all the physical signs she could hear told her he was…nervous. To be talking to her?
Impossible.
Preposterous.
Ridiculous.
“Do you want me to be honest?”
She set down her teacup, the liquid still too hot to sip, and she wasn’t exactly sure where this conversation was going. “I generally advocate for honesty, yes.”
“I heard that my friend might set you up with another friend of mine, and it irritated me. Okay? I didn’t want him to ask you, and I didn’t want to see you there with him. Yeah. That’s why. That’s why I asked you.”
Pure disbelief tore through Winnie, and she was so glad she’d put down her tea. Otherwise, she might have spilled boiling liquid all over herself when the muscles in her arm failed her.
“You didn’t want him….” She pressed her eyes closed. “I’m confused.”
“Welcome to the club,” Ty muttered. “It’s okay. You just don’t like me.”
Her eyes flew open. “Hey, I like you fine. You’re the one who acts like I’m the black cloud ruining your otherwise sunny day.”
“You make me do things I don’t want to do,” he shot back.
“It’s my job.” Winnie blew out her breath.
“I don’t want to go out with my physical therapist,” Ty said without missing a beat. “So if you can’t just go as Winnie, a really beautiful woman, with a cowboy, who yes, happens to have a limp, then I rescind the invitation.”
“You rescind it? Rescind it?” Winnie had never even heard a regular person use that word in normal conversation before. “You can’t just rescind a wedding date invitation. It’s out there. It’s scinded.”
A pause filled the line while Winnie’s pulse stamped through her body. Then a low sound entered her ears. It took her a few seconds to even recognize it as laughter.
Ty was laughing at her.
“Scinded is not a word,” he said, still chuckling.
Winnie held her head high, though he couldn’t see her. A really beautiful woman.
Had she really heard that? Or had her tired brain simply made it up?
He quieted, and Winnie made her decision. “I can go as myself,” she said. “Not a physical therapist.”
“Okay,” Ty said.
“Is there a color scheme I need to adhere to?”
“A color scheme? It’s a wedding in Three Rivers.”
“Yes, and I’ve heard that some brides, even in small towns, want things a particular way,” she said dryly. The moment she said the word “brides,” Winnie’s chest collapsed. How could she have forgotten that she should’ve been a bride only eleven months ago?
How could she possibly go to a wedding without thinking of the one she’d planned for and never got?
“I can find out,” Tyson said. “But I highly doubt it. Any dress you have will be gorgeous.”
“What if I don’t own any dresses?” she asked.
He scoffed. “You don’t own any dresses?”
She thought of the many she’d left behind in Redwood, Oklahoma. Carver had told her once that he preferred her in a dress, and she’d worn one on every single date they’d gone on since then.
“I own a great many of them,” she said matter-of-factly. “But I left them all in Oklahoma.” She rescinded the part where she’d burned a couple of them. Better to save that crazy tidbit for when she knew Ty well enough that he’d understand.
“Well, what would you wear if you couldn’t go get a dress?”
“I’m absolutely not going to go get a dress.”
“Ohhhh-kaaay,” he said, drawing the word out. “Am I picking you up and you’re going to the wedding in scrubs? What are we talkin’ here?”
Winnie smiled at the very idea. “I own an amazing black jumpsuit,” she said.
“I’m not even sure what that is,” Ty said. “And I’m also not sure black is appropriate for a wedding.”
“I’d be willing to buy a jumpsuit in a different color,” Winnie said. “Will we be dancing?”
“I don’t want you there as my nurse,” he said.
“I thought I already agreed to that,” she said. “I was asking to know if I should wear heels or not.”
“I have no idea what the itinerary is,” he said. “It’s a wedding, Winnie. For the love of eight seconds.”
Winnie burst out laughing, though she didn’t think Ty had meant to be funny. Nope. He didn’t join her, but she couldn’t help the giggles streaming from her mouth.
She sobered and asked, “What time do I need to be ready?”
“I don’t know.”
Winnie grinned out into the peacefulness of her backyard.
Yes, Taylor would be up soon, and Winnie would have to pretend to care about her new boyfriend, but for now, she could enjoy the mid-morning sunshine, the squirrels, and teasing Ty.
She could hardly believe that last one, but well, she was just trying to live in the moment.
“I’ve got to be honest, too, Ty—”
“When are you ever not?”
“It sure seems like maybe you pocket-texted me,” she went on.
“I didn’t see you drinking last night, and I’m pretty sure you drove away in your truck, but…
you text me at almost one in the morning, and it was practically a demand to go to a wedding with you in ten days.
But you don’t know what I need to wear, or if there will be dancing, or what time I need to be ready? ”
“I—I don’t drink.”
“That’s a relief.” Winnie pictured his dark eyes and all that hair, which he’d admitted he kept long to annoy his mother. “Shoot straight with me, cowboy, because I’ve had enough of men who lie right to my face.”
She took a deep breath and hoped she wouldn’t regret the next words out of her mouth. “Did you ask me to the wedding because you were jealous?”
Silence.
Two seconds, then five, then seven, passed.
“Yes,” he barked. “Okay? Yes. I don’t want to watch you go out with someone who isn’t me, okay? Yes, I was jealous of this other guy who might ask you out.” His breath heaved on the other end of the line, and then he quieted again.
Winnie ducked her head, her soul practically singing. She wasn’t sure if her heart was ready to take on a man—another cowboy—like Tyson Greene, but oh, she wanted to find out.
“Okay, then yes,” she said, using a lot of the same words he had. “I’ll go to the wedding with you next weekend if you can get me some additional details very soon.”
“I can,” Ty whispered.
“Great,” she whispered back. “Well…Happy New Year, Ty.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Happy New Year to you too, Winnie.”
The call ended, and Winnie sighed into the silent morning air. “I don’t know what this will be, Lord,” she murmured. “But can You please make it something good? I don’t know if I can take any more sad, bad, or lonely.”
She ate her croissant and sipped her tea, and when her phone chimed, she found a text from Ty.
The ceremony is at five o’clock on Saturday, up at Shiloh Ridge Ranch. There’s a dinner, reception, and dance party right after. Judy says there’s no color requirements, so wear whatever makes you smile—heels or no heels. I think I need to pick you up at four for us to be there on time.
Winnie smiled and watched a pair of squirrels chase each other along the back fence. “It might be nice if Ty and I could get along,” she added to her prayer. “Okay? Just for a couple of hours.” She nodded and tucked her phone back onto the side table with her now-empty teacup.
Yeah, it sure would be nice if she and Ty could learn how to get along…maybe for longer than it took to attend a wedding together. But Winnie didn’t want to ask too much of God too soon, so she simply said, “Amen,” and left it at that.