Chapter Two
Harper thanked the flight attendant as she exited the plane and then hurried up the walkway into the terminal building.
She needed to make a quick stop in the ladies' room before she went down to meet Shelley.
She wanted to freshen up—and between waiting for her bag, grabbing a coffee, and driving home, it would be a while before they got back to the cottage.
She checked herself over in the mirror as she washed her hands.
She didn't look too bad considering the taxi had dropped her off at JFK at six-thirty this morning, and she'd been on a plane for the last five hours.
She fixed her makeup and ran a brush through her hair before heading back out to follow the crowd toward the baggage claim.
The sight of all the cowboy hats made her smile. She'd seen a few while she was back in the city, but they were fashion statements, not an integral part of daily life like they were here.
She gripped the strap of her purse a little tighter as an image of Emmett flashed into her mind.
He wore his hat well—and looked sexy in it, if she wanted to be honest. But she loved the way he looked without it just as much.
His mostly gray hair was thick, and he had a habit of running his hand through it when he was stressed.
She picked up her pace to join the line at the top of the escalator. She didn't need to be thinking about the man. What she needed to do was plot her schedule carefully so that she could still keep playing taxi driver for the girls without ever running into him.
If she wanted to feed them dinner again, she could do it at her place and drop them home afterward.
That way, even if he were home early, she could just wave at him as they climbed out of her truck.
Then again, if he was out on a date this weekend, she might not need to worry about running into him at all.
If that were the case, she'd just have to hope that whoever his new lady turned out to be wouldn't mind her hanging out with the girls as much as she did.
As she stepped onto the escalator, she determinedly put all thoughts of him out of her head. He was a background character, she reminded herself. She'd like for Tanya and Alana to still be a major presence in the life she was building here, but Emmett didn't need to be.
She swallowed. No matter how much she might want him to.
There—that was it. She'd admitted it, and now she could set the thought aside.
She was about to see Shelley again, after all. She smiled and peered down at the area around the bottom of the escalators. It seemed that the big fireplace there was a popular meeting spot. She could see people stepping forward to greet friends and family members.
She smiled as she watched a young cowboy rush forward to greet his girlfriend with a hug. She chuckled to herself when he swept the girl off her feet and spun her around. It made her happy to know that young people were still falling in love out there in the world.
She straightened her shoulders at that. Love wasn't on her radar—not the romantic kind, anyway. She loved her best friend Shelley and couldn't wait to see her.
She frowned as she neared the bottom of the escalator, still unable to spot her.
She searched the faces in the waiting crowd, but there was no sign of Shelley.
She walked slowly toward the fireplace. Perhaps she'd hit traffic or had trouble finding a parking spot.
It'd be no hardship to hang around and wait for her.
The crowd thinned as the passengers from her plane dispersed, and she continued to look around. It wasn't like Shelley to be late.
There were only a few people still waiting. An older lady peered up the escalators, no doubt waiting for one of the stragglers. A young mom and two kids with balloons waited eagerly.
Harper glanced toward the baggage claim area, wondering if Shelley might be over there—but there was no reason that she would be. She'd specifically said she'd wait here by the fireplace.
A man was striding toward her—a rancher by the look of him, complete with cowboy hat, waxed jacket, jeans, and cowboy boots.
She let herself appreciate the view. Broad shoulders, confident stride, the kind of rugged good looks that she'd discovered she had a weakness for since moving to Montana. He was quite a looker.
When he nodded at her, Harper smiled and turned away, her pulse picking up just a little. Perhaps she shouldn't give up on the idea of finding a date of her own after all.
"Harper."
The voice stopped her cold.
She knew that voice.
Her brain went into freefall, scrambling to make sense of what her ears had just told her. She spun back around, and the world seemed to tilt sideways.
Emmett.
The good-looking rancher she'd just been admiring—the one she'd been thinking about dating? It was Emmett.
"What are you doing here?" The words came out sharper than she'd intended.
He opened his mouth, but she was already talking again, her brain still trying to catch up. "Sorry—it's none of my business, is it?" She forced a bright smile, the kind that covered everything.
Her heart was pounding, and she grasped her hands together, hoping he wouldn't notice the way they were shaking.
And then an awful thought occurred to her.
He was here to pick someone up. That's why Tanya and Alana were spending the whole weekend at Brooke's place. His date was flying in to meet him.
Damn. She really didn't need this. She'd been so determined to avoid the man. What were the odds of running into him like this?
"I should get going. I need to go and collect my bag." She glanced up at the escalator. "She'll probably be down soon."
"Who will?" Emmett asked. He stood stock-still in that way that he had—even the air around him seemed to still.
"Your friend," Harper said, her voice carefully neutral. "I'm guessing that's who you're here to pick up."
She couldn't help herself. She had to know. "She's...?"
She bit down on her bottom lip. She was just guessing, and it was stupid. She had no idea who he was here to pick up, and now she'd given away that she thought—
"She is here," he interrupted.
Her eyebrows shot up. "She is?" Her gaze darted around the waiting area, scanning faces, looking for whoever had captured Emmett's attention enough to bring him all the way to Bozeman. "Where?"
She needed to see who this woman was—even while part of her desperately wished she didn't have to.
"She's standing right in front of me," Emmett said quietly. "I've come to pick you up."
For a moment, Harper couldn't breathe.
She stared at him, waiting for the punchline, waiting for him to clarify, waiting for literally anything that would make this make sense.
"Why?" The word came out barely above a whisper.
His expression shifted—uncomfortable, uncertain—and suddenly her heart dropped into her stomach.
Her hand came up to her mouth. "Oh my God—has something happened to Shelley?"
"No." He took a step closer. "Shelley's fine. There's nothing wrong. No problems. Everyone's safe."
She closed her eyes. "Thank God for that."
When she opened them, she straightened her shoulders under the force of his gaze. "What's going on, Emmett?"
He let out a breath. "When I heard that Shelley was coming to pick you up from the airport, I asked if I could come instead."
Harper leaned back, studying him closely. "Why?" she asked, suspicion creeping into her voice.
His shoulders dropped, and he looked away before facing her again. "Because we need to talk."
As far as Harper was concerned, that was the last thing they needed to do.
But standing here in the Bozeman airport with her heart still racing and her carefully constructed plan to avoid him in tatters, it didn't look like she was going to be able to get out of it now.
"Fair enough." She managed to keep her voice steady. "Shall we go and collect my bag, then?"
He nodded and fell in beside her as she set off toward the baggage claim.
~ ~ ~
Emmett shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked in silence toward the baggage claim area.
They were already getting off on the wrong foot, and it was his fault.
He'd gotten here early enough—fifteen minutes ago—but he hadn't been able to settle in at the bottom of the escalator and just wait for her.
No, he'd had to go off pacing up and down the baggage claim, because he was too antsy to just stand and wait like he should have. He shouldn't even be here; he should have left well enough alone.
He didn't know what had possessed him to ask if he could be the one to come pick Harper up when she landed. He glanced at her as they walked, but her gaze was fixed straight ahead.
The girls had talked about her every single damn day since she'd left town—every evening over dinner. She was good with them, he knew that. But he could have done without hearing her name so often; it was bad enough that he couldn't get her out of his mind.
He'd stopped into Trip’s clinic yesterday when he was up in town, only intending to have a quick word with Trip if he was free or leave a message for him with Brooke, if not.
But when he'd walked into the reception area, Shelley was already there, talking to Trip on his break.
He would have turned around and left them to it, but Brooke had spotted him and called him over.
While they chatted, it had come out that Shelley planned to pick Harper up from the airport today.
Of course, Emmett hadn't said anything at the time. But as he drove back down the valley, he couldn't get the idea out of his head. So, he'd called Trip to see what he thought, and by the end of the day, all the arrangements had been switched so that he was the one coming to pick Harper up.
He knew what Trip and Shelley thought, but they were wrong. He wasn't here because he was so eager to see her again—he really wasn't. He'd come because he figured this was the only way he'd be able to have a conversation with Harper without her wriggling out of it.