Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
O ther than moving her lunch date with Mila to eleven-thirty and texting Adam the times she’d be able to see him during the week, Tracy couldn’t say what she did with her Sunday. She blamed lack of sleep for those unproductive hours, but she was kidding herself. She couldn’t concentrate because a certain cowboy kept intruding on her thoughts.
The next morning she was up at dawn putting her prettiest sheets on her queen bed, and her fluffiest towels in her bathroom. She cleaned a little, too. Her cozy place didn’t need much, but he’d put effort into creating a romantic atmosphere Saturday night and the least she could do was tidy up.
Her mom called while she was eating breakfast. Monday morning calls were somewhat unusual. Was her mother instinctively picking up on something? “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Hi, sweetie. Sorry we missed you this weekend. Dutch said you were here.”
“I was. I’m sorry I missed you guys, too. I swiped some stew to take to the ranch. I forgot to bring back the containers.” Returning them hadn’t been a priority when she’d left Adam Sunday morning.
“No worries. We have plenty. It seems like forever since we’ve seen each other. This week at the clinic will be busy. Flu season. But we’ll be home this weekend. Any chance you could make it out for an overnight?”
“You know what? That sounds great. I’d love to.”
“We’re planning to go to the Valentine’s bash at the Raccoon Friday night. How about you?”
“Still haven’t decided. My week’s packed, too.” She glanced at the ceiling and hoped nothing in her voice sounded an alarm. “I might just stay home and veg that night. In any case, I’ll drive out Saturday morning, for sure.”
“Great. We’ll catch up.”
“We will. Thanks for the invite.”
“I hope you know you never need one.”
“I know. I’ve been meaning to get out there on a weekend you’d be around, but life keeps getting in the way.”
“Then I’m glad we have a plan. If I don’t see you at the Raccoon on Friday night, I’ll see you on Saturday.”
“Can’t wait. ’Bye, Mom.” She disconnected, an uncomfortable ache in her chest. How sad that her mom felt the need to call and specifically request a visit. Was she like Mila, wondering if she’d said or done something to cause her daughter to limit contact?
By Saturday, it would be all over, one way or the other. Would she confide in her mom?
Yeah, she would. She couldn’t spend all those hours and keep it to herself. She’d tell her in private and let her decide whether to mention anything to her dad.
They both thought a lot of Adam. She didn’t want that to change and it shouldn’t if she emphasized that she’d been the instigator.
Her morning went fast. Her first client needed help with a leasing contract. Easy-peasy. But her ten o’clock was thornier. Marv and Harry, co-owners of the barbershop Shear Thing, were locked in a battle over a clause in the contract they’d signed twenty years ago.
When the issue threatened to run into her lunch hour, she asked them to come back later in the week. Fitting them in became tricky as she worked around times she’d set aside for Adam.
She finally settled on five o’clock Friday afternoon and promised to stay until they’d reached an agreement. She’d blocked out two hours for Adam that afternoon since it would be their last meeting.
But she wouldn’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day at the Raccoon, although she hadn’t stated that to her mom. She might as well use her evening to settle the feud going on between Marv and Harry.
She left her office knowing she’d be a couple minutes late. Sure enough, Mila was already there waiting at a table for two near the empty dance floor. She’d started over when the familiar tilt of a guy’s head caught her eye. She glanced to her left and came to a screeching halt. Adam.
The cowboy who’d dominated her thoughts ever since she’d left him yesterday morning sat at a table not far from hers and Mila’s. He was having lunch with Angie, Kendall, Kieran and a curly-haired tot who must be Jodi, the budding construction genius.
Adam looked up and gave her a smile. Then he went back to the conversation he was having with the crew. Had she smiled back? She couldn’t be sure but she hoped so. Standing frozen in the middle of the restaurant wasn’t a good start to their subterfuge.
She hurried over toward Mila, who looked apologetic.
“Sorry. They came in after I did or I would have asked for a table farther away.”
“No worries. It’s busy today. They won’t be able to hear us even if they tried, which they won’t.”
“I know, but it’s gotta be awkward for you. Him, too. He probably didn’t know we were meeting for lunch.”
“He did know. I told him.”
“Huh. That’s interesting. Anyway, they all came over and said hello when they saw me here. That little Jodi is something else. She doesn’t say much but clearly there’s a lot going on under that cap of curls.”
“I hear she’s a little phenom. I’d better go say hi. If you’ll order me an egg salad sandwich and a cup of coffee, I’ll be right back.”
“Will do. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” She left her coat on the back of her chair, squared her shoulders and walked over to the table. “Fancy meeting you guys here!” She swept a glance over the entire table, resisting the urge to let it linger on the man who sent her pulse into overdrive.
“Hey, there!” Angie gave her a big grin. “It’s good to see you again. I asked Mila if you two could join us but she said you had business to discuss, something to do with Hearts & Hooves.”
“Yeah, they’re running an adoption promo for Valentine’s Day. Looks like you brought the whole crew this time.”
She laughed. “We’re fully staffed.”
Kieran stood and reached out his hand. “’Tis grand to see ya, Tracy. We were just askin’ Adam if ya could stop by today. We’re startin’ on the tunnel.”
“If not today, I’ll make it over tomorrow for sure.” She looked over at Adam. “Busy times.”
“I told ’em the road project’s keeping us hopping.” He held her gaze, his expression cool and collected. “Especially since the Canadian lynx issue has come up.”
“Exactly. Hadn’t anticipated that.” She had no clue what he was talking about.
“Were you able to set up our online meeting for one o’clock?”
“I was.”
“Excellent. We need that road project, but nobody wants to destroy habitat in the process.”
“Absolutely not.” Maybe the lynx’s habitat was a legitimate concern.
“I’ll see you at one, then.” Not an eyelash flicker or the hint of a smile. Impressive.
“I’ll be there.” Meanwhile a trickle of sweat ran down her spine. She switched her focus to the little girl who sat in her highchair regarding her with an unblinking stare. “Hi, Jodi. I’m Tracy.”
The toddler continued her silent assessment.
Kendall chuckled. “She’s sizing you up.”
“I see that. Hey, Jodi, how’s your day been so far?”
“I pounded nails.”
“I hear you’re very good at that.”
She nodded.
“If I come by tomorrow, will you show me how you do it?”
She nodded again.
“Then it’s a date. Well, I’d better get back to my discussion with Mila. Have fun with the tunnel. I’ll check it out tomorrow.” She looked at Adam. “See you soon.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He flashed her a smile that curled her toes.
She left before anyone caught the blush that she couldn’t control. Or the quiver in her body created by his sexy self being only inches away.
A steaming cup of coffee waited for her when she sat down across from Mila, but she didn’t trust herself to pick it up. Too shaky.
“Are you okay?” Mila’s dark eyes were filled with concern.
“I will be once I catch my breath.”
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to Adam yesterday. I meant to catch him while he was down at the barn, but when Claudette and I woke up and checked the Hearts & Hooves site, we had a ton of donations for our Valentine’s Day promo.”
“Yeah? That’s awesome!”
“Sure is. We spent the day sending acknowledgements, even roped Luis into helping, although he didn’t need convincing. He’s super excited that it’s so popular. The donations are still coming in.”
“How cool that you’re getting that kind of response after all your hard work.”
“Claudette’s a genius. I’ve been so focused on the physical adoptions that it never occurred to me that folks who can’t manage that would digitally adopt one by contributing to their upkeep for a year.”
“It helps that you’ve given them all names.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s huge. The pictures Luis, Claudette and I took are important, too. They were labor intensive and we still missed some, but this will be a game changer for Hearts & Hooves.”
“I wish Spence could be here.”
“That was my first thought, too. My second thought was we’re being good stewards of his legacy.”
“That’s for sure.”
“Anyway, enough about H&H.” She lowered her voice. “What’s going on with you and my brother? He seems totally chill.”
“So true.” She couldn’t see him from this angle, couldn’t hear the conversation at his table, but his achingly familiar laugh gave her heart a jolt every time she heard it. “I’m a wreck.”
“He takes after his dad.”
“You’re right, he does. I keep forgetting how good he is at hiding his feelings because he doesn’t do it with me. Or so I used to think.”
“You’re no slouch at keeping your feelings to yourself, either.”
“I guess that explains how we got to this situation in the first place.”
“And where are you, exactly?”
“Good question. Saturday night was… amazing.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“I was. I didn’t expect it would be all that different. I thought all this talk about chemistry was a bunch of garbage.”
“Even after New Year’s Eve?”
“I discounted that because I was toasted and then Adam brought up the whole rebound thing so I had two reasons to doubt my reaction. I suppose I could still be on the rebound, but I’m afraid I’m just plain attracted to him. I—” She paused when their order arrived.
Mila waited until Julie, their server, had left. “So now what? Is that it? One and done?”
“No.” Her cheeks warmed. “We agreed to keep seeing each other through Friday.”
Mila’s gaze sharpened. “Does seeing each other mean what I think it does?”
“Yep.”
“Holy smokes. How can you pull that off?”
“He’ll drop by my office.”
“You’re kidding.”
“He comes into town nearly every day so nobody will think anything of it.”
“Yeah, but still?—”
“The mayor needs to keep in touch with his legal counsel when a road project is in the works that will affect the town’s future.”
“Who came up with this scheme, you or him?”
“He did. I rejected the idea at first, but it might work.”
“Work how? I don’t get it. What are you trying to achieve?”
“Boredom.”
“ Boredom ?” Mila clapped her hand over her mouth. Then she got the giggles.
“It could happen.”
“How often—” She started laughing again but finally managed to get ahold of herself. “How often is he—” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “How often is he… um, dropping by?”
“For one hour each day. No, wait, I blocked out two hours on Friday because that’ll be it. The end. Fini. He wanted to continue the same program next week too, but I?—”
“Oh, he did, did he?” She dabbed at her eyes. “Fancy that.”
“He compared it to the length of a honeymoon.”
“I see.”
“Everybody’s heard the phrase the honeymoon’s over which means the thrill is gone, so two weeks makes some kind of sense, but I don’t think we can chance it. We’d be found out.”
“I don’t know what to say. Except you and Adam are the only two people in the world capable of dreaming up something this nutty.”
“I don’t care if it’s nutty if it works.”
“Am I the only one you’re sharing this with?”
“You can tell Claudette. And maybe he’s already told Luis. He thought he would.”
“Well, no one will hear it from Claudette or me, and Luis won’t squeal, either. But I’m curious. Why did you tell me?”
“I shut you out after the New Year’s Eve thing because I was embarrassed and that was a mistake. No matter what happens with Adam, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it from coming between us.”
“We won’t let that happen.”
“You mean you and me?”
“I mean all of us — you, me, Adam, Claudette and Luis if he’s in on it. You also need to know that if you and Adam get crossways, I won’t take sides. I’m Switzerland.”
“But he’s your brother. Family is more important than?—”
“I won’t take sides. You’re important to me, too.”
“See, this is why I should never have kissed him. I’ve made everything more complicated.”
“But you did kiss him because you had the perfect opportunity, and you’re human and you’ve been stuck on him for years. Clearly he’s been stuck on you, too.”
“But it would be better for everyone if we got unstuck.”
“That’s debatable.”
“No, it’s not. Logic tells me Claudette’s right that we’re dealing with forbidden fruit syndrome, which means it’s temporary. If we’re lucky it’ll wear off by Friday.”
“Valentine’s Day.”
“I get the irony. It just happened to turn out that way.”
Mila smiled. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
“I assume he’s dropping by today? Or has he already?—”
“At one o’clock.”
“ One o’clock ? Gobble up that sandwich, girlfriend. You need to keep up your strength.”