Chapter 11 Amy
ELEVEN
AMY
Two days later, I was on my way to pick up Cal for a photoshoot.
I’d arranged our meetup via text, avoiding calling him because I wasn’t sure what to say.
Should I apologize? Yes, definitely, but the blowup between us hadn’t been entirely my fault.
While I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that, he’d he didn’t have the right to judge my parenting choices.
Still, I knew we needed to have an amicable discussion, and I was nervous about that. Escorting him to the photoshoot was a good opportunity to be friendly.
As I cruised down Main Street on the way to Cal’s B&B, I spotted Carly’s Coffee and Treats.
A good cup of coffee and a pastry might help to soften any conversation in which I tried to explain why I had, in his words, “overreacted.” I pulled into a spot and headed for the bakery door.
Inside, Carly was busy behind the counter.
While the two of us weren’t close, we had a friendly relationship.
Plus, Carly tended to be front and center when there was gossip floating around town.
“Hey, sweetie, I was hoping you’d drop by some time,” Carly said as she finished up with a customer. “I want a minute to chat. What can I get you first?”
Figuring Cal was a regular coffee drinker, I ordered a medium roast for him and a caramel mocha for myself along with some pear tarts to share.
“Step on back here while I make the mocha,” Carly invited, so I went around the old-fashioned wooden counter. I’d just leaned my hip against the workstation when Carly shot me a sly smile and began talking. “Would you mind if I ask Cal Pierce out?”
“Huh?” I was a little flabbergasted. Carly wanted to date Cal? Did she know he was only temporarily in town?
“He’s the hottest thing to land in Poplar Springs in a long time.” Carly ran a hand across her forehead as if wiping away the sweat. “His buns in those jeans. Well, they’ve just got my wheels a-turnin’. And I’m not the only one. He wouldn’t lack for female company—but only if you’re okay with it.”
“Why does it matter what I think?” I wasn’t Cal’s personal secretary. I didn’t keep his date book.
“Well, you know.” Carly frothed the milk for the mocha as she talked. “He looks so much like Luke that we all kinda thought it might be weird for you—watching him flirt with someone else.”
It wouldn’t be, actually—weird, that is.
Luke had been a flirt. It was harmless, he’d never cheated on me, and I hadn’t really minded.
But the idea of watching someone who looked like him smile and chat with another girl?
That wasn’t a problem. The thought of that lookalike being Cal? That was a whole other story.
Carly mixed the mocha and poured it into a paper cup before drizzling caramel across the top. “So what do you think? Is it okay? Or should I tell the gals in town to hold their horses?”
Hell, no, it’s not okay! I wanted to shout.
But I couldn’t say that. Because my objection wasn’t because Cal looked like Luke.
It was something else, something I was just letting myself realize.
Carly went to the counter to wait on a customer, leaving me a minute to think.
My imagination was running wild picturing Cal kissing Carly or any other of the local single women.
Carly, who was blond and busty and way too pretty. Was that Cal’s type?
I didn’t like it. Not one damn bit, which was ridiculous. I had no claim on him, and I’d never minded when Jake or Brian dated, so it wasn’t family protectiveness. I lifted the steaming hot mocha to my lips. Did I want to kiss Cal myself?
Oh, God. I put the drink down untasted. I might, but not because he was some sort of replacement for Luke. He’d already shown me that he was very much his own man.
So my sudden possessiveness of Cal was from my attraction to him?
It was a little…alarming, really, when I let myself process it all.
Getting involved with him was fraught with potential problems. He was leaving, which was problem number one.
Then I worried about what Laura would say.
And what about Jake and Brian? What kind of dynamic would that set up in the family?
And truth be told, I wasn’t sure it would be wise to put myself emotionally in the hands of a cocky cowboy again. I’d done that once, falling head over heels for Luke. But I was older now and wiser. Shouldn’t that mean I knew better than to make the same mistake?
“Well, sweetie, what do you think?” Carly returned and took the mocha from my hand, capping it and fitting it into a drink carrier with the coffee for Cal. “Is he fair game?”
“Sure, of course,” I said with a forced smile.
I really wanted to snarl and grit my teeth, but I’d worked in public relations long enough to know how to control my features and tone.
“He comes with a warning, though. He has no plans to stick around these parts. As soon as the rodeo’s over, he’ll be on his way, and I don’t think a relationship would be enough to keep him around.
He’s mentioned that small towns aren’t for him. ”
I wanted to screech “don’t date him” but hoped my warning would have the right effect.
“That’s perfect. I just broke up with Todd,” Carly said with an eye roll.
“You know him, he works at Martin Ranch Supply. Trust me, sweetie, I’m not ready for anything serious after that.
I want to have some fun, and I think your rodeo star is just the ticket.
You know, that whole ‘save a horse, ride a cowboy’ mentality. Am I right?”
She definitely wasn’t right, but none of the responses that came to mind were appropriate, so I just smiled, wished Carly good luck, picked up my order, and left.
Before starting my car, I rested my head against the steering wheel for a few seconds, trying to erase the mental image of Cal and Carly in an amorous embrace.
The only way I could do that was to replace Carly with myself.
I was shocked at how easy it was to imagine.
My mind instantly began playing out a scenario of Cal’s rough hands gripping me in a lover’s embrace.
Kissing Cal under a star-filled night sky.
Cal helping me to shed my clothes before gently spreading me beneath him on a blanket on the hill behind the main barn. Cal nude, gripping his dick as precum—
I slammed the door shut on those thoughts. I wasn’t interested in a little fun and games, so that scenario was never going to happen. Just the same, I filed that fantasy away to think about later. Preferably when I wasn’t behind the wheel.