Chapter Eleven – Colt
Colt
As I walked out of the event center with my mother, father, and Logan Miller, I couldn’t help but feel that the young lady clutching my arm was up to no good.
“How in the world did your parents leave without you, Logan?” my mother asked, clearly as confused as I was.
“Oh, they’ve done it before. I think they’ve grown so used to me not being around, they simply forgot that I came with them.”
My mother stared at her, as my father and I exchanged a look that said neither of us believed the story she was dishing out. The girl had spent most of the evening following me around, thinking up one reason after another to talk to me. She couldn’t have been more than twenty, maybe twenty-one.
We were almost to my truck when I spied Janet Miller, Logan’s grandmother.
“Janet!” I called out, and she turned and looked at me. I’d run into her earlier in the evening, and she’d asked a million questions. Where had I been? Why hadn’t I come home sooner? Then she asked me if I wanted to do an interview for her column, which I’d politely declined.
She smiled. Then she saw that Logan was next to me, and a look of confusion crossed her face, but it was gone almost instantly.
“I’m glad we caught you before you left,” I said. “Logan needs a ride home. Her parents left without her.”
Logan made an odd sound beside me, then she started sputtering. “Oh, they, um, they didn’t mean to leave me, Gram. But the Owens were nice enough to offer me a ride home, so I’m good.”
“Logan, wouldn’t it be easier to ride home with your grandmother, since your parents live right next door to her? You do still live at home, correct?” my mother stated. “It’s a bit out of our way to take you home if we don’t need to.”
Logan’s nostrils flared, but she managed to force a smile in my mother’s direction. “Yes, Mrs. Owens, you’re right. It would be easier for everyone if I rode home with my grandparents.”
Janet’s eyes bounced around the group before settling on her granddaughter. She seemed to give her a warning look before turning her attention back to my parents. “It was good seeing you, and I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jacob.”
My father tipped his cowboy hat at Janet before saying, “I’m a bit tired; we should be hitting the road.”
“Of course, of course,” Janet said, as she motioned for Logan to start making her way to the car.
“Good night, everyone!” Janet called out, as she turned and followed her.
“You lucked out with that one.”
Ensley’s voice came from behind me. I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah. I believe I did.”
With a soft smile, Ensley said, “Goodnight, Colt.” Turning to my parents, she walked over and gave them each a kiss and hug goodbye before turning and walking away.
After helping my mother up into the truck, I shut the door and let out a sigh of relief. Once inside, Mom wasted no time telling me all about Logan Miller.
“She’s a mini version of her grandmother, a manipulative gossip queen. But this is the most important part—the girl is only twenty-one.”
I nodded. “I figured she was about that age.”
“Just be very careful around her. Levi Tucker had to fire her from his vet clinic because she did nothing but flirt with him inappropriately.”
“Who’s the gossip now?” I teased.
My father laughed in the back seat. “He’s got you there, darling.”
Mom huffed, then added, “I’m simply trying to let my son know to be careful with that girl. I’m sure she told her parents she had a ride home.”
“That much I gathered. I’m not completely ignorant about women, Mom.”
She glanced at me. “I guess not. I just want you to be very cautious. I don’t trust Logan as far as I can throw her.”
“Duly noted, and thank you for looking out for me.”
The rest of the drive was quiet…until my mother broke the silence again. “Ensley looked beautiful this evening.”
“She did,” I agreed.
“How are things between the two of you?”
I gripped the steering wheel tighter because I knew what was coming. My parents had been very silent about Ensley, and I’d been waiting for them to ask questions. It figured they’d wait until we were trapped in a car together. “Not so hot. She’s angry with me, as she should be.”
“What are you doing to fix it?” my father asked.
I glanced in the rearview mirror before saying, “We’re having lunch tomorrow in Granby.”
“That’s good!” my mother enthused.
All I could do was nod. I wasn’t sure how Ensley would take my explanation for the reason why I’d left town, but she deserved to know the truth. She was the only person I would ever tell. My mother and father could never know the reason.
“We’ll see.”
“You have to be positive, son.”
Nodding, I replied, “I will be, Dad. How did you both enjoy your night?”
“Well,” Mom said with a slight sigh, “I know a change of subject when I hear one.”
I laughed.
“I enjoyed myself,” Dad answered. “It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and eat something other than kale.”
Mom twisted to look at my father in the back seat, a grin stretched across her face. “I hate to break it to you, Jacob, but you ate kale this evening in the salad.”
He laughed. “I figured you’d sneak it in there somewhere.”
The rest of the drive home was filled with my mother telling us all about the new cookbook she’d ordered called The Book of Kale.
It ended up working out perfectly for me to meet Ensley in Granby for lunch the next day.
A potential new client called early this morning, and I met with them beforehand.
They’d recently moved to Granby from Texas and were looking for a farrier.
Turns out they’d also met with Ensley last week, but wanted to make sure they’d checked out all their options.
I told them they couldn’t go wrong picking either one of us.
The bell rang on the door as I walked into Bonnie’s Bake House. I wasn’t sure if Ensley was here already. I’d thought about texting the number I used to have for her, but ultimately didn’t know if she’d respond back.
Once inside, it didn’t take me long to find her. She was sitting in a booth, her head bent as she wrote in a notebook. I smiled as I walked toward her.
“I see you still prefer paper over the computer, like my dad.”
Looking up, she smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “For my schedule, I do. You’re early.”
I slid into the booth. “You are, too.”
She shrugged. “I had a few errands to run, so I figured I’d do them this morning. And I have a client to visit in the area later this afternoon.”
I nodded. “Speaking of clients, I met with the Long family this morning.”
Her brows rose. “Really?”
The waitress walked up and set a glass of water down in front of me. “Anything else I can get you to drink?”
“I’ll have Dr. Pepper, please.”
The waitress nodded and looked at Ensley. “You still good, darlin’?”
“I am, thank you.”
“I’ll give you both a few minutes to look at the menu.”
Once she was gone, I focused on Ensley. “They were a nice family, but they did mention they’d met with you, as well. I get the feeling they’re leaning toward you.”
She leaned back in the booth. “Why do you say that?”
I shrugged. “I think Milinda liked you. She asked me if I knew the owner of Wilde Gait Keeper.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I’d known you since we were young, and that I thought you were a very talented farrier.”
The corner of her mouth lifted in a slight smile. “Thank you for that.”
Picking up the menu, I said, “It’s the truth.”
Ensley shut her notebook and pushed it to the side as the waitress came back with my drink. “Do we need more time?”
“If you know what you want, Ensley, please go ahead.”
Ensley picked up the menu and said, “I’ll take the hot turkey sandwich. Sweet potato fries. Do you still have that chipotle mayo?”
The waitress smiled. “We sure do.”
“I’ll take some of that, as well.”
It only took me a second to see that my favorite thing on the menu was still available. I glanced at the waitress—who I swore used to work here ten years ago. She was older, in her early fifties, with light brown hair streaked with gray. “I’ll have the smokehouse Reuben.”
“Side?”
“Sweet potato fries, as well.”
She took our menus and smiled. “I’ll get this in. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Once she was gone, I looked at Ensley, who was staring back with one brow raised.
“You know, they do have other things on the menu besides the Reuben, Colt.”
I smiled. “I love that sandwich.”
She chuckled, and it was nice to see her not shooting daggers at me for once. Too bad her friendly expression would be gone once we started talking.
Her smile slowly faded as she drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “So…where do we start?”
I sat back. “From the beginning.”
Lifting her brows, she asked, “The beginning? That’s going back a long, long time.”
My chest felt heavy, knowing I was about to revisit everything with my brother. Not to mention, my stomach was starting to feel sick. Maybe lunch wasn’t such a great idea.
“Not that beginning. The beginning of when we first started dating.”
She looked confused. “Okay…”
I slowly drew in a calming breath. “When I told Grady I was going to ask you out, he got very upset with me.”
A surprised look appeared on her beautiful face. “Why?”
“He accused me of trying to take you away from him.”
Ensley slowly shook her head. “But we were just friends. There was never anything romantic between us.”
“He thought that by us dating, you wouldn’t be hanging out with him as much. He said I was jealous of your friendship, and that was the only reason I was asking you out.”
“Was that true?”
I drew back as if she’d slapped me. “Of course it wasn’t true, Ensley. I’d liked you for as long as I could remember. Was I jealous of your relationship with my brother? I don’t think so. I might have envied him because he got to be around you so much, but I was never jealous.”
“He never told me any of this.”