Chapter 8 #2
I groan and flop my head back against my towel. “You’re lucky Riley can’t hear this. Or my dad, for that matter.”
“He’s glued to the Yankees game, and Riley’s too busy giving her Barbies swimming lessons,” she says, waving me off. “Besides, you used to tell me everything you and Trev did. This is just payback.”
“Yeah, well…” I mumble. “Trev and I weren’t exactly the poster couple for adventurous sex compared to what you tell me.”
Mindy lifts her sunglasses and peers over at me. “You ever done it in a truck bed under the stars?”
I snort. “Min, we had a baby at twenty-two. The closest I got to that was falling asleep in the backseat with spit-up on my shoulder.”
She laughs and leans over to pour us each a glass of lemonade from the cooler.
“Viv, you’re due for a good time too. I’m serious. Greg might’ve ruined me for all other men.”
I sigh, sipping my drink, eyes drifting to Riley happily splashing in the pool. “Maybe. One day. But right now, I’m just grateful for sunshine, silence, and this thirty-minute window where no one’s calling me ‘Mom.’”
“Fair.” She nods, sinking back into her chair. “But when you’re ready, I know a guy with strong hands and a gorgeous face.”
I roll my eyes, laughing. “Of course you do.” Knowing exactly who she means. I exhale a long breath, the kind that feels heavier than it should. “But sex is off the cards for me right now, you know that.”
Mindy shifts beside me, her teasing grin softening. She reaches over and gently runs her fingers along my arm—a small sisterly touch that says she gets it without needing to say too much.
“I know,” she says quietly. “I’m only teasing.
Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be right here, glass of wine in hand, ready to hear every single juicy detail.
” She grins again, but it’s a gentler one this time, not pushing.
Then she leans back, repositioning herself to soak up the sun like we haven’t just shared something unspoken.
Whenever I’m ready.
“So…” Mindy starts, sunglasses sliding down the bridge of her nose as she turns to face me. “How was the ride home with Miles?”
There’s curiosity in her voice, but I don’t miss the desperation in her eyes. She’s practically vibrating beside me, barely holding back the need to know more. Girl’s always been addicted to drama like it’s caffeine. Though I’m not even sure this qualifies as gossip.
I shake my head and lean back, stretching my legs toward the sun. “It was good,” I say casually, like I’m not about to drop a bomb. “He was…sweet.”
Mindy shoots up onto her elbow so fast I feel the air shift beside me. “Viv,” she whisper-shouts, eyes wide. “Did you just call Miles sweet?”
I shrug. “Yeah. I guess I did.”
I say nothing else. Let her sit in it. Watch her practically squirm beside me, trying to hold back. She lasts all of five seconds.
“Tell me more!” she whines. “What did you two talk about during the twenty-minute drive? Spill.”
I smirk. “You’re so nosy, I see where Riley gets it from.”
“Hey, I’m just surprised, okay?” She fans herself dramatically. “You acted like you hated the guy.”
I sit up slightly, resting my weight on my arms. “It’s not that I hate him. I just…I’ve heard things.”
“Oh, same.” She waves her hand like this is nothing new. “And one of those things is his—”
“Nope.” I cut her off, already laughing. “Do not finish that sentence.”
“Right, sorry. Too far.” She grins unapologetically and plops back down. “Look, yeah, he’s known for being the town’s top bull rider with a reputation that could fill a notebook, but I never thought he was a total asshole. Cocky, sure. But not mean.”
She’s not wrong. The first time we talked, I had my guard all the way up. Mostly because he called me Bambi and acted like his jawline gave him a free pass to charm his way into my damn jeans.
But last night?
He wasn’t pushy.
He didn’t flirt in a slimy way.
He just…listened.
“He was different last night,” I admit. “Like…not the version of him I thought I knew, or at least heard about.”
Mindy tilts her head toward me, adjusting her bikini top like it’s second nature. “So, has he actually slept with half the town or is that just usual small-town gossip? Cause you know I eat that shit up.”
I slide my sunglasses down and shoot her a look. “You are Bluebell Hollows gossiper.”
“And proud.” She beams. Then she leans in like we’re in high school again, about to trade secrets behind the bleachers. “I’ve heard he had a threesome with Brianna and Lauren.”
I groan. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.” She giggles. “Apparently it happened after the rodeo last summer. Brianna swears by it.”
Of course she does. Brianna and Lauren have made their rounds more than the damn mailman, and that’s saying something in a town this small.
We went to high school together and calling them bitches would be putting it lightly.
The day Brianna tried to get her claws into Trev back when we first started dating, I had to shut it down fast.
And Mindy?
She threw a beer at her when Brianna just kept fighting back, then told her, and I quote, ‘Go be a skank elsewhere, got it?’
“Yeah, well, I don’t trust a word from those two, especially Brianna,” I point out. “She also said she slept with Riley Green when he came for his concert”
Min laughs “She wishes.”
Our conversation comes to a full stop when my little miss nosy barrels toward us, her face sticky with melted ice cream and eyes wide with dramatic purpose.
“Grandpa says there’s someone at the door,” she announces.
I push up from the towel, brushing off my legs, and head toward the house. My orange bikini clings to my still-slick skin from tanning, hair twisted up in a messy bun, and sunglasses resting on my head.
As I step inside, I call over my shoulder, “Hey, Dad, you couldn’t get the door?”
“Game, sweetheart! Too busy!” he yells back, his voice floating lazily from the living room where the TV’s blasting some baseball commentator.
I roll my eyes and pull open the front door, only to be met with the very man who’s been taking up far too much mental real estate since last night.
Miles.
He’s standing there in a sweat-soaked tee and shorts, the sleeves clinging to his biceps, curls damp and messy under the edge of his cowboy hat.
His eyes do a full sweep, starting at my bare toes, skim right up the length of me in my bikini, and pause on my face, like he’s trying to school his expression and failing miserably.
“Hey, Viv,” he says, voice a little hoarse, a little amused. He holds out my purse. “You left this in my truck.”
I freeze for half a second, suddenly hyper-aware of how very little fabric I’m wearing. There’s a flicker of embarrassment, maybe even a pinch of insecurity, but it’s drowned out by how warm my skin feels beneath his gaze.
“Oh…thanks.” I clear my throat, fumbling the strap out of his hands. “Didn’t realize I had forgotten it. My bad.” I laugh softly, trying to deflect the weird flutter in my chest.
“Why are you so sweaty? You run here or something?” I ask curiously.
He smirks, wiping a bead of sweat from his temple. “Nah. Working on the ranch with Greg.” He jerks his thumb toward the red pickup behind him where Greg’s sitting in the passenger seat.
I give a small wave. “Hey, Greg!” I call out.
Before he can answer, I hear little footsteps thudding down the hall. Familiar ones.
The nosy kind.
Riley rounds the corner with her ice cream cone in one hand and that same sly curiosity Mindy wears like a badge. Her big hazel eyes land on the six-foot-two cowboy, dripping sweat on our doorstep.
“Mom,” she says, not taking her eyes off Miles. “Auntie Minnie wants to know if there’s any more ice cream.”
I arch a brow. “There should be, why don’t you go check?”
She shrugs, eyes still fixed on him. “Because she also wanted to know who was at our door.”
I bite back an awkward laugh as Miles’s eyes flick between mine and Riley’s. There’s something in his expression that softens slightly, like he wasn’t expecting her.
“Miles, this is Riley,” I say. “My daughter.”
He smiles and kneels down to her height. “Hi, I’m Miles.”
“Hi,” she says softly, her dimples showing as she smiles back at him.
Then she spins on her heel and runs off, probably in search of more sugar, while Miles slowly stands up.
And just like that, we’re looking at each other again. The quiet stretches between us, awkward and weighted now in a way it wasn’t a second ago.
I clear my throat and shift my weight. “Okay, well…thanks again,” I murmur, fingers tightening on the door as I slowly start to close it.
He nods, eyes lingering for just a beat longer than they should.
And then he’s gone.
I lean my back against the door the second it shuts, exhaling a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. That just caught me off guard.
Why do I care how I looked in front of him? Why did it matter that he saw me in my bikini, hair a mess, that Riley saw him?
“Who was that, Viv?” Dad calls out, eyes still glued to the game as I pause in the living room doorway.
“Just a friend dropping off my purse,” I answer casually, though the word “friend” feels clunky in my mouth. Doesn’t quite fit when it comes to Miles.
Dad hums, then smirks without even looking away from the screen. “Same friend as last night?”
He drags out the word like he’s already made up his mind and just wants to get a rise out of me.
“Focus on the game, Dad.”
He chuckles, clearly satisfied with himself.
I roll my eyes and head back outside, determined to soak up what’s left of the afternoon sun before tonight’s shift.