Convincing Cara (Wishing Well, Texas Book 2) (7 page)

“Wow. Now I really am sorry I missed the show.”

Harmony’s response led me to believe that the subject had been dropped. My relief was short-lived when her next inquiry shot more holes in that theory than Swiss cheese.

“But, seriously. What’s the 411, hon? Obviously you gave them somethin’ to talk about.”

All right, so sarcasm hadn’t worked. Next up: redirection.

“You can’t mix your Mary J. Blige references with Bonnie Raitt,” I said. “You’re better than that.”

“Umm, yes I can. Obviously. I just did it seamlessly, which shows how
good
I am. Now stop avoiding the question.”

I could have made up some excuse and said that I had to go. Actually, it wouldn’t have been an excuse; I really did need to get ready. But, if I didn’t address this now, I was scared it was going to expand like a loaf of bread with too much yeast. The tiniest sliver of a story spread faster in this small town than the Road Runner on speed.

Sitting on my bed, I picked the phone up so that it didn’t look like I was “avoiding” anything. “Trace just gave me a hug. That’s all. His timing just happened to be when Lizzy was trying to get his attention to tell him that she’d saved him a seat.”

As much as I’d tried to keep my tone level, it had changed when I’d said Lizzy’s name. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the girl. She was fine. Nice, even. My one and only issue with her was that she’d spent the entire summer making a very strong, very obvious play for Trace. From what I’d seen, it had been unsuccessful, but that could change in a blink of an eye if Trace’s track record held true.

The green-eyed monster had visited me on a much more regular basis lately. Over the past couple of years, whenever I’d been confronted with Trace’s flavor of the month—or sometimes week or day—jealousy had erupted in me with volcanic force. Hot, envious lava had flooded my senses. I’d even snapped at Destiny when I’d mistakenly thought that Trace had sent her a bouquet of flowers. They’d actually been from JJ. But, for a few seconds before that info had come to light, I’d been ready to lose it.

I wasn’t stupid. Naïve, maybe, but not stupid. I knew he was not one to spend his nights alone. Not that he got into serious relationships. No, it was more like he was frog-jumping from casual lily pad to casual lily pad. There was a very good possibility that Lizzy’s lily pad was going to be his next hop.

“Okay. So, why the sudden public display of affection?” Harmony asked, sounding suspicious.

It was a hug. Calling it a “public display of affection” was a bit dramatic.

“Because I told him that the magazine offered me a full-time position in their digital department with my own byline.”

“They did! When? Why didn’t you tell me? Oh my god, congratulations!” Her face enthusiastically bounced up and down in the frame.

“Thanks!” I smiled. “It was a few weeks ago—”

“A few
weeks
?! Why am I just hearing about this now?” she asked before I had a chance to answer just that.

Shaking my head slightly, I explained, “I didn’t tell anyone. I found out a few days after my doctor’s appointment. Actually, it was the same day Colton got cast in that new show. I guess I just… It kind of got lost in the shuffle.”

“Well, damn, girl. Your life is seriously coming together! First your health, then your career, and now your personal life. You are on fiyah!”

I didn’t feel like I was on
fiyah
. I felt like I was living someone else’s life. Maybe it was that I’d been so conditioned for getting bad news. I was really good at
coping
and
surviving
, but my
living
skills were lacking. I was so used to my life being put on hold that, now that the play button had been pushed, I wasn’t sure I recognized the song as the soundtrack to my life.

“Okay, well, we are definitely going to need to celebrate your new position.” Harmony clapped her hands. “But we’ll need to back-burner that for now and deal with more pressing matters, like what you’re going to wear tonight.”

Setting down the phone, I held each dress up to me so that Harmony could see them.

“Red one. No contest,” she stated firmly.

I was keenly aware that my friend had called under the guise of helping me pick out what to wear. Her true motivation had been to find out info on the gossip. Still, I figured I would take her advice and go with the crimson dress. She’d always had really great fashion sense, and I was suddenly feeling incapable of making even the simplest life decisions. My first real date was in less than two hours, and I was freaking out.

“Did you get the pictures of Peter I texted you?” Harmony asked.

I nodded. She’d sent several shots of him. Not that she’d really needed to, I’d already known what he looked like thanks to a little light Internet stalking. At first, I’d felt kinda creepy, but that quickly went away when it turned out to be so much easier than I’d expected. In a few clicks, starting with finding him on Harmony’s friends list, I was able to not only see pictures of Peter, but also what his interests were, what movies and music he liked, and all the places he’d “checked into” over the past month.

From what I’d gathered, he loved barbeque and the gym. Which I guessed made sense. If you were going to eat barbeque every day and you wanted to stay in shape, then you’d better be hitting the gym.

“All right. Text me when dinner’s over. If you don’t end up spending the night, we should meet up at the Tipsy Cow for a rundown.”

“Spend the night! I’m not going to spend the night with him on the first date!” I couldn’t believe she’d actually said that.

Well, that’s not true. This was Harmony after all.

“Never say never.” She winked before disconnecting the call.

Plopping back down on my bed, I stared up at my ceiling. Tonight was my first step in
living
. I was meeting a guy who was good-looking, interested, and, from what Harmony had said, really funny. I should have been excited. I should have been looking forward to this new phase in my life, Peter, and all the possibilities that would come with meeting him.

But Peter wasn’t the one on my mind at all. Nope. I was completely consumed with the hope that Trace would be coming in from the fields as I was on my way to the car, and he’d catch a glimpse of me in the red dress I’d be wearing. Instead of wanting to impress Peter, I was wishing on all the stars in Texas that Trace would not only see me, but be affected by what he saw.

So, yep. This was definitely a problem.

Trace

“If everything’s comin’ your way, you’re in the wrong lane.”

~ Dolly Briggs

“S
hit,” I hissed,
yanking my hand back as a searing pain shot through me after I’d sliced a small chunk of skin off my thumb.

The harrow had stalled, and I’d been trying to bring it back to life. Drops of blood dripped on the hay beneath my feet. I grabbed the handkerchief I always kept in my back left pocket and wrapped it tightly around my thumb.

My shoulders bunched in frustration.

I’d been working on farm equipment since I could walk and I hadn’t burned or cut myself since my balls had dropped. That was up until the last hour. I figured I should call it a day to avoid serious bodily harm. My mind was not on work, and I didn’t see that changing. Exactly sixty minutes ago, when I’d been driving in from the fields for the day, Cara had left her house in a red dress that advertised as bright as the lights on the Las Vegas Strip that she had the face of an angel and a body made for sin.

I didn’t have to be a psychic to know she was meeting up with some douchebag. One that I was sure her personal matchmakers, Harmony and Destiny, had set her up with. That much I knew. But it was what I didn’t know that was driving me crazy.

Where was she going?

Who was this guy?

Was this the first time she was meeting up with him?

Did she have pepper spray?

Were they meeting in a well-lit and populated area?

It was killing me not to pick up the phone and demand answers from my sister. But what would that do? The last thing I wanted to do was tip my hand. I’d waited this long for the girl of my dreams; sitting on the sidelines of her life for a little bit longer wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would just
feel
like it.

At least, I didn’t think it would. But damn, when I’d seen her get into her car, I’d wanted to block the driveway and not let her leave. To get out of my truck and tell her that she was the only girl I’d ever loved. To kiss her until she forgot not only that any other men existed, but also that the rest of the world did. It was so bad that my chest had tightened to the point that I’d wondered if I was having a heart attack.

The only thing that had stopped me from making a fool of myself was realizing that, if Cara wanted to date, who was I to stop her? Yes, I wished she were dating me, but because I didn’t meet some mystery criteria, that wasn’t going to happen. And more than anything in this world, I wanted that girl to be happy. Even if her happiness made me miserable.

A low vibration reverberated in my pocket. With my good hand, I pulled my phone out. For a split second, I found myself holding my breath, hoping that it might be Cara. It wasn’t. Lizzy had texted—she was going to be at the bar tonight and she thought I should stop by with Travis. Since there was only one bar in town, she didn’t have to specify that it was the Tipsy Cow.

My head fell back as I let out a sigh. It had been too long since I’d wet my sex whistle, and that was not helping my borderline obsession with Cara.

I was in it for the long game with her, and as much as I’d wished that, when she’d gotten her clean bill of health, the stars had aligned and I could have finally told her how I felt, that hadn’t been the case.

Yet.

If she wanted to date, then she deserved to date and do all the things she’d missed out on while she’d spent her adolescent and teen years in and out of the hospital. No way in hell was I going to stand in her way. But I sure as hell would be there when she was done.

I would be the last man standing, and when I was, I would get on one knee and ask her to make me the luckiest man in the world.

But it didn’t look like that would be happening tonight.

Maybe I should hang out with Lizzy, I thought. If Cara was busy dating, then there was no reason I should have been sitting at home like a lovesick puppy. Even if, technically, that’s exactly what I was.

Before I had a chance to respond to Lizzy, Travis walked through the barn doors.

“Jaynie just hit me up and said to meet everybody at the Cow tonight. You in?”

I should say yes. Hell, if I went home, I’d just stay in this pissy mood and feel sorry for myself. Not to mention a cold beer sounded like exactly what the doctor ordered. The only problem was I didn’t feel like seeing Lizzy. Or Jaynie. Or anyone other than Cara.

“Is there a problem?” Travis cocked one eyebrow.

I shook my head.

Taking a few more steps into the barn, my brother narrowed his eyes. “What’s going on with you?”

Shit. I did not want to get into this with him. I was closest to Travis out of all of my brothers. Growing up, we’d shared a room. After high school, we’d both gone to the University of Texas, and the day after I’d graduated I’d moved into the house we both now shared. He knew me well. Too well.

“Nothin’. I’m just tired.” I started towards the back of the barn, where my office was. Travis hated paperwork and never went back there, so I was hoping that he’d take the hint and not follow me.

He didn’t.

“Bullshit,” he said as soon as I sat down at my desk.

I looked up. He stood in the doorway.

I should have shut the door
.

Ignoring him, I tapped on the keyboard to wake my computer up. When the screen lit up, I opened the file of inventory reports. It was the last thing I had to do before I left for the day, and all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there. I was in a shitty mood, and it felt like the walls were closing in on me.

“Your panties have been in a twist for a while now. I figured it would pass. But it hasn’t.”

Since there was no question in my brother’s statement, I didn’t bother acknowledging him. Staring straight at the screen, I continued working.

“So?” he prompted.

I kept typing. “So, what?”

“So, what crawled up your ass and died?”

My brothers all had a way with words.

“Nothing, but thanks for your concern,” I answered dryly.

“Suit yourself.” Travis lifted his arms in surrender. “You want to mope around like a little girl, that’s on you. I’m going to the Cow tonight. If your time of the month ends, meet me there.”

With that colorful parting shot, my brother disappeared from the doorway.

Resting my elbows on my desk, I scrubbed my hands over my face. Had I really been moping around? I sure as hell hadn’t felt like myself lately, but I didn’t think I was acting any differently.

My phone dinged and vibrated, alerting me to an incoming text. As I pulled it out of my pocket, I held my breath, hoping that it would be from Cara—again. I’d been doing that ever since Saturday night. For some reason, our time sitting on a blanket, under the stars, and watching a romantic movie had given me a sliver of hope that she would call or text. That was shrinking by the second though. Sure, she hadn’t seemed overexcited—or excited at all—when I’d initially sat down. But, after the movie’d started, we’d had a good time. At least, I thought we had.

Unlike her radio silence, I’d texted her every day since then. Sometimes with jokes, other times with trivia about the movie
Ghost
. She’d only replied twice; both of those times had been with the laughing emoji. I kept thinking that she might initiate a text of her own, with real words. She hadn’t. And, every time it wasn’t her, my mood grew worse.

I wasn’t surprised that the message was not from Cara. Disappointed? Yes. Surprised. No.

Lizzy:
Hey, Jaynie just told me that Travis said you have cramps. Are you okay? Did you pull a muscle or something?