Page 63 of Just a Stranger

“Ugh, y’all with the sex jokes. Not in front of great-grandma.” Bailey groaned.

Chapter 22

Atley

She asked if I’dlistened to her on the radio. Of course I had. Listening to her voice alone in my truck this morning had been the highlight of my day. I got to hear her laughter, something I’d not heard for over two weeks. I missed it like the grass missed the rain during a Texas summer.

Shaking my head, I left my spot hovering on the edge of the kitchen. Jude and Lara’s son Tyler were playing video games on the massive flatscreen on the other end of the great room. I could sit with them, and no one would bother me.

I shouldn’t have come for breakfast, but telling Cami no wasn’t something I’d ever perfected. The woman was a powerful force. And since falling for Wilson, her powers had magnified.

“Gentlemen, mind if I join you for some zombie killing?” I asked Tyler and Jude.

“Please, maybe you’re better at this than me?” Jude passed me the video game remote, and Tyler snickered.

“I guarantee I’m not.” I gave the controller back to Jude.

“Seriously? How much older are you guys than Wilson and Coach Colton?” Tyler’s eyes didn’t leave the screen for a second.

“Just the right amount,” Jude answered. He was the consummate salesperson, never at a loss for words. No wonder he’d made a killing in the real estate business.

“Spent my time on a horse, not in the house growing up.” I hid a yawn behind my hand.

I’d been sleeping even worse since I’d torpedoed my non-relationship with Rae. At night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, my brain on fire. Every moment I’d spent making her feel good replayed in my head, juxtaposed against the way she looked at me in the food park when I accused her of all that stupid shit. Over and over. A never-ending loop of agony.

About three this morning, I finally passed out for a few hours. I should have braved the kitchen war zone for another cup of coffee. But touching Rae for a split second had been enough to derail that plan.

“Guys, food!” Lara called from the kitchen.

“Yes.” Tyler paused the game and jumped up.

Jude and I followed more slowly.

“How’s the ranch?” he asked.

“Good. The grape harvest is coming up.”

“Yes, I am pretty sure the whole town knows that. The Stomp and the tasting room are a hot topic in Elmer. Rae’s done an impressive job marketing the new venue.”

I winced. There was that damn word again. It’s not a venue, it is a ranch, and a vineyard, and a winery. Venues were empty ballrooms in hotels.

“She is impressive.” I looked across the room to find Rae. She and Bailey looked at something on a cell phone and laughed. A wave of regret bigger than a tsunami hit me in the chest. I’d lost her. She’s a PR genius, and any day now a winery somewhere much more exciting than Elmer, Texas would scoop her up. The only role I’d be playing in her future was repacking all seventeen of her suitcases into her rental car when she left.

“I’m thinking I might ask her to do some freelance PR for Beautiful Hills.”

“She’s not planning to stay here.”

“Plans change.” Jude looked meaningfully into the kitchen where Rae, Cami, and Bailey were trying to do some popular online dance or something while the mayor recorded it with her phone. Lara and Tyler, off camera, were trying to help them with the steps. Wilson laughed and Colton stole more sausage while everyone was distracted.

“Sure. Of course.” I shrugged and headed toward the food. Sooner I ate, sooner I could escape.

Jude was wrong. Rae wasn’t settling for Elmer. She’d changed. When I met her in Dallas, the transformation had just begun, she’d been discovering her voice. Now she owned it.

“She fits here,” Jude insisted.

“She won’t settle.” Not for Elmer, and not for me. She was going somewhere important.

Her laughter burned through me, and I let myself stare at her as she and the others danced around. Being in the same room as Rae was a special hell. All I wanted to do was touch her, but I’d lost that right. Not entirely sure I ever really had it.

---