Page 36 of A Cameo for a Cowgirl

She sighed.

“Is that the sound of ‘no’ that I’m hearing?” Poppy asked, way too incisively.

“You do know that as the youngest sibling you’re not supposed to be asking questions like that, right?”

“I also know that as your sister who loves you, I’m duty bound to ask those kinds of questions to make sure you’re not missing out on a good thing.”

A good thing? Her heart tensed. Did that mean Poppy liked him? “If you like him so much then why don’t you chase after him?”

“Oh, we don’t like that, do we?” Poppy mocked. “Besides, there is no point chasing after a man who clearly only has eyes for someone else.”

She swallowed her protest, sure any objection would only cause Poppy to twist the emotional thumbscrews harder. But Harrison couldn’t like her. This wasn’t grade school. Surely the man was old enough to know the way to the heart of a woman involved wooing, not pulling her ponytail in the hopes of getting her to notice him. And why he might like her made zero sense.

“I think you have rocks in your head,” she finally said.

“I think you’re trying to avoid the subject.”

Darn tootin’ she was.

“Look, I don’t know why you’d be surprised he might like you—”

Yeah, Poppy said that because she hadn’t witnessed Cassie’s Oscar-level of grouchiness with him.

“—because you’re a straight shooter, and that’s probably really refreshing to a man caught up in the Hollyweird world.”

“Yeah, what man doesn’t want someone pointing out his flaws?” Mark, her handsome high school ex, sure hadn’t.

Poppy shrugged. “Plus you’re smart, and capable.”

“Yep, that makes me a catch.”

Poppy’s hands found her hips. “Where is all this negativity coming from?”

She shrugged, although she had a fairly good idea. That’s what happened when one stirred through the cesspool of remembered words from ex-boyfriends. Guys who decried her work ethic as freakish, or her godly boundaries as quaint. She didn’t fit the mold most men required in a girlfriend these days. She probably would’ve suited the As The Heart Draws era just fine, though.

“Oh, and plus you’re pretty.”

“Gee, thanks.” Super nice to have that tacked on the end like an afterthought. Even if it was more true about her than for either of her sisters. Poppy was classically beautiful, while Jess owned a vivaciousness that added sparkle to her looks. Cassie, in contrast, had always felt like the plain Jane of the James sisters. Not that she wanted her appearance to define her, but still.

“What are you doing here, anyway? Don’t you have work or something?”

“I have Monday mornings off. And like I said, I wanted to know how he is.”

“Well, if you go on set maybe you’ll find him and you can ask him yourself.”

Poppy pushed to her feet. “I might just do that.”

“Great.”

“Good.”

Poppy stared at her a moment longer. “What is it you really object to?”

He was too different. They had nothing in common. Besides, he made her senses react in ways they had no business doing. Guys had always let her down before, and letting her heart off its leash guaranteed heartbreak again. But saying any of this was too hard. Best to just keep it simple. “He’s not a Christian,” she said flatly.

“Then what are you going to do about that?”

And Poppy smirked and flounced from the room.

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