Page 58 of A Sunny Sweetheart for the Cowboy

No. Not Paisley. She might be a bit scatterbrained, but she wasn’t devious. She wouldn’t lead a guy on, not after all the effort she’d put into catching his attention in the first place.

Maybe she’d taken a closer look at him and realized what a relationship risk he was. Rayna hadn’t said goodbye, either. She’d just waltzed out of his life and resurfaced weeks later in California, if the grapevine were to be believed.

If there was anything Weston hated, it was history repeating itself.

“I don’t know what to do!”

With a start, Weston realized he still stood in the family activities office doorway. Cindy didn’t know what to do? Yeah, well, neither did he. At least Cindy hadn’t had her heart stomped on in the process.

“We’ve got a lot of activities on the public-facing calendar for the next few weeks. Should I just cancel those and focus on the Fourth of July? But I don’t even know what to do there. I’m sure Paisley has the stuff on the computer here somewhere, but she doesn’t organize her files the way I would. I have no clue where to look.”

This was what Grandfather had feared, that Cindy couldn’t run the whole programming herself and finish the details for the festival.

Oh… had Paisley asked for time off, and Grandfather hadn’t mentioned it to Weston when they talked earlier? Or had she gone in afterward? Maybe Weston should head back to the office for damage control.

He huffed a not-so-amused laugh at himself. Since when could he mitigate someone else’s problems? Since never.

Not Weston, king of getting by and staying in the shadows.

He eyed Cindy. “You’ve got a couple of other workers, right? Put one of them on the celebration?”

“Just one, Sabrina. And it takes two of us to run any of the programs. I really can’t do it all without Paisley. She might be a bit – you know – but she always manages to pull things together.”

Weston ought to walk away. After all, Paisley had walked first. He should just let the department suffer. Let Paisley take the fall for her impulsive decision to leave without even telling him. Or — he was almost certain — without talking to Grandfather or Tate. Wait. She’d probably talked to Tate. He was acting CEO, after all. Grandfather was just a figurehead these days.

Weston should have gone to his cousin earlier, not his grandfather. He still could.

Although, that bit about walking away was still tempting. So very tempting.

The old Weston would have done that without a backward glance. Cut his losses, much the way Paisley seemed to be doing.

The new Weston had three relationships the old one had never had. He’d come to know Jesus better. Instead of just a vague God who lived way out there and didn’t particularly care one way or another, Weston now knew Jesus as a personal friend.

He also had an extended family that he’d never had before. He had a grandfather who took an interest in him. He had uncles and aunts and cousins in abundance, and they had sort of grown on him. As part of Sullivan Enterprises — even in an insignificant role nearly anyone could fill — he couldn’t let the whole situation crumble if he could save it.

Because, third, he loved Paisley Teele. The realization blindsided him, and he rocked against the door jamb. Seriously? Love? What did he know about love? A whole lot more than he had last year at this time. He’d had practice letting God’s love in, letting a family’s love in, and now, yes, a woman’s.

A woman who’d abandoned him.

But he loved her. How could that even be? He’d been so careful to lock away his heart ever since Rayna, but Paisley — wild, persistent, spontaneous Paisley — had wormed her way in.

And then left him high and dry.

But what if she hadn’t? Would she pick up his calls or answer his texts? He hadn’t tried. She’d been so distraught last night that he’d waited for her cue.

He shouldn’t have left her on the beach when she told him to, but how was a guy to know? Women were a mystery. Paisley was an enigma… and one he still wanted to solve, if only to figure out what it was about him that made women feign interest and then leave him.

Weston was over Rayna, but maybe he wasn’t over what she’d done to him. He wasn’t giving up so easily with Paisley, not until he was absolutely certain she’d left him for good. Hadn’t she said she’d be back? But would she still have a job when she did return? Because Weston could see Grandfather’s point, too.

And Cindy’s. The woman stared at him like he flummoxed her. Welcome to the club.

“It’s Saturday.”

She nodded and huffed a laugh. “Brilliant, cowboy.”

“Let me see what I can figure out for you.” Tate took weekends off, but that didn’t mean Weston couldn’t find him. The house he’d built for his small family wasn’t far from the resort’s hub. “I’ll get back to you by Monday at the latest, okay?”

“What’s it to you?”

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