Page 33 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

“Yep. All good,” came her sister’s reply. “You okay?”

“Yep. All good too.”

Better than good.

“And how is Chevy? Did you find him? You’ve been gone for hours. Did anything pop up for you to talk about?”

Her sister followed her message with an eggplant emoji, and Leni laughed out loud. Her phone dinged again, this time with just the emoji of a taco. Then another text with just a peach.

Leni cracked up as she typed back, “We’re working through some things.” She added a winky face. Although she could have created the story of the whole afternoon with images of a lake, a dog, a bra, a lightning bolt, a peach, a bed, andseveraleggplants.

“Maisey is here, and Elizabeth just stopped by with chips and salsa to go with the enchiladas, so no need to rush home. Unless you’re hungry. Otherwise, stay as long as you want.”

She looked down the road then back at the cabin. Chevy had said the gravel road wasprobablywashed out. She weighed the risk of it against the benefit of what was back in the cabin.

It couldn’t hurt to give it alittlelonger for the water to dry. It certainly wasn’t worth getting stuck. Not when there was a six-foot-something, broad-shouldered alternative waiting for her inside.

“The storm flooded the road to the cabin, so I might stay a little longer to let it dry out,” she typed. “Go ahead and eat without me. I’m not hungry.”

Not for chips and salsa anyway.

Dropping her phone into her purse, she brought it with her as she walked back to the cabin, her stomach full of butterflies at the thought of being with Chevy again.

She felt like a skydiver standing at the open door of the plane, anxious and terrified, but also excited, her whole body tingling and wired at the anticipation of experiencing that thrilling free fall into the sky.

“Hey,” he said, a slow grin crossing his face as she walked through the door. “You’re back.”

“I started to leave, but you’re right, it’s better to wait for the road to dry out.” She was already unbuttoning the flannel shirtand stepping out of her sandals. “And I was thinking about some of thoseideasyou had about how we could fill the time,” she said as she let the shirt drop to the floor.

Chapter Sixteen

Leni juggled a drink carrier holding coffees for her and her sister with her purse as she walked out of Mountain Brew a few days later. Her mind was on a hundred different things, from taking care of her sister and the store to what she was going to feed Max for supper and always with underlying thoughts of Chevy.

What was he doing? What was he thinking?

What wasshedoing with him?

And why had her giant logical brain turned to mush so that she couldn’t get through an hour without thinking about him?

She hadn’t seen the tall cowboy the day before. He and his brothers had spent most of it moving a herd of cattle from one pasture to another and then catching up on chores when they got back that night.

But he had texted her a few times throughout the day, and every time her phone had buzzed in her pocket, she’d gotten a thrill of anticipation at what he might have to say.

His messages had all been sweet, asking how her day was going or just telling her he was thinking about her.

They were supposed to get together that night. He was picking her up at six and taking her out for barbecue at the TipsyPig. But first, she needed to bring her sister this decaf skinny iced caramel macchiato and shower off the scent of coffee in her hair.

Her car was parked on the street in front of the shop, and her heart swelled as she saw the handful of sunflowers that she was sure a certain handsome cowboy had picked and put under her windshield wipers.

She called Chevy as she drove back to Lorna’s. “Thanks for the flowers. They’re gorgeous,” she said as soon as he picked up.

“What flowers?” he asked. “Is some guy giving you flowers? Tell me his name, and I’ll kick his ass.”

“Very funny.” She couldn’t remember the last time a man had bought her flowers. Or picked some for her from the side of the road.

“I’m glad you like them. From your text earlier, it sounded like you were having a rough day. We’ve got a sick calf, so I had to run into town real quick to grab some antibiotics. I knew I wouldn’t have time to stop for more than a minute, and I saw the sunflowers and thought they might make you smile.”

“They did.” Although seeing him would have made her even happier. “Next time, text me and I’ll run you out a coffee.”

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