Page 5 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

Chevy lifted his head and stared at Dodge. “Who says I want to win her back?”

They all just stared at him for a few seconds then Dodge, in a soft voice, finally said, “Bro.”

Chevy let out a hard breath. “Okay. Yeah, I’m gonna try to win her back.”

Elizabeth clapped her hands. “Yay. What can we do to help?”

Chapter Three

That afternoon, Leni stomped into her sister’s house—the same yellow one they’d grown up in at the end of Aspen Grove Lane—slammed the door behind her and dumped her purse and tote bag on the counter, knocking into a glass and sloshing water onto the counter.

Her younger sister, Lorna looked up from the kitchen table where she was coaxing green beans into her five-year-old son’s mouth and gently shaking baby Isabel in her bouncy seat in the center of the table. Lorna and her kids favored their mom’s side of the family, fair skin and smooth blond tresses, so different from Leni, who had inherited their father’s wavy dark hair.

“Wow,” Lorna said, her eyes wide as she watched her sister grab a paper towel and furiously wipe at the spill. “Who pooped in your Fruit Loops?”

Her five-year-old, Max, covered a giggle with his hand. “You saidpoop.”

“I think the correct saying is whopeedin your Froot Loops,” Leni corrected with a snarl.

Max giggled again. “Pee.”

“Yes, I know the correct saying,” her sister said, unfazed by Leni’s growly correction. “But your current mood seemed to call for an adjective stronger than merely pee-soaked cereal.”

Max couldn’t take it. His giggles overtook him as he flung himself down on the padded bench seat, the green beans forgotten, as he succumbed to a fit of laughter.

“So, are you gonna tell me what’s got you so worked up?” Lorna asked with a quick grin at her giggling son before returning her attention to her sister.

Leni’s shoulders slumped as she sank into the empty chair at the table. “I saw him today.”

“How was it?” her sister asked, neither one of them having to explain or elaborate on who the “him” was.

“Oh, about like you’d expect. And nothing like the way I’d envisioned it happening in any of the many scenarios I’ve imagined in the past decade. He, of course, still looked hot as hell…” She cast a quick glance at her nephew who was trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard. “Sorry, I mean hot asheck. I’m sure you’ve seen him around, so you know, same dark hair, same tall, lean build, except now his shoulders are a million times broader, and he’s gotten ten times more muscles than he had as a teenager. His smile was the same though. At one point, he grinned at me, just like he used to, and I swear, my knees went so wobbly I had to grab the counter for support.” She let out a sigh. “I’ve always hoped I would run into him when I was looking my best, with my hair curled and all decked out in a cute outfit, or at least wearing something more than just a swipe of mascara and a polo shirt with a coffee stain on the front.” She groaned. “I didn’t even wash my hair this morning.”

“Don’t worry about that,” her sister said. “You still look amazing. And you’re way prettier now than you were in high school.”

“Thanks,” she deadpanned. “That means a lot…coming from mysister.”

“So, what did you do?” Lorna asked, ignoring the gibe.

“What do you think I did? I acted all cool, like seeing him didn’t bother me a bit.” She crossed her arms on the table and groaned again as she leaned her forehead against them. “Then I told him we were closed and kicked him out of the coffee shop.”

“Solid move. Did you kick the other customers out too? Assuming there were other customers.”

“Yes, there were. And don’t worry, I let them stay. But knowing this town, everyone’s already heard how I shoved Chevy Lassiter out the front door of the coffee shop and flipped the closed sign in his face.”

“Wish I could’ve been there.”

“Yeah, I wish you would’ve been there too. I’m sure you would have handled it better.”

Lorna shrugged. “Maybe. But I see him all the time. And of course, I’m always going to be in your corner—Team Leni, and all that—but I still kind of like the guy. He’s just fun to be around. And he’s nice. A few weeks before Izzy was born, he and his family were sitting in the pew in front of us at church, and Max went up to sit with them. He took his crayons and a coloring book, and Chevy colored with him during the whole sermon.”

Leni swallowed. She didn’t want to hear about what a great guy Chevy Lassiter was. He’d broken her heart and almost destroyed her. It was bad enough that she had to see him today and was almost crushed by the weight of all the feelings she apparently still had for him. “Whyare you telling me this?”

Lorna nudged Max back into a sitting position and gestured toward the remaining three green beans and the last chicken nugget on his plate. “I don’t know. Because you cared so much about him, and it seems like maybe you still do. And he just seems nice, so maybe he’s changed.”

“Changed? A wolf doesn’t change into a golden retriever.” She let out a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You know what he did to me, right?”

“Yes. I know he broke your heart and told you he didn’t love you anymore.”

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