Page 40 of A Miracle for the Confident Cowboy

They simply got to know each other a little better.

For the two weeks after that, they spoke on the phone—a lot. He found he looked forward to her calls and he didn’t mind getting up at early hours to visit with her. Apparently she didn’t mind staying up late if he missed her call, either. Everything was great until he heard a female voice on the other end he didn’t recognize.

“Is thatlover boy?”

His heart was yanked right out of his chest. Their conversations had been nothing if not casual. There was no way he could be described as a ‘lover boy’ even by the new friends she’d made while abroad. His throat closed up as he heard their laughter and muffled sounds.

“Sorry about that,” Sophie said breezily. “Trina thinks she’s hilarious?—”

“It’s fine. I’ve been going on some dates, too.”

Sophie went quiet after that. “Oh?” The single word, single syllable was laced with curiosity and something else he couldn’t place.

He choked on his next statement. “Yeah, sure. Nothing serious, of course.”

“Right.” She grew quiet again. “It can be hard to make time for relationships when you’re busy.”

“Exactly.” That pit in his stomach was about to swallow him whole. Not only was his disappointment suffocating him, he also felt guilty over his lie. She may not be seeing anyone, but it was like Pippa had said, she was meeting people. He couldn’t fault her for that. Sophie wasn’t his girlfriend and they weren’t a couple.

He sighed but before he could end the conversation, she asked, “Are you going to see your family for Christmas this year?” It was hard to say, but he almost wanted to hear a note of hopefulness in her voice—as if she wanted him to confirm he would be staying in Sweet Bloom again.

Or, he could definitely be reading too much into her question.

“Not sure,” he murmured. “Things are a little in the air this year.”

“Are they okay? Your family, I mean.”

“Yeah, they’re great. I’m just not sure I can make it out there with everything I have going on here. It’s getting harder and harder every year.”

“That makes sense.” The smile had returned to her face, he could hear it in her voice. “I’ll be back for Thanksgiving.”

“I heard.” This time he smiled. If he was lucky, then when she got back, he’d be able to spend some time with her in person.I can’t wait to see you again.The words clung to his tongue, his lips, his throat, unwilling to be released as if terrified of the consequences. So instead, he wrapped up their conversation with a quiet, “I got to get going. Talk soon.”

“Talk soon,” she repeated.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sophie didn’t knowwhy she couldn’t bring herself to call Duke when she’d arrived in London. Part of her had hoped he’d be the one to reach out and tell her he couldn’t live without her. She’d wanted him to fight for her, to do something—anything—to demonstrate he thought they belonged together.

But days had turned into weeks and weeks had turned into months with no word from him. She wasn’t blameless, of course. But she’d had her own reasons why she wanted him to send word first.

They just weren’t really good reasons.

“Oh, your conversation end so soon?” Trina teased, coming out of the kitchen and into the living room where Sophie had been on the phone.

Rolling her eyes, Sophie tossed her device on the couch. “Yeah. And I would guess it has something to do with you.”

Trina’s flirtatious smile wasn’t doing her any favors. “Does he want to call me every day, too?”

Sophie didn’t dare voice her concerns. Despite only having to spend time at the restaurants twice a week, she was still incredibly busy. She liked to do her research when it came to certain dishes, the way they were prepared, or the backgrounds of the chefs she was interviewing. It made for a lot of late nights whether or not she spoke to Duke on the phone at all that day.

Her roommate plopped down on the other side of the couch and tore a bite of the pastry she’d gotten from the kitchen. “Why would I be responsible.” Her flirtatious voice was gone. The teasing, too. They were only going to be roommates through the end of the month before Sophie made her last stop in another town. Trina was her longest roommate, and the most outgoing. She had no problems saying it how it was. And it was usually easy to forgive her because of her smile and the accent that would make an ice cube melt in the dead of winter.

Trina’s large, black eyes lifted to Sophie and she offered an apologetic smile. “Did I say something?”

“Maybe,” Sophie murmured, distracted. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s hard to read him when I can’t see his face.”

“But he is the one you talked about all last month, right?”

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