Page 12 of The Cowboy's Unlikely Love

Everly had pulled herself back together and shot him a quick smile before nodding at Laney. “It is, thanks.”

Laney spun Everly’s stool around so that she had her back to him and could chat with the others again. Luke had watched the whole exchange and raised his eyebrows at Tanner.

All Tanner could do was shrug and get back to work.

~ ~ ~

Everly watched Kolby wrap his arm around Callie’s shoulders after they’d said their goodbyes. She liked them a lot, there was something so familiar about Callie, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Callie grinned at her. “It was so nice to meet you. And you’re really going to come tomorrow night, right?”

She was already starting to wonder if it was such a good idea. Perhaps her dad would get in touch. He might want to meet up tomorrow night. Even if he didn’t, why would she …

Kolby interrupted her thoughts. “If you don’t want to, would you do me a favor and say so now?” His smile softened his words as he added, “Callie still isn’t a hundred percent comfortable about coming in here. If you’re not coming, we won’t.”

She looked from him to Callie and back again, wondering why Callie would have a problem … And then it hit her. Callie looked so familiar because she wasn’t just Callie, she was Calypso Rayne – the country singer!

Ty leaned in next to Everly and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he addressed his brother, “Don’t put her under pressure like that.” He turned to Everly with a smile. “You don’t have to make your mind up right now. You can see how you feel.”

Shayna reached out and touched Callie’s arm. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Callie met Everly’s gaze. “You’ll get used to these guys,” she said with a laugh. “They’re awesome at looking out for you,but you’ll have to stand up and speak up for what you want.” She looked around at them. “And as much as I appreciate you thinking of me, Iwantto come. In fact … Why don’t I give you my number?”

Everly could only stare at her for a moment. She quickly came to her senses and handed over her phone. It was kind of surreal to watch Calypso Rayne, the country music superstar, tap her number into Everly’s phone, before handing it back with a grin.

“Thanks.”

Callie laughed. “No, thank you! This way we can cut out all these middlemen. Just give me a call and let me know when you decide if you’re coming tomorrow night. I hope you will.”

With that, Kolby steered Callie away, and the others started making noises about leaving, too. Shayna took Everly’s phone to save her number in there, and Laney and Janey did the same.

She was grateful to them all, but she was also starting to feel a little uncomfortable about holding them up when they wanted to go home. Just as she was wondering if she should ask someone – maybe Ty and Shayna – to drop her off at Remington Ranch on their way home, Tanner appeared through the crowd on this side of the bar.

“Are you finished?” Luke asked.

Tanner grinned. “Yeah. All done.”

“I hope you’re not going to get yourself in trouble just so that you can give me a ride home,” said Everly.

“I’m not. It’s not a problem. The way we work it, someone always skips out early and we take turns staying until the end totake care of cleanup and shut down. I don’t usually skip out, so Brody didn’t have a problem with it tonight.”

“In that case, are you ready to go, sweetheart?” Ty asked Shayna.

Shayna considered her answer for a moment before she smiled and said, “Almost. I need to run to the ladies’ room first. Want to come with me, Everly?”

“Yes, I think I will.” It wasn’t that she needed to go to the bathroom, she doubted that Shayna did either. She got down from her stool and followed the other girl to the bathroom.

“Do you need to go?” Shayna asked once the bathroom door closed behind them.

“Not really. Do you?”

Shayna laughed. “No. I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay. I didn’t want you to feel like you’re stranded all by yourself with Tanner if you don’t want to be. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But there’s no way that you can know that for certain, is there? I haven’t exactly been in the same situation that you are, but I can imagine. I don’t want you to feel… I don’t know how to say it, but you know what I mean, don’t you?”

“I do, thanks. I appreciate it.”

“So, it’s totally up to you. If you’re happy to go with Tanner, I’ll shut up and let you go. If you’d rather come with Ty and me, we’ll take you. Or if you want a kind of middle ground, we could follow you.”

Everly smiled. “That’s so sweet of you, thanks. I think I’ll be fine. It’s weird – I don’t think of myself as the kind of girl who’djust drive off into the night with a guy who she’s only known for a couple of hours, but I know I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

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