Page 89 of Extreme Romancing in Idaho

“What—” Lili’s eyes were as wide as her mouth.

“Who’s Remi again?” Renee asked.

“The hot farmhand who’s been working for her,” Gabby filled in.

“Oh him. He’s been hanging out a bit with Blake. If Remi’s got Blake’s approval, he’s got my approval.”

“What did you do?” Gabby asked.

At the same time, Lili said, “I thought you hated him.” Her half smile told me she knew I’d kissed him and liked it.

What I didn’t say I gave away. Mama always told me I was an open book, my pages legible on my expressive face. Right now, I’d love to have an ounce of Remi’s deceptive capabilities.

“Remi isn’t an option. A poor girl, one of his women, showed up on his porch last night. Only she looked normal, like we’d be friends, and she’d let herself get taken in by his lies. She was broken. I can’t let that be me.”

“But did Remi tell her he loved her?” Renee posed the question that haunted me for three days.

“I bet he did.” I couldn’t shake the broken look on the woman’s face when she’d seen me with Remi. I couldn’t turn into her and be the next shattered woman on his porch asking for a speck of affection.

Gabby and Lili both spoke.

“He brought you dinner.”

“Maddie likes him.”

How could they choose to defend him? “Doesn’t matter.” I slapped my hands on my thighs. “I’m dating Dan and not Remi. In fact, I’m meeting Dan at City of the Rocks this evening. He’s planned something special.”

“Is Remi going to be there just in case?” Lili tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t need Remi to babysit me.”

“What’re you going to be doing?” Gabby shifted toward Lili.

“Wait a minute. Who’s Dan? Why have I been kept out of the loop?” Renee whined. “You promised to keep me in the loop with your dating life.” She wiggled her finger at me.

She’d forced a promise out of me after my breakup with Troy. Thankfully, an ocean separated me from him. The problem with telling Renee everything was she tended to want to fix things. And I couldn’t be fixed.

“I met Dan on a dating app,” I told Renee. Without giving her a chance to formulate the ‘he-could-be-a-killer’ response, I continued, “We’re going rappelling. It’s going to be epic.”

“Your fear of heights is magically gone?” Lili arched her back. She constantly shifted in her struggle to get comfortable.

“Exposure therapy. Remi has been helping me with it.”

Angie … I love you.Instantly, I regretted mentioning him. But how could I not? He’d been involved in my day-to-day life since April.

“I’ll be fine.” I clamped down the urge to bounce my feet or tap my fingers. “Trust me.”

I hated how much I sounded like Remi.

Chapter 34

Remi

“Letmegetthisstraight.” Myles leaned against the handle of the broom in his hand. “You’re confronted with a woman who was obsessed with you enough to fly here and surprise you on a holiday, and you throw the keys at her and say make yourself at home, then you run after another woman?”

“Sounds about right.” I gripped the black trash bag tighter and shoved the fluffy stuff from my gutted pillows into it.

With the demands of the neighborhood and the farm, I hadn’t had time to clean my room after Kathryn destroyed it. We’d managed to repair the tornado in the living room and kitchen. She’d broken all our dishes and cut holes in our couch cushions. The TV hadn’t even been spared from her rage. She’d taken one of our tractor seat stools and pummeled the hell out of it.

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