Page 28 of Love Me Fearless

I pull up a chair and scan the “Knitting for Dummies” step-by-step guide and the long, steely blue needles poking into the jumble of thick red yarn. “What are you knitting?”

“You can’t tell?”

“Well, it’s round. A hat?”

“A scarf. This is why I don’t belong in a bed. I’m not cut out for the sedentary life.”

“So you’re not a knitter.” I pull the gift wrapped in brown paper from my purse. “Maybe this will help.”

Louisa’s eyes widen. “You didn’t.”

I push the gift across the bumpy cotton blanket. To my delight, Louisa rips back the paper and clutches the book to her chest. “A new Jennie Marts book! Have you read it?”

I bite my lip. “I finished it last night.”

“Good?”

I have to resist the urge to rub the cover of the hot cowboy in a skin-tight shirt and a pair of Wranglers that hang from his hips like a dream. “Crazy good. My favorite so far in the series.”

She laughs, but it’s more like a cackle, then gives the book a quick inspection. “You didn’t have to buy me a new copy. You could have loaned me yours.”

Typical Louisa, always thinking frugal. “It’s a gift.” And I’m not quite ready to let mine go. A girl never knows when she might need a hot cowboy whispering dirty praises in her ear. Paired with my powerful little Over The Moon vibrating party favor from Kirilee’s bachelorette weekend, and I am the queen of efficiency.

Louisa places a hand over her heart and smiles. “Thank you.”

“Enjoy.”

“What are you doing staying home reading when you could be out with a real cowboy?”

I roll my eyes. “Book boyfriends do it better, we both know that.”

She gives a wistful sigh. “Don’t I know it. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. In fact, I may know someone.”

I wave my arms to put a stop to this immediately. “Don’t you dare.”

Her look turns steely. “Hear me out, okay? He’s thirty-five, works for the Department of Energy as a chemist, likes to fish and cross-country ski and loves music.”

“How do you know him?”

“He’s Tracy’s nephew.”

Tracy runs a floral business supplied mostly by Louisa and is one of her closest friends. “That’s pretty far away.” The Idaho National Laboratory is on the other side of the state.

Her eyes brighten. “He has a place in Finn River and spends his off time here.”

I cross my arms. “What’s the catch?”

She shakes her head. “He’s never been married. No kids. Even his student loans are paid off.”

I laugh because she knows me too well. “Did my mom put you up to this?”

She gives me a playful shrug. “Just meet him for coffee. Sixty-nine percent of couples meet because of a mutual friend.”

“You made that up.”

“Okay, but it’s a surprisingly high percentage.”

How did we end up talking about my dead-end love life? Speaking of which, I still haven’t replied to Jeremy’s text.

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