Page 2 of Riding the High

“No,” she continues, tossing a glance his way. “I mean, I’d be waiting exactlyzerodays before trying to jump that man’s bones. Those arms, that grin, those dimples. Oh my.”

“We’re not friends. He’s my best friend’s brother,” I correct her.And I know he’s hot,trust me.“You’re new to town, so all the men around here pique your interest. I’m desensitized.”

“Either way, the man is pure fire,” she says over her shoulder as she serves another customer.

I toss him a haughty look and pray my Reds can pull off a miracle just to shut him up, but by the end of the ninth, it seems no one’s heard my prayers.

I glance over at him and can’t help myself. When he raises his drink to me in a cheers, I smile back and shake my head.

Guess I owe this fucker a pizza.Again.I watch him in my periphery and silently wonder if he even had the option of spending the night with his wife, or if he’s completely given up in the marriage department. I can’t say I really blame him, since Gemma seems like she isn’t interested in making things work or focusing on her daughter at all these days.

As I wipe down the bar, I remember the first night he texted me, a few months ago. The night he knew he and Gemma probably weren’t going to make it.

“She’s in Lexington with friends again,” Cole says, his eyes focused on the little outside TV playing sports highlights. “Thanks for coming. I need someone to talk to and my brotherwon’t understand. He’ll tell me to stay with her, to do the right thing. But I can’t.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting down beside him in my sweats and oversized t-shirt. The sound of crickets fills the air as I wait. This man. Wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, feet bare and holding a baby monitor in his lap with one hand, wondering what his wife is doing at one a.m. on a Thursday night. He’s such a great dad, and he’s always trying to give his daughter a family that just doesn’t seem as though it’s meant to be.

“Gemma was too young to become a mother. She’s always struggled to put Mabel first, and it’s only gotten worse as Mabes has become more independent. She’s started hanging around the wrong crowd, and she doesn’t make an effort with either of us anymore.”

I nod, but don’t say anything. Cole and I haven’t really been close since he married Gemma, but of course I’ll be here for him when he needs me. Laurel Creek is a small town and I heard that Mabel’s care has fallen almost full-time on Cole over the last year while Gemma finishes hairstyling school, but I didn’t realize she was leaving him at night too.

“Weekly nights out with the girls have become almosteverynight.” He sighs. “She’s drinking too much and the rift between us has grown. There’s no place for that with Mabel. I don’t understand how her social life can be more important than her daughter. We fight about it constantly. I won’t have her putting Mabel second.”

“What do you want, Cole? Have you tried talking to her? Maybe laying out an ultimatum?” I ask.

“I want a wife I can trust. But let’s face it, we didn’t really know each other when she got pregnant. We gave it our best shot but it’s clear Mabel isn’t her priority anymore. I’m not sure she ever was.”

I pull the bottle of bourbon off the weathered side table and pour myself a little into the second glass Cole brought out withhim. Mabel’s swing set blows gently in the breeze in their tiny yard as he presses on. “I called her out before she left tonight. She actually stated that she wasn’t meant to be a mother.” He scoffs in disbelief. “Said she wants to experience more before she settles down.” His jaw tenses and he looks out to the yard. “I don’t even know what that means.”

He turns his amber eyes to meet mine, his brow furrowed as he sips his whiskey.

“I don’t trust her but I’m going to give her one more chance when she comes home, whenever that is. I’m just so afraid to lose Mabel.”

I reach over and place my hand over his. The same live-wire feeling I’ve always felt when I touch him zings up my arm.

“This isn’t the fifties anymore, Cole. Just know if you want something different, you have the option to be Mabel’s main caregiver.”

He nods but says, “I’m not ready to go there yet. I have to have a little faith she’ll come around.”

“Even if it means you face a lifetime of unhappiness”? I ask, pulling my warm hand from his and taking a much-needed sip of my bourbon before adding, “Do you love Gemma?”

“No. But Mabes is getting older quick. I’d be unhappy until she’s eighteen to keep her family together if Gemma can turn this around and we can quit arguing.”

He blows out a deep breath, and my heart breaks for him as he knocks back the rest of his drink. The air is heavy, telling me I need to do the job he brought me here to do.

“Got any popcorn?” I ask, offering him a distraction. “I started watching that show you told me about,Brooklyn 99. I’m just starting season two if you want to watch with me?”

Cole turns to me with a grin that says he’s grateful I’m here.

“I’ll get a bag going. Oh, by the way, see your Reds take a dive tonight?” he asks as he gets up to make the popcorn.

“Thanks for the reminder,” I mutter as he runs a hand through his wavy dark hair. I shoot him a dirty look and flip him the bird. When he turns his back and heads into the house, I smile to myself. If giving him a mental break from this is all I can do, I’m going to do it right …

I restock the Budweiser in the cooler now, as the game officially ends. I know Cole will be coming to gloat without even looking up to confirm he’s on his way. There’s always been something about him that tells my body he’s arrived before I see him. Of course, I go the mature route and ignore him for as long as I can, serving as many people as possible and taking my sweet time to chat to one of my regulars. I don’t usually let him flirt, but tonight I do, just to piss Cole off. At his end of the bar, Cole soon loses his patience and clears his throat. I finally turn to glare at him.

The worst thing about trying to be semi-friends with Cole? He’s gorgeous. He’s an easy 6’3”, big hands, broad shoulders, inked muscular arms, and an ass that only comes from playing sports all through high school and working on his family’s ranch most of his life. His straight, Roman god–like features and dark hair are only enhanced by his big amber eyes framed by thick lashes. Those eyes turn to whiskey-fire when he’s up to no good, and they’ve had my attention since I started hanging around his baby sister CeCe at school in the ninth grade. Cole is older than us by three years, and I spent many hours sitting in the stands watching him play hockey, baseball or football every weekend with the Ashby clan. I was a lovesick teenager the moment I realized my first and true love, Zac Efron, had nothing on Cole Ashby.

Back then, I was constantly stumbling over my words and getting caught staring at him. A few torturous years passed like this, but then something changed. I grew up and into my God-given curves. After that, it felt as though Cole was staring back a lot more often.

---