Page 24 of Her Second Chance Cowboy

“I’m the bride,” Evie said. “What I say goes, right?”

“Right.” Evie gave her a look that said,well, there you go. They gathered their belongings and walked down the main street to the smaller boutiques. They could drive to the mall a few towns over, but Nancy wanted to get something here if at all possible. It was a timesaver for one, but she liked the idea of buying from a small store in Windy Creek. Keep her money in the town, and all.You’re starting to sound like Colin. The thought wasn’t a terrible one.

They started looking through a store that hadn’t been there back when Nancy had been living in town. It had a cool, vintage feel to it: lots of black and white with pops of red in the décor. She pulled a simple, blush-colored dress off one of the racks and held it up. Lila ooh-ed, and Cady agreed. “Go try that on,” she said and pointed to the changing area at the back of the store.

Nancy did, and she knew before she even turned to look at it that she was going to buy it. It just felt good to wear. When she did turn to look in the mirror, she was struck by how the dress and her new, long hair looked together. She felt pretty, and she thought that was always important when picking clothes. If she felt good, then she’d be confident. This was definitely the dress for her. She just hoped the girls felt the same: she didn’t need their approval, but they were having a good afternoon, and she wanted everyone to keep getting along.

When Nancy walked out of the dressing room, the girls all went nuts. “Hot,” Cady told her. “Colin’s going to swallow his tongue.”

Ericka sighed. “Please, he always had eyes just for her no matter what she was wearing. You know, I was always jealous of you in high school.” That was a little shocking. Sure, she and Ericka got along all right for Evie’s sake, but they were never really close. Nancy always assumed that Ericka didn’t like her. “Colin’s locker was a few down from mine, and I would see you putting notes in it in between classes, and every once in a while, I’d get to see Colin when he opened the door to find them. He’d light up when he read them.”

Lila sighed. “That’s so sweet.”

The girls started talking about different high school couples, but Nancy could hardly pay attention. She hadn’t known that Colin had been so happy with all of her silly notes. She used to drop a note in his locker each morning. She knew he didn’t mind them or he would have asked her to stop, but she thought he just treated them as par for the course—maybe found them a little funny or cute but nothing more than that. He never said anything about them. She changed back into her clothes and paid for the dress. “On to the next!” Evie exclaimed.

“But I found a dress,” Nancy pointed out.

Evie patted her arm. “You need shoes, and once we’ve found them, we’ll go back to mine to get you date-ready.”

Nancy was going to protest, but she was having fun. She linked her arm through Evie’s, and they left the store in search of “the perfect shoes.” Ahead, Colin came out of the hardware store, and Lila and Cady practically yanked her behind them. “No,” Cady said far too loudly. “It’s bad luck if he sees you!”

They all cackled. “I don’t think it works that way for anyone but a bride on her wedding day,” Nancy said, though she couldn’t stop giggling.

Of course Colin heard them—everyone within a mile radius heard them—and he turned to look their way with a grin on his face. Nancy didn’t get a good look at him because Cady and Lila were taking their role in shading her from his view a little too seriously, but over Evie’s shoulder, she could see him tip his Stetson in their direction. That got the giggles going again; they were all swooning, just a little, but Nancy’s heart fluttered.

The quest for shoes came up empty, but Evie thought she might have something that would look good with Nancy’s new dress, so they eventually made their way back to her house. She got dressed, and Evie styled her hair so that it was curly and brushed her shoulders. By the time she needed to leave to meet Colin at the restaurant, she felt like a literal princess. She hugged each of the girls. “Thank you for an amazing day.” It really had been wonderful to feel like part of a group—to feel accepted and appreciated in a way that she hadn’t been in so long.

Evie understood, but the others just looked perplexed. “Anytime, girl,” Ericka said. “Go get your man.”Your man. The thought made her tingle all over. She’d had her first date with Colin years ago; she shouldn’t be as nervous or excited as she was, but she couldn’t help it.

Her friends’ catcalls carried her out to her car. She smiled the whole way to the restaurant.

SIXTEEN

If one more thing went wrong today, Colin was going to lose his mind. He’d had to run all over town getting electrical and AC parts for the barn renovation, and then one of his horses had gotten hurt and he’d had to call in the vet. With any hope, she’d be just fine, but it definitely put a damper on his mood.

Colin was half-dressed, taming the stubble on his face with his electric razor, when his phone rang and he saw it was Jessie calling. He pressed the ‘answer’ button and put it on speaker. “Hey, Jessie, what’s up?”

“Colin.” She sounded distressed. “Colin, I amsosorry.”

He sighed. “What’s wrong, Jessie?” He tried to keep his voice even and calm.

“I’m stuck in Luton,” she said. “I went to the fabric store and blew a tire on the way home.”

That sounds about right. He should just cancel his dinner plans and wait for a better day; fortune was obviously not on his side today. But Nancy would be at the restaurant soon. He couldn’t disappoint her like that. “Are you totally stranded?” he asked.

“Alan’s coming to get me.”

Colin breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t looking for rescue. “Do you think you could swing by Giorgio’s in two hours? Pick Bex up from there?”

“That sounds doable. I really am sorry, Colin,” Jessie said. “I didn’t mean to ruin your date.”

“Nah,” he said, though he was lamenting the very same thing, “nothing’s ruined. Bex will get to eat the fanciest meal of her life. She’ll love it.”

They said their goodbyes, and Colin rushed to finish getting ready. “Bex! Come here, darlin’!” He heard the stomping of her little feet a few moments before she appeared in the doorway of his bathroom. “How would you like to come eat some spaghetti with me and Nancy?”

Her blue eyes lit up with excitement. “Can I?” The words were nearly a shout.

“But you’ll need to wear a dress,” he said.

---