Page 57 of The Chances We Take

“You barely outran it, and you’re lucky we didn’t leave you,” Colter pointed out.

“We should have left him.” I rolled my eyes.

“You guys love me too much. It would have weighed on your conscience. Besides, if I’m dead, who’s going to entertain you all?”

“Our stress levels would certainly decrease.” Hayden side-eyed Mikey, who, in addition to his stupidity at times, was generally an unlucky person. But in the same breath,he was lucky—probably the luckiest unlucky person we knew.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready to ride?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be back.” Mikey stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked off, leaving us all shaking our heads.

After the rodeo had finished, we all piled into the pickups to head to the bar. Mikey wanted to go to the college bars in Bozeman, but we told him we weren’t going to haul the horses all the way through the pass, nor leave them.

Mikey, Jake, and Hayden were near the back, and Ellison, Colter, Isa, and I were sitting up at the bar with our backs to the countertop.

“I think this was nice, going out with everyone tonight,” Isa said.

“I think so too. It’s good to have a little break from everything going on. Not have to worry about anything,” I agreed.

“I’m surprised you two haven’t gotten sick of each other, yet, you know with working together so much for the wedding,” Colter joked.

“Nah, I don’t think I could ever get sick of Isa,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I caught a glimpse of Ellison’s face and her look of mischief before she flicked her eyes to Colter.

“We’ve actually made a pretty good team.” Isa shrugged, our shoulders barely brushing with the quick action. “I, for one, think you wouldn’t have been able to do all of this without our help. The guest list probably wouldhave been five hundred people if we hadn’t been there to help narrow it down for you guys.”

They all laughed, but my mind was still locked on Isa. It hadn’t really occurred to me how close we were sitting until that moment. Her stool was pushed close enough to mine that our knees would touch if I relaxed enough, but I didn’t dare move mine further away.

“Wait, do you hear that? I think Mikey’s getting into a fight again. Come on, Colter, we should, uh, stop him.”

“I don’t hear—” Colter looked toward the back of the bar.

Ellison shot him ashut upglare and pulled on his arm, leaving me and Isa alone.

With the two of them gone, Isa was able to swivel her stool to face the bar, and she rested an elbow as she sipped her drink.

“They’re so unsubtle.” She rolled her eyes.

“What do you mean?” I asked, turning my chair and resting my elbows on the bar next to hers. Our arms weren’t touching, yet a tingling sensation moved up my body at our proximity.

“They seem to think there’s something going on between us.” She shrugged, pulling her arm away. “But obviously, there’s not. We’re…friends.”

Right…

She didn’t seem so sure, but what was I supposed to do? Correct her?

“Mm-hmm. Friends.” I took a large gulp of my beer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

isabelle

Reid took a large swig of his beer, and I did my best to push down any feelings of disappointment. A small part of me always hoped he would correct me when I said we were only friends. There was no denying the feelings I had for him, so the rejection stung, but I was also scared of what might happen if I actually acted on my feelings.

I pushed around my glass, the clinking of the ice inside not quite loud enough to cut through the deafening silence hanging between us.

“Mm-kay.” I decided this was awkward enough.

I pushed my hands against the bar, attempting to scoot my stool backward so I could slip out to go find Ellison, but the rear leg caught the ground. My stomach dropped as I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for my chair to go crashing to the ground with me in it, but the world stopped at an angle. I opened my eyes slowly, and turned my head to look behind me where Reid’s hand gripped the back of the stool, holding it up.

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