Page 77 of Flippin' Cowboy
Autumn’s eyes narrowed. “This is about Geoff, isn’t it?”
Winnie heaved a sigh. “Kind of. But not really. It’s… complicated.”
“If there’s something going on between you and Nick, you need to tell Karla,” Autumn advised.
“Okay,” Winnie said, unable to keep the defeat out of her voice. “I’ll go talk to her now.”
Why is my man-picker so broken? First, I get engaged to a two-timing creep. And then I fall in love with the guy who enjoys tearing me apart for sport.
∞∞∞
The Soiled Dove Inn
January 10
Nick’s dream project had turned sour, and he didn’t know how to fix it.
He and Winnie still weren’t talking beyond what they needed for their filmed segments together.
At work, he missed their camaraderie. He missed her presence on his sofa and in his bed even more.
To make things even worse, he’d spent the past three days bombarded by unwanted texts and emails from complete strangers demanding details of his relationship with Winnie.
He’d talked to Autumn about how to handle this situation. Of course, she’d asked him whether he and Winnie had broken up.
His first reaction was to tell her, no, of course they hadn’t.
Then, after a day passed and then another, and Winnie still wasn’t talking to him outside of work, he began to wonder. Was it over?
Or could she really be waiting forhimto apologize?
The thought made him angry. He missed her terribly, but he was still furious that she’d rolled over and given in so quickly to her ex.
Even worse, her surrender meant they were both going to be stuck working with Dickweed for the next several months.
And she’d hurt Nick’s pride by not giving him a chance to resolve the issue. Even now, he was certain he would’ve been able to find some kind of solution that didn’t involve Geoff-Fucking Dickweed-Schaefer hanging aroundhisjob site and messing withhisrestoration.
But the prickly silence between Nick and Winnie when they weren’t filming rubbed him the wrong way. It felt unnatural. And very lonely.
Funny how quickly he’d gotten used to having Winnie curled up on the sofa next to him. Or asleep in his arms.
He missed her velvety skin under his hands, her sighs and moans of pleasure, her sweet, tangy taste. And her sleepy smile when he brought her that first mug of coffee in the morning,before they briefly parted ways to finish up their morning routines before meeting back up at the job site.
And Winnie’s sudden absence bewildered Kegan. He’d grown attached to his father’s new special friend.
“Daddy, can’t you just tell her to come over?” his son had asked plaintively over dinner last night. “We could make pizza. She likes sausage and olive.”
“It’s not that easy, Keeg,” Nick answered, feeling a pang at the thought of their pizza nights.
Since pizza delivery didn’t exist in Snowberry Springs, you either drove into town to pick it up yourself, or you made your own. As it turned out, making pizza from scratch was not only delicious, but fun for Kegan. He loved choosing and arranging toppings, though Nick occasionally had to rein him in when his son threatened to go an ingredient too far. Like adding gummy worms to a pepperoni pizza.
“Why not?” Kelsey asked him sharply. “You’re a wreck, Nick. Have you gottenanysleep over the past few nights?”
“Some,” he grunted, shoveling up a forkful of scrambled eggs.
She placed a bowl of cereal in front of Kegan and put her hands on her hips. “Whatever happened, just tell her you’re sorry,” she advised in an exasperated tone.
Nick’s hackles rose. “ButI’mnot the one who went behind everyone’s back and agreed that Di—”
