Page 69 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
She missed them too. Right now more than ever.
Both messages were the reminder she needed that while it might be hard to leave, there were good reasons to go back home.
It was home, first of all. She had a job there that she loved and she had people there who needed her.
She responded to her sister’s text, not trusting herself to FaceTime Lizzy. An actual conversation right now would undoubtedly end in tears, and she still had dinner with Nash to get through. She couldn’t show up tearstained and pouting when it was going to take all her effort to keep a breezy smile in place.
Even so, she wished she could press Pause on her time here at the ranch and just spend a few hours at her home in Chicago with Lizzy and Sarah.
Some girl talk was exactly what she needed to get her head on straight.
She’d just set her phone down when it dinged again. Emma picked it up, expecting to see a response from her family.
Instead, she got a text from Nash’s family. It was an unknown number but the message read:Hey, it’s Casey.Ellie and I are going shopping in the morning for something to wear to the festival tomorrow night. You should come!
Emma’s eyes widened in surprise. She didn’t even have to think it over.I’d love to.
They exchanged some texts to work out the logistics of where and when, and by the time Emma put her phone away and went to join Nash for another too-cozy, too-easy dinner together, she felt a little relief.
She wouldn’t be here for long, and she was determined to get through this without falling any harder for the ungettable cowboy. Until then, she’d enjoy some much needed girl talk—even if she couldn’t actually talk to Casey about her brother—and a fun, small-town festival. Almost like a Sweet Home Montana or something.
The thought enabled Emma to shake off the restless blues and put a smile on her face again.
* * *
Casey and Ellie munched on hamburgers while Emma devoured a BLT as they took a much-needed lunch break from shopping.
Not that there’d been much shopping to be done. Lizzy would have cried at the lack of selection in this little town. There were a total of three boutiques, two of which were too pricey for Emma’s school teacher salary. Apparently their target market was the crowd of tourists who descended on the weekends during the summer and the ski bunnies who came in from the surrounding mountains during the winter.
There was talk of heading to the hardware store after lunch because apparently here in the middle of nowhere, hardware stores stocked cute blouses in addition to wrenches and garden hoses.
Emma had found a gorgeous outfit at the third boutique so at this point she was just going along for the ride. Although, Ellie and Casey were both insistent that she at least look at cowboy boots at the hardware store. It seemed they didn’t want her sticking out by wearing heels instead of the requisite footwear.
“So...what?” Emma asked, thoroughly amused. “You have to dress like a cowgirl or get booted from the festival?”
“It’s not about the fashion,” Casey said. “Or even about tradition.” She nodded toward Ellie. “Take our lovely librarian here. She’s not even from cowboy country.”
Ellie nodded in agreement. “I’m from a small bayside town in Maine. But I learned my first year here that cowboy boots are a necessity.”
Casey arched her brows, her serious expression reminding Emma of Nash, which was unfortunate. “One word.” She leaned forward. “Dancing.”
Emma sputtered a laugh around her BLT. “You make it sound scary.”
“Between line dancing and the two-step, there are lots of opportunities to have your toes smashed tonight,” Casey said.
Ellie nodded earnestly. “It’s true. Do yourself a favor and get some sturdy boots.” She flashed an impish grin. “Maybe even steel-toed.”
Emma laughed because it was clear the other girl was teasing.
“She’s not kidding,” Casey said, but her wide eyes and hint of a smile said she was. “Some of the guys in this town are terrible dancers.” She reached out and patted Emma’s hand. “But don’t worry. Nash knows what he’s doing.”
Emma dipped her head with a blush. It wasn’t the first time Casey had mentioned her brother, but with each passing second that Emma grew closer to these women, the lie weighed heavier and heavier.
It made her wonder how Nash could do it. It had been easy enough for her to pretend at the barbecue when surrounded by relative strangers. But now, with these two watching her like she was their friend? Like they trusted her?
She looked down, setting the sandwich on the plate because her stomach turned with unease. She couldn’t keep lying. Not outright, at least.
“I told you not to pressure her,” Ellie hissed to Casey.
