Page 74 of Boston
“Is it okay if she comes to the party on the Fourth?”
“I can tell Cecily,” Momma said. “She just likes to plan to have enough food.”
“Okay,” Boston said. “I can text her too.”
“Me and your dad are going over there later today,” Momma said. “Your grandfather is not doing super well.”
Boston’s heart pumped out another beat. “Still?”
“The doctors can’t really seem to find what’s wrong.” Momma sighed, and Boston had definitely heard himself make a similarly frustrated noise. “His last round of blood work showed anemia, so they’re going to be treating that, and maybe that will help him be able to breathe better.”
“I hope so,” Boston said.
Both sets of his grandparents lived here in Coral Canyon—Mav’s parents and Momma’s mom and her stepdad. Boston had grown up with them all as his grandparents and simply called them all Grandma and Grandpa.
“I’ll keep you kids updated,” Momma said, and the sheer number of group texts that Boston participated in nearly overwhelmed him.
“Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll talk to you guys soon.”
“You behave yourself, son,” Momma said.
He rolled his eyes even as he chuckled. “You couldn’t stop yourself, could you? Love you, Momma.”
He hung up before she could defend herself, because no, she couldn’t stop herself. She had to warn him every time he did anything she was a little bit nervous about. And having a girlfriend?
Even if she said she was happy for him, that definitely made her nervous.
No, Boston didn’t know what he was doing with Cora, but she sure seemed to like him, and he hadn’t messed up too badly yet. They still had plenty to learn about one another and plenty of time to do it, as she wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was he.
He didn’t see Cora when he got back to his apartment, and he hurried inside to shower and change, wondering if she’d stay outside in the heat wave or come in. He didn’t really want her to do that, as he didn’t have a whole lot of room in his place to move between the bathroom and getting dressed, and surely Cora knew that.
But Boston wasn’t sure what she understood about the employee quarters here at Silver Sage, so he simply soaped up quickly so she wouldn’t have to wait outside for too long.
By the time he finished washing, drying, dressing, and brushing, twenty minutes had passed. He grabbed his wallet and his keys and headed outside. He found Cora sitting down the walkway on a bench in the shade, and she looked up when he pulled his door closed behind him.
“Hey, cowboy.” She rose to her feet, and she wore a long denim skirt with an itty-bitty tank top the color of vine-ripened tomatoes. On her feet appeared to be a pair of ruby slippers, like the kind worn inThe Wizard of Oz.
He chuckled as he moved toward her. “You are the prettiest picture a man has ever seen,” he said. “Look at those shoes.”
She clicked her heels together, just once. “Do you like them?”
“I think they’re incredible,” he said. She tilted her foot to show him the four-inch heel, but Boston had already noticed the increase in her height.
Boston brought her flush against his body, not even caring about the heat anymore. “Are you wearing them to match your car?”
“You have me figured out already.” She giggled, and Boston joined his chuckle to it.
He slid one hand along the side of her neck to the back of her head. He gazed at her for a moment, wondering at the feelings inside him. He hadn’t had a serious girlfriend before, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. It didn’t mean he would rush things, and it didn’t mean that he couldn’t understand how he felt.
“I sure do like you, Cora-Cat,” he murmured just before he touched his lips to hers.
Kissing Cora caused a chemical combustion every time he did it, and with his mother’s reminder of his lack of experience with women, he worried about his kissing ability with thisgoddess of a woman—at least until she kissed him back. She didn’t seem to have a problem with the way he threaded his fingers through her hair, or took the kiss deeper, or held one palm against the small of her back.
He didn’t carry on for too long, and when he pulled away, he rested his cheek against hers. “Where do you want to go for dinner?” he asked, refusing to be embarrassed about his feelings for Cora. She surely had to know what she did to him.
“How do you feel about seafood?” she asked.
“In Wyoming?” He straightened and looked at her, hoping to find a hint of teasing on her face. He didn’t.
