Page 32 of Bad For Me (Rock Canyon, Idaho 5)

Callie, Caroline, and Fred had talked about everything under the sun that night after Everett left, but Fred hadn’t asked her why his son was so angry with her. She’d hoped it was obvious, that she wouldn’t have to talk about it. But Caroline had pestered her the next day like crazy, and she’d told her they’d bumped into each other a few times. That he’d come in for an interview at the station, but other than that, they were just friendly acquaintances.

“No, I told you a thousand times, there is nothing going on—”

“Hey, Callie!”

Callie turned to find Dalton and a group of teenagers walking toward them.

“Who is that?” Caroline asked.

“Dalton, the intern at my station.”

“Ah, the one with the crush on you.”

“He does not have a crush on me,” Callie hissed under her breath.

Dalton broke away from his group of friends, swaggering toward her as only a young cowboy could.

“Um, do you not see the look in his eyes? It says, ‘Oh please, older and more experienced hot woman, I need you to show me the ropes and teach me a few new tricks.’ ”

“Will you shut up?”

“Ride it, my pony.”

“I am going to take out your windpipe.”

Caroline laughed and backed away. “I’ll go get us some food and drinks, but you still owe me. I don’t care if I have to hold you down and waterboard you—you will talk!”

Callie made a face at Caroline’s retreating back before turning back to Dalton. Still, Caroline wasn’t wrong about the very-interested look he was giving her.

Damn it!

“Hey, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Dalton said.

“Well, technically, I was blackmailed into coming, but either way, I’m only here for the food.”

“Are you sure? If we hurry, you could take a hay ride with me.”

Ruh-roh. Dalton was definitely looking at her with interest. How had she missed that?

“You know, I would, but my friend is fighting with her boyfriend and needs me tonight. Maybe another time?”

“Yeah, sure.” He seemed so disappointed that she almost took it back, but what good would that do? She didn’t want to lead him on, and even if she wasn’t interested in someone else, there was no way she’d date an eighteen-year-old kid. “Well, I’ll go catch up to my friends. See you around.”

Dalton jogged off as she was saying bye, and she saw a pretty blonde watching him sadly. Yuck—young unrequited love, the stuff of sleepless nights and misery. Not that she’d experienced much of it in high school herself, of course. She’d started dating Tristan when they were sixteen, and though they’d argued, the fights had never lasted long. Callie was so glad she was over all that.

Aside from all the moping you’ve done in the last week, sure, you’ve really matured.

It was true she’d been more depressed this week than she had been in a long time. Of course, receiving another letter from Tristan the day before hadn’t helped. Callie wondered why the frequency had picked up again. In the last two years, he’d only written a few times, but this was the second letter in a month.

She didn’t want to know badly enough to read them, though. She wasn’t ready.

All around her, families played games, and kids ran around, squealing happily. Life hadn’t been that joyous since before her dad left when she was eleven. He’d been having an affair for years and finally decided he would rather marry his mistress than be with them. At first, she had gone to stay with him every other weekend, just like the courts said, but once their first child was born, she’d ended up spending most of the time there on her own anyway. They were so busy cooing over the new baby, but she couldn’t even call him her little brother, not when she’d always felt like an outsider with them. After her father’s new wife had gotten pregnant with their second, a girl, and they talked to her about sharing the room that was supposed to be hers with the baby, she had stopped going. At first, her father had called and sent cards twice a year, but after a while, he became just a memory.

He’d come to her mom’s funeral, so she could at least give him that, but he hadn’t been someone she could lean on for support. He was practically a stranger, and besides, with three other children, he didn’t really have time to devote to a grown child he hadn’t had a relationship with in ten years.

Callie started walking between the vendors’ tents set up along the gravel driveway, but her dark thoughts blocked out the laughter and activity around her.

Sure, she had some extended family, but her mother had been the only person she’d been close to, and even so, their relationship had always been complicated.

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