Page 32 of Carly's Heart

He explained the wedding disaster.

“Brutal. Tanya’s going to be mad when she finds out. I don’t know what she sees in that jerk.” Jamison pulled a weed and tossed it at the nearly overflowing bucket he’d been filling.

“How’s Carly?”

“She was out of it last night. She had downed half a bottle of wine when I finally found her. She’s not much of a drinker. I probably should have taken her home, but I took her back to my place.” How did he even explain the disaster that followed. “Last night was okay. I fed her and she fell asleep. This morning was he-ck,” He corrected the word before it slipped out in front of Sissy. He scraped his hands through his hair as he explained the morning and how he overreacted.

Jamison was quiet a long time. “She’s right, you know.” He paused and pulled a few more weeds. “I get it. She was married when you met, then she got pregnant, and then divorced. You were right to take it slow once she was single. But there’s slow and then there’s glacial. You screwed up. You should have asked her out.”

“How do you ask out someone who clams up or disappears when you try to talk to her? I was hoping she’d see me around and warm up to me.” He shook his head and set Sissy off his lap. He had to move, or he’d go nuts. He paced back and forth on the grass. Okay, she didn’t avoid him exactly, but it seemed like they were never alone together, and he wasn’t going to ask her out in public.

“She’s not shy around anyone but me. Half the time I thought she was afraid of me. Then this morning, she tells me what a great catch I am. Two minutes later, I’m a stalker. I think she was joking ... but dang it, it hurt.”

“Well,” Jamison’s wife’s voice came from inside the screen door. She bumped it open with her hip and handed Birch and her husband mugs of coffee. “It’s classic stalker behavior. I never understood how she didn’t see your interest, but that’s beside the point. It’s time to man up. Go to her, talk to her. Ask her on a date.”

“What she said.” Jamison raised his mug in a toast to his pregnant wife.

“Listen to the man,” Birch growled sarcastically. “You wouldn’t be married with 1.5 kids if I hadn’t hooked you up with Kelly here.”

“And I thank you for that,” Kelly kissed his cheek. “He’s a goofball, but he’s okay. Now,” she said. “Drink up and go apologize.”

He sipped the coffee which he didn’t really want. It landed in his churning stomach like a lead ball hitting a glass of water. It sloshed and roiled around as he thought about the past few years. He thought he was being respectful, not creepy. Was he wrong?

Probably.

“I have to go.” He handed his nearly full cup back to Kelly.

“Slow down, big boy,” Kelly said. She and Jamison laughed. Sissy joined in because her parents were laughing. “Don’t go off half-cocked.”

Jamison roared louder.

“Oh hush,” she glared at her husband but ruined it with a smile. “Take a bit of time. Formulate that apology and for the love of God, don’t go empty-handed. Prove you’re worthy and not a total creep.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Figure it out before you go see her. You’re a smart man. Use those brains for a change.”

He didn’t bother objecting to the cheap shot. She was probably right. He’d charge over without a plan and end up looking like an idiot as well as a creep. “I’ll try, Kelly. I’ll try. Thanks for the advice. Talk to you guys later.” He gave Sissy one last tickle and departed.

♥♥♥

CARLY FLOPPED ONTO the sofa and buried her head in a cushion to muffle her screams. If he liked her, why hadn’t he said something instead of creeping around? Okay, maybe not creeping around, she always knew he was there. Practically every time she was at his family’s ranch, he showed up within minutes. She realized it now, how had she missed it before?

“I’m an idiot.”

Her mind scrolled back through the years. It was like watching a bad romance movie. Initially, she’d been married, and there was no reason for him to show interest in her. If he was telling the truth about watching her from the start, he had done the gentlemanly thing and ignored the attraction, or at least hadn’t let it show. He said nothing while she was pregnant. After her divorce, he didn’t approach her. She totally understood that guys didn’t want to date a pregnant woman or a single mother of a toddler. Nor had she been ready to date.

She’d noticed how attractive he was the day they met, she’d been married, not dead. No harm in looking, right? Love didn’t make you blind to good-looking people. She certainly wouldn’t have started anything while with another man. But after her divorce, it should have been a different story.

It wasn’t long after her divorce was final that she started thinking of Birch as more than her best friend’s brother. It became impossible to ignore her attraction the day she’d been looking for Tanya and had found him knee-deep in the mud, bare-chested, trying to pull a calf free. She’d been struck senseless by his sheer masculinity. She’d gone from being able to chat with him to being tongue-tied and klutzy around him. Her inescapable attraction muddled her mind. She hoped he’d ask her out. Eventually, she realized that she’d have to find a way to do the asking. Only she never worked up the courage.

Tanya’s wedding was supposed to be her big chance. She had her friend’s blessing to date him and was supposed to be paired with Birch at the wedding, for everything. She accepted Tanya’s decision to go along with her future in-laws’ changes, hoping she’d get to dance with Birch at the reception. So much for that idea.

The universe was a jerk. It kept thrusting Birch into her path, and she kept screwing it up. If she had quit drinking last night instead of nervously glugging her wine, she might not have fallen asleep and she might remember more of their conversation. As it was, she only remembered bits and pieces. Who knows, if she’d been sober, maybe she would have tried to seduce him.

“Right, because you’re brave like that,” she grumbled to herself. She probably wouldn’t have done anything because she didn’t like to put people on the spot. She was a problem solver, not a problem maker. Which, of course, was how she ended up babysitting at her best friend’s wedding. Then ending the evening drunk and disorderly wasn’t her best plan. A vague image of trying to kiss him blurred through her mind. Surely, she hadn’t...

She got off the couch and showered. She didn’t have to work today, and she was exhausted, but with all the things bouncing around in her brain, she’d never be able to nap. She’d taken her one chance with Birch and ruined it.

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