Page 25 of His First Baby Rodeo

“As long as that’s the way you both feel about it,” Jeff said.

“You were never like this,” El said. “Not even when I was a kid and you didn’t like my boyfriends.”

“Yeah, well, I figured you’d make your own mistakes. I don’t want to be overprotective.”

“But you don’t feel that way now?”

“Not when it comes to Mac. I’ve watched that guy break too many hearts to stand back and let yours be the next one. I’m just saying this because I care about you, El.”

El nodded. “You don’t have to worry,” she said. “I appreciate what you’re doing here, Jeff. But my heart isn’t on the line. I’m not falling in love with Mac. It just feels good to flirt a little. I guess he’s not the only one who needed to get back on the horse.”

Jeff chuckled. “All right, all right,” he said. “I trust you. I just wouldn’t be much of a big brother if I didn’t at least check in on you about this.”

“I get it,” El said. “And I do appreciate it, Jeff. Don’t worry. I’m being careful.”

But as the two of them walked over to rejoin Mac, Marilyn, and the kids, El found herself wondering whether Jeff might not have reasonable cause to be worried.

I’m not in love, she told herself as she watched Mac step up to a food truck to buy cotton candies for the kids and cups of beer for the adults. And she knew it was true. It would be ridiculous to say that what she felt for Mac waslove.

But she did feel something. That was also true. And it was getting hard to ignore, much as she might have liked to.

It was no longer just the fact that he was handsome enough to be on the cover of a magazine — although that fact certainly wasn’t helping her to keep her cool. But the more she got to know him, the more she found herself caring about him. She had been moved by the way he’d admitted to his frustrations with people pressuring him toward retirement. He probably hadn’t meant to be understood as well as he had been, but she could see that he was afraid of losing something he considered foundational to his identity, and she found that relatable. She was also impressed with the way he’d acted after their argument. Although it was disappointing that he had pressured her into answering his question in the first place, she respected the fact that he had realized he was wrong and had come to her to apologize. Dean wouldn’t have done that.

But even with all of that, she hadn’t truly come to feel anything for him until tonight at the fair. It was watching him throw the darts to win her that stuffed animal that had done it. She’d seen a side of him that she had never known existed. He was usually so serious and somber, but tonight he had been relaxed and easygoing, almost playful. It had changed what she thought of him, and for the first time, she had been able to imagine what it might be like to actually be with him.

Or rather, she thought as Jeff handed her her beer, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from imagining it. It was a vision she’d been trying to avoid since she’d come to Texas, because it wasn’t something that was going to happen. All else aside, she wasn’t going to be here permanently. This was a temporary thing.

So Jeff was right. Flirting was fine. Having a little fun was fine. But she needed to stay on top of her own feelings. She needed to make sure this didn’t go too far. Because shedidn’twant to get hurt again — he was right about that too.

“Jeff,” Marilyn said, “the kids want to go on some rides.”

“What rides?”

Mac shot a glance at the Ferris wheel and a smirk crossed his face. El jabbed him in the side with her elbow. If he told Jeff she’d been making fun of his fear of Ferris wheels, she was going to give him hell later.

“I don’t know,” Marilyn said. “I think they’re just hyper because of all the flashing lights. Can you take them on some of the rides, please?”

“Yeah, okay,” Jeff said. He glanced at El and Mac. “Unless you two wanted to do it?”

“We’ll let you take this one,” El said with a laugh. “Mac and I were going to check out the Ferris wheel before we ran into you, so maybe we’ll go do that.”

Jeff gave her a swift, stern look, but he said nothing — of course he wouldn’t in front of everyone. “All right,” he said, keeping his tone measured. “Why don’t you two go do that, then, and we’ll meet you in twenty minutes in front of the tent where the band is playing — how does that sound?”

“Sounds good to me,” Mac said, but El noticed that he was standing a bit farther away from her than he had at any other time during their evening at the fair. It made perfect sense to her, of course; Mac must be trying to prevent Jeff from seeing that there had been any sort of tension between the two of them. It was strange, but the distance he was keeping only confirmed to El that he had actually felt it just as much as she had.

They separated, and Mac and El headed back to the Ferris wheel. For several moments, neither of them spoke.

It was Mac who finally broke the silence. “Was he looking at me strangely?”

“He might’ve been,” El admitted. “I guess he’s a little taken aback about running into the two of us here. To be fair, I’m surprised to see him too. I would’ve thought he would tell me if he was coming for a visit — but I guess he wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Sure,” Mac agreed. “I can understand that. He looked kind of annoyed, though.”

“He’s not annoyed,” El lied. The truth was that she thought Mac probably had the right idea. Jeff probablywasannoyed by the whole situation. But nobody had overstepped their bounds. She wasn’t about to start feeling guilty for spending time with the only person she knew in Texas just because it made her brother a little anxious.

Nothing bad was going to happen. It was just a day at the fair, that was all.

“So,” she said. “Are we doing this Ferris wheel thing?”

---