Page 73 of A Sweet Chat for the Cowboy

Chapter 37

He was really smart, witty, charming, and just ...

Tucker stopped in his tracks. His stomach dropped. Wynona couldn’t be talking about him, could she?

I don’t know. He just gave my soul a good feeling. I never even met him in real life, but I think I was falling in love with him.

Tucker felt sick.

He looked down at Sundance for comfort, but Sundance was definitely judging him.

Or maybe Tucker was just projecting. Maybe he was judging himself.

He deserved it.

Suddenly, a knot of feelings untangled themselves into simple straight strands: Wynona was an awesome woman; she hadn’tactuallylied to him; this was a woman who’d once had a fish eyeball stuck to her face; she’d been pretending to be May just like he’d been pretending to be Wolfgang; he had real feelings for them both.

This last strand was something of a relief. He’d felt guilty that he was developing feelings for two women at the same time, which had felt especially alarming after years and years of having no feelings at all.

But he hadn’t been falling for two women. He’d been falling for the same women from two different angles.

Most men would wish to be so lucky.

He looked at Sundance. “I have to fix this,” he said and then walked out of the trees.

He might not be able to make her his girlfriend. It might be too late for that. But he could at least try to make up for his offense. He could at least try to pull the splinter out.

Wynona and Holden looked up when he approached. He nodded to them, noting that Holden had switched to a red headlamp. Smart man.

Wynona had turned the work light on. Darkness was falling fast. So was the temperature. He had a feeling that tonight would be their last night.

This knowledge had given him a certain sense of urgency as he’d climbed the mountain. Now it gave him a different sense of urgency. Wynona might be going back to Nebraska soon.

He didn’t want to have to drive to Nebraska. He had to take care of this soon.

Of course, maybe Wynona’s bosses wouldn’t pay any attention to the temperatures. They hadn’t paid much attention to logic so far.

He started to walk the perimeter of the camp, going slowly, looking at every pine cone, every rock, every tree. He paused to peek under boulders and lifted a few medium size rocks, the whole time trying to figure out what to do or say to fix this.

He wished he could ask Holden for advice, but when Holden found out that he was the jerk on the other end of Wynona’s chat, Holden was going to think he was a real worm.

Too bad he couldn’t ask his mother.

And then, as if she were whispering from heaven, his heart heard the wordflowers. Tucker had never once given a woman flowers. He’d never gone to a prom. He’d only been on few dates.

Tonight.

Tonight was the night he was going to start.

He needed flowers.

He scanned the landscape.Mom, it’s dark out.

She didn’t answer.

---