Brenda Harlen – Merry Christmas, Baby Maverick! (страница 9)
She nodded. “My phone was vibrating, so I went outside to take the call.”
Lying didn’t come easily to her, but it was easier with her gaze riveted on the movie screen. Thankfully, Natalie accepted her explanation without any further questions.
When the credits finally rolled, people began to stand up and stack their chairs. Trey solicitously took both Kayla’s and Natalie’s along with his own.
“I’m sorry,” Kayla said to her friend, taking advantage of his absence to apologize—although she wasn’t really sorry.
“For what?”
“Because I know you wanted to sit next to him.”
Natalie waved away the apology. “
“We weren’t together,” Kayla was quick to interject.
“Even the Rust Creek Rambler saw the two of you on the dance floor.”
“One dance doesn’t equal together.”
“Well, even if that’s true—” and her friend’s tone warned Kayla that she wasn’t convinced it was “—I’m getting the impression that Trey is hoping for something more.”
She shook her head. “You’re imagining things.”
“I am
Kayla didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t know how—or even if—Trey was looking at her because she was deliberately avoiding looking at him, afraid that any kind of eye contact would somehow give away all of her secrets to him.
“Which means I have to find myself a different cowboy,” Natalie decided.
“Do you have anyone specific in mind?” Kayla asked, happy to shift the conversation away from Trey—and especially talk of the two of them being together at the wedding.
“I’m willing to consider all possibilities,” Natalie said. “And since it’s still pretty early, why don’t we go to the Ace in the Hole to grab a drink?”
She shuddered at the thought. “Because that place on a Friday night is a bad idea.”
The local bar and grill was more than a little rough around the edges at the best of times—and a Friday night was never the best of times as the cowboys who worked so hard during the week on the local ranches believed in partying just as hard on the weekends. As a result, it wasn’t unusual for tempers to flare and fists to fly, and Kayla had no interest in that kind of drama tonight.
Natalie sighed. “You’re right—how about a hot chocolate instead?”
That offer was definitely more tempting. Though Kayla hadn’t experienced many cravings, and thankfully nothing too unusual, the baby had definitely shown signs in recent weeks of having a sweet tooth, and she knew that hot chocolate would satisfy that craving. But, “I thought you had to open up the store in the morning.”
Natalie waved a hand dismissively. “Morning is a long time away.”
“Hot chocolate sounds good,” she admitted.
“It tastes even better,” Trey said from behind her.
Kayla thought he’d left the gym after helping to stack the chairs, but apparently that had been wishful thinking on her part.
“But where can you get hot chocolate in town at this time of night?” he asked.
“Daisy’s,” Natalie told him. “It’s open late now, with an expanded beverage menu and pastries to encourage people to stay in town rather than heading to the city.”
“I always did like their hot chocolate,” Trey said. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Of course not,” Natalie said, buttoning up her coat as they exited the gym.
They said “hello” to various townspeople as they passed them in the halls, stopping on the way to chat with some other friends from high school. A few guys invited Trey to go for a beer at the Ace in the Hole, but he told them that he already had plans. When they finally made their escape, Natalie pulled her phone out of her pocket and frowned at the time displayed on the screen. “I didn’t realize it was getting to be so late.”
Kayla narrowed her gaze on her friend, wondering how it had gone from “still pretty early” to “so late” in the space of ten minutes.
“I think I should skip the hot chocolate tonight,” Natalie decided. “I have to be up early to open the store in the morning.”
“You were the one who suggested it,” Kayla pointed out.
“I know,” her friend agreed. “And I hate to bail, but there’s no reason that you and Trey can’t go without me.”
Kayla glanced at Trey. “Wouldn’t you rather go to the Ace in the Hole with your friends than to Daisy’s with me?”
“Let me see—reminiscing about high school football with a bunch of washed-up jocks or making conversation with a pretty girl?” He winked at her. “It seems like a no-brainer to me.”
“Great,” Natalie said, a little too enthusiastically.
Then she leaned in to give Kayla a quick hug and whisper in her ear. “I’ll call you tomorrow to hear all of the juicy details, so make sure there
“She’s not very subtle, is she?” Trey asked Kayla, after her friend had gone.
“Not at all,” she agreed. “And if you want to skip the hot chocolate—”
“I don’t want to skip the hot chocolate,” he told her.
“Okay.”
It was one little word—barely two syllables—which made it hard for him to read her tone to know what she was thinking. But her spine was stiff and her hands stuffed deep in the pockets of her jacket, clear indications that she was neither behind her friend’s machinations nor pleased by them.
“Do
Her hesitation was so brief it was barely noticeable before she replied, “I never say no to hot chocolate.”
Despite her words, he suspected that she wanted to but couldn’t think of a way to graciously extricate herself from the situation that had been set up by her friend.
Was she avoiding him? Was she uneasy because of what had happened between them in the summer? He couldn’t blame her if she was, especially since they hadn’t ever talked about that night. Not since that first day, anyway, before he’d had a chance to really remember what happened.
He didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable around him. Aside from the fact that her brother was one of his best friends, Rust Creek Falls was a small town, and it was inevitable that they would bump into one another. For that reason alone, they needed to clear the air between them.
“I’d offer to drive, but I walked over,” he told her.
His grandparents’ boarding house being centrally located, there wasn’t anything in the town that wasn’t within walking distance. Which included Daisy’s Donuts, only a block over from the high school.
“We’ll go in my truck,” she said, because driving was preferable to walking even that short distance in the frigid temperatures that prevailed in Montana in December.
She unlocked the doors with the electronic key fob, and he followed her to the driver’s side and opened the door to help her in. It was a big truck, and she had to step up onto the running board first. He cupped her elbow, to ensure she didn’t lose her balance, and she murmured a quiet “Thanks.”
By the time he’d buckled himself into the passenger side, she had the truck in gear. Either she was really craving hot chocolate or she didn’t want to be alone with him for a minute longer than necessary. He suspected it was the latter.
He wasn’t sure if she was sending mixed signals or if he was just having trouble deciphering them. When he’d stepped out of the community center earlier that afternoon and saw her walking past, he’d been sincerely pleased to see her. His blood had immediately heated and his heart had pounded hard and fast inside his chest. And he’d thought that she was happy to see him, too.
In that first moment, when their eyes had met, he was sure there had been a spark in her blue gaze and a smile on her lips. Then her smile had faltered, as if she wasn’t sure that she should be happy to see him. Which confirmed to him that they needed to talk about the Fourth of July.
As she parked in front of Daisy’s Donuts, he realized this probably wasn’t the place to do so. Not unless they wanted to announce their secret to all of Rust Creek Falls, which he was fairly certain neither of them did.
“Why don’t you grab a table while I get our drinks?” he suggested.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“Any special requests?” He glanced at the board. “Dark chocolate? White chocolate? Peppermint? Caramel?”
“Regular,” she said. “With extra whipped cream.”
“You got it.”
He decided to have the same and added a couple of gingerbread cookies to the order, too.
“I thought you might be hungry,” he told her, setting the plate of cookies between them. “Considering that I ate all of your popcorn.”
“I’m not hungry,” she said, accepting the mug he slid across the table to her. “But I love gingerbread cookies. My mother used to make a ton of them at Christmastime, but there were never any left when company came over because Kristen and I used to sneak down to the kitchen and eat all of them.”