A Maverick To (Re)Marry

A strange, tight spurt of laughter escaped her. She quickly composed herself. “I see Eva all over that.”

“What do you mean?”

“She got me to agree to be her maid of honor before she mentioned that you would be best man.”

“So, you think she knows more than you’ve told her?”

“Well, you know Eva, right? She’s a complete and unapologetic romantic. I think she suspects there was more than just a high school crush going on between us back in the day.” Another tight little laugh escaped her—and then she wanted to cry. Really, she couldn’t stand for him not to know what she truly felt, how much she regretted the way things had ended up. “Derek, I...”

“Yeah?” His eyes held hers, a deep look, one that reached down into the center of her and stirred up emotions she wished she didn’t feel.

“I, well, I just need you to know that I’m sorry. For everything.”

Wow. She almost couldn’t believe that she’d gone and done it, apologized straight out. And as soon as the words escaped her lips, she kind of wanted to take them back.

Because really, wasn’t he the one who’d told her to go?

But what else could a person say at a time like this?

“I’m sorry, too,” he said.

“But it’s fine,” she blurted out.

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. It’s water under the bridge. Years ago. Not a big deal.”

“Absolutely. Over and done. We’ve both put it behind us. Derek, we can do this. We can be there for Luke and Eva. We can help make their wedding everything they deserve it to be.”

He took off his hat, hit the brim against his denim-clad thigh, then put it back on. “Yeah. That’s our job and we can do it.”

She straightened her shoulders. “We will do it.”

“Yes, we will,” he agreed.

And then they just stood there at the fence, staring at each other.

The silence stretched thin.

He broke it. “Well, all right, then. I’ll be in touch.” And without another word, he turned and left her standing there.

Chapter Two

Feeling stunned by the whole encounter, Amy stared after Derek as he walked away from her.

Once he reached the turnaround in front of the house again, he climbed into a mud-spattered red F-150 pickup. The engine roared out, the big wheels stirring up a cloud of dust as he drove away.

What had just happened? She wasn’t sure. Had they actually forgiven each other?

Well, at least they’d said the words. And that was good, she decided. They didn’t need to talk it to death. What was there to say, anyway?

It was all in the past.

Too bad they’d come up with nothing in terms of a plan for the bachelor party. He’d said he would “be in touch.” What exactly did that mean?

Annoyance prickled through her. Okay, she got that she wasn’t his favorite person. But they did have to work together. He could have stuck around long enough to set a time and a place.

She glanced down at the papers in her hand. His numbers were right there at the top of the first page—mobile and home. Would the home number be the main house at his family’s ranch, the Circle D? She’d had that number memorized all those years ago. It was burned into her brain and she remembered it still. But this home number was different. Did he live somewhere else now?

He’d moved to the bunkhouse in April of their senior year, to give himself a little independence from his close-knit family. Back then, the bunkhouse number was the same as at the main house, but maybe they’d put in a separate line since then.

Not that she cared. It didn’t matter to her where, exactly, he lived now. She just needed to know when and where they would meet.

She shook her head at the stack of papers. If he didn’t get back to her in the next day or two, she would have to call him.

No big deal.

And really, he had said he would be in touch, right? What was she worrying about?

Forget calling him. He would call her.

And of course, that would be soon...

* * *

Amy barely got back in the door of the farmhouse before Eva was all over her. “What did he say? Is it okay between you? Was it hard, to see him again?”

“Eva.” She managed a laugh. “Cut it out. It was fine. It was years ago.”

“But you loved him.”

Oh, yes, she had. But she wasn’t going there. “It was high school. And it’s all in the past. There are no problems between us and you don’t have to worry.”

“I’m not worrying.” Her big blue eyes got bigger. “I just want to know, is the spark still there?”

Amy wasn’t answering that one. No way. She kept it light, making a show of tapping her chin as though deep in thought. “Hmm. Is it just me or are you playing matchmaker?”

Eva blushed the sweetest shade of pink. “I would never...”

“Yeah, right.”

They both burst out laughing at the same time and Eva said, “Okay, okay. I’ll butt out, I promise.”

Amy gave her friend the side-eye. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

* * *

Derek didn’t call that evening. And he didn’t call on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, the Fourth of July, she knew she should go ahead and reach out.

Maybe a text. She wouldn’t even have to talk to him until their actual meeting.

She put his cell number in her phone, hit the message icon and started typing, whipping out five different messages and deleting them as fast as she wrote them. After the fifth attempt, she decided she would just wait another day to deal with the whole reaching out thing.

That night, she went into town with Eva, Luke and his brother Bailey, for a barbecue at their sister Bella’s house and to watch the fireworks in the town park later. That whole evening, she felt on edge just thinking that she might run into Derek.

But she never so much as caught sight of him.

The days were going by. They needed to meet up. But he hadn’t called.

And she couldn’t quite bring herself to make the first move.

* * *

By Thursday evening, as he ate his solitary dinner in the house he’d built for himself on Circle D land, Derek Dalton was feeling more than a little bit jerkish.

He’d told Amy he would get back to her. He needed to call her and set up another meeting.

But even after all these years, it still hurt something deep inside him just to be near her. She looked the same—with long brown hair showing gleams of red in the sun, creamy skin, eyes that seemed to change color depending on her mood, brown to olive green and back again, sometimes with a hint of gold.

Yeah. She looked the same. But even better, so smooth and classy. Luke had mentioned that she’d gone on to graduate school after four years at the University of Colorado. He’d said she had some high-tech accounting job and she owned her own house in Boulder.

None of that information surprised Derek. Amy had been the smartest girl at Rust Creek Falls High, put ahead a year when she was twelve, so they’d ended up in the same grade. She’d been valedictorian of their small graduating class. Her dad was a rich guy from Boulder who’d given up the rat race for a while to become a rancher in the Rust Creek Falls Valley—and then moved back to Colorado when Amy left to go to college there.

Derek never would’ve had a chance with Jack and Helen Wainwright’s precious only daughter if he hadn’t needed a math tutor to get him through Algebra II in his senior year.

He shook his head. Him and Amy? That was an old, sad song and they wouldn’t be playing it ever again. He needed to get his mind off the past. There was zero to be gained by a trip down memory lane.

Shoving back his chair, he picked up his plate and carried it to the counter. Outside the window over the sink, the sunset turned the bellies of the clouds to bright orange and deep purple.

Maybe he’d head on into town, see if he could scare up a poker game at the Ace.

Then again, he’d had a long day today, moving cattle, putting out mineral barrels. Tomorrow, he needed to be up early. He felt antsy and ornery. If he went to the Ace, it would be too easy to drink too much and do or say something he would end up regretting.

He turned in early and had a restless night.

But it could have been worse. At least he didn’t have a hangover at eight on Friday morning when he parked his pickup in front of the old warehouse at Sawmill and North Broomtail Road.

Four years ago, he’d joined Collin Traub in his one-man saddlery business. At first, they’d worked in the basement of Collin’s house up on Falls Mountain. But then CT Saddles had moved to the warehouse. The larger space allowed them to buy more equipment and take on more projects. They were still a small shop, but the Traub name was a trusted one and their business kept growing.

Derek thought about Amy constantly that day. Really, it was way past time he gave her a call. But the hours ticked by and he never did.

His failure to get back to her was moving beyond jerkish, heading into jackass territory. But he still failed to pick up the phone.

At five, Collin went on up the mountain to his wife, Willa, and their little boy, Robbie. Ned Faraday, who was sixteen and helping out at the saddlery for the summer, headed home for dinner.

Derek washed up in the saddlery restroom and thought again about how he needed to call Amy. He even took out his phone and looked at it for a good minute or two before shaking his head and sticking it back in his pocket.

At five thirty, he walked down the street to the Ace to meet Luke and his brothers for a drink. It was the five of them—Luke, Jamie, Daniel, Bailey and Derek. They took over a big table not far from the bar and ordered some pitchers.

Jamie and Daniel Stockton were both happily married. Jamie had triplets, Henry, Jared and Kate. They were two and a half years old now. Jamie got everyone laughing with stories of the mischief the three little ones got up to. Danny spoke fondly of his wife and their daughter, Janie.

And Luke? He mostly just sat there, slowly sipping his beer with a contented smile on his face. Everyone in town knew that Luke Stockton was long-gone in love with Eva Rose Armstrong and couldn’t wait to make her his wife.

Bailey was the lone unattached Stockton brother. He’d been married and divorced. Like Luke and Daniel, he’d returned to town in the past year after more than a decade away. Now he lived at Sunshine Farm. He and Luke worked the ranch together, building a new herd, bringing the family homestead back from years of neglect.

That evening, Bailey didn’t say much at first. But after a beer or two, he started making his feelings about matrimony painfully clear.

“It’s a losin’ game is what it is.” He raised his glass to Derek, who’d taken the chair across from him. “And you, my man, are the only one at this table with the sense the good Lord gave a goat. You got the ladies all over you, but no woman ever tied you down and slapped on a brand.”

Ignoring the sudden sweet image of Amy that popped into his head unbidden, Derek forced a wry laugh. “Put a sock in it, Bailey. Your brothers look pretty damn happy to me.”

Bailey groaned. “They all start out happy, now don’t they?”

“You’re getting obnoxious,” warned Luke. “Quit while you’re ahead.”

But Bailey wasn’t about to take his brother’s good advice. “What I’m ‘getting’ is honest. It’s too late for Danny and Jamie here. They’ll just have to learn the hard way that marriage is a game for fools.” He leaned close to Luke and stage-whispered in his ear, “Get away. Get away while you still can.”

“Knock it off.” Luke elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Ow!” Bailey rubbed his side. “Big brother, you got an elbow on you.”

“And you have a big mouth. One you need to practice shutting.”

Bailey put on a hangdog expression. “It’s hopeless, I tell you. You’re doomed, brother. Doomed.” He tipped his head back and asked the ceiling, “Oh, why won’t anyone listen to a man who knows?”

“Get real, Bailey,” said Luke. “You love Eva.”

“’Course I love Eva. She’s a fine woman. So is Annie, for that matter.” That was Daniel’s wife. “Fallon, too.” Fallon O’Reilly had married Jamie the year before. “It’s not the women I object to, it’s the institution itself. Marriage. It’s what ruins people’s lives.” Bailey wrapped his hands around his own throat and pretended to choke himself. “Slow strangulation, you hear what I’m sayin’?”

Derek decided to step in before Bailey got too far on the wrong side of his own brothers. “Come on, Bailey. Nine-ball. Two out of three.” He nodded toward the pool table.

“Go.” Daniel made a shooing motion. “Give the rest of us a break.”

Bailey scowled. “I’m trying to help you.”

“We don’t need your help,” said Jamie.

Bailey hung his head. “Why does no one appreciate the wisdom I’m offering?”

Derek got up. “Nine-ball. What do you say?”

“Why not?” Bailey rose, grumbling, “I’m not makin’ any progress here, and that’s for sure.”

At the pool tables, Bailey continued to trash-talk marriage as Derek proceeded to win the game. Twice.

“Not only smart enough to stay single,” declared Bailey when they started back to join the other guys, “but a pool shark, too. What other talents you got?”

As he considered what to try next to get Bailey to stop annoying his brothers, Bailey muttered, “Uh-oh. Here they come.”

They were Eva, Bailey’s sister Bella—and Amy.

Amy. Looking like a bright ray of sunshine in a pretty yellow dress.

The three women marched straight to the table where the Stockton men were sitting.

Bailey, still beside him, said something else. Derek had no idea what. All rational thought had fled his mind, along with his ability to understand words. He felt sucker punched. And also guilty.

Yeah, he should have called her. But how could he? Even after all these years, she made him forget the English language, made him blind to everything but her.

Somehow, he did what he had to do—put one foot in front of the other, kept walking alongside Bailey until they reached the table again.

“There you are,” said Bella, glaring straight at Bailey.

Bailey widened his eyes. “What’d I do now?”

“Don’t play innocent,” said Bella. “Nobody believes that act from you. You’ve been driving everybody in the place crazy, going on about all the reasons men should never get married. We just came over to offer you a ride back to Sunshine Farm.”

“Somebody called you to come and haul me out of the Ace?” Bailey huffed in trumped-up outrage. “I don’t believe this town. A guy can’t express an honest opinion without some busybody callin’ his sister to come drag him home.”

Luke, who’d gotten up to give Eva a quick kiss, advised, “Maybe you’ve had one too many, huh, Bailey?”

“I’m not drunk,” Bailey insisted.

Eva suggested wryly, “Just opinionated?”

He frowned at her. “And where do you and Amy come in? That’s what I’d like to know.”

“We were over at Bella’s when she got the call.”

“The call from who?” he demanded.

Bella shook her head. “You don’t need to know.”

As the others discussed whether Bailey should go home or not, Derek stood by the table and tried not to look at Amy. When he finally couldn’t stop himself from shooting her a glance, he caught her at the moment that her gaze skittered away from him.

Just like on Monday, the two of them sitting there in Eva’s living room, both of them trying their damnedest not to look at each other.

They’d had love once, powerful love that he’d believed could conquer anything.

Now they just tried not to look at each other when they met up by accident. And when they had to speak to each other, they blathered on about how their secret past was long ago and they were both just fine.

Bailey said, “I’ll switch to ginger ale. Will that satisfy you women?”

“And stop running down marriage,” said Jamie.

“Yeah,” Daniel agreed. “We’ve heard enough about that.”

“Fine, fine. It’s hopeless to even try, anyway,” Bailey groused. “I got the message, loud and clear. You all can keep your happily-ever-afters, see if I care.”

“All right, then,” said Luke. He turned to Eva. “Stay for a little?” He sat again and pulled her down into the chair next to him. “Come on, Bella. Amy. Stay.”

Bailey helped Derek grab some more chairs and then the two of them went and got another round—including a pitcher of ginger ale for Bailey and anyone else who didn’t want beer. When they got back to the table, the chair on one side of Amy was empty.

Derek took that chair because he couldn’t bear not to.

Someone put a love song on the ancient jukebox. A girl from out of town grabbed Bailey and pulled him up for a dance.

Luke led Eva out onto the floor. They swayed to the music, whispering to each other. Eva tipped her blond head back and laughed. They looked so damn happy.

Life? Sometimes it just wasn’t fair.

Derek couldn’t stop himself. He turned to Amy. “Dance with me?”

Her eyes looked almost golden right then, golden, green and softest brown. She swallowed. And then she nodded.

He took her hand—so smooth and cool. It fit just right in his, same as it used to all those years ago. He pulled her up and led her out among the dancers, gathering her close, maybe closer than he should have.

So what? She smelled like heaven—like wildflowers and sunshine. And her body felt just right brushing close to his. Maybe he’d dance with her all night long, never once let her out of his arms.

He pressed his rough cheek to her silky hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know. I kept meaning to.”

She pulled away enough to turn those big eyes up to him. “Apology accepted. I was going to call you.”

He stared at her lips too long, caught himself and shifted his glance back up to meet her eyes. “But you didn’t call me.”

“I didn’t know what I would say. I also had a feeling you might not answer the phone or call me back. I felt...out of my depth, I guess. So, I just kept putting it off.”

“Yeah, well. All that, what you just said? Me, too.”

“We need to stop this. We’re two grown adults.”

He almost chuckled. “Coulda fooled me.”

“Derek, we’ve got a bachelor party to plan.”

He sucked in her scent of flowers and sunshine. “Yeah. We need to get going on that.” Holding her like this felt so natural, so completely right. It made the years kind of melt away.

And he really needed to keep a grip on himself. This would go nowhere. It was only a dance.

“So then,” she whispered, “we need to make a date to meet and then we need to stick to it.”

“A date?” He said it in a playful way and felt stupidly proud of himself that he’d managed to tease her. “You want a date with me?”

She slanted him a sharp glance. “Yeah, a date. But not a date.”

“So...a non-date, then?”

“Exactly. And I mean it, Derek. We need to make it soon. We’ve got two weeks till the bachelor party. Viv dropped by the farmhouse yesterday and asked how we were doing with our plans. I promised her we’d have it all figured out in the next few days.”

Amy was right. No more mooning around like a heartsick fool. It was all over years ago and he needed to stop stewing about it and hold up his end as Luke’s best man.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at six. Ever been to Maverick Manor?”

“No.”

“Great. We’ll go there and you can get a look at the place. It might give us some ideas.”

“All right. That works.”

“We’ll get a couple of fancy burgers and come up with a bunch of activities to satisfy Viv Shuster’s list-making soul.”

“Perfect. I’m in.”

The song ended.

Another cowboy tapped him on the shoulder. Get lost, he almost let himself say. But not quite. He gave Amy a hint of a smile. “Thanks for the dance.”

She nodded. “See you tomorrow, then.” And she turned into the other cowboy’s waiting arms.

* * *

The next day, Amy spent way too much time trying to decide what to wear to Maverick Manor that night. She finally settled on a turquoise halter dress with a handkerchief hem and a pair of matching high-heeled sandals. Why not dress up a little? From what everyone said, Maverick Manor was an upscale sort of place.

True, this was not a real date, but it couldn’t hurt to look her best.

Maybe, just possibly, she went a little overboard, pumicing and shaving and getting everything all smooth and sleek. And then she used up a whole hour on her hair and makeup. But taking the time to look good was so worth it, a real confidence-booster. And with Derek, well, she needed all the confidence she could muster.

At five thirty, she was trying to decide between a shoulder bag and a clutch, wondering if she ought to bring a light wrap, when her phone rang.

It was Derek. “Amy? Hey. I’m really sorry, but we’ve got some fences down and I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight, after all. We’ll have to reschedule.”

Reschedule.

Her heart sank. It felt like a lead weight in her chest.

How had this happened? Somehow, she’d gone and let herself look forward to the evening, let herself forget that this was only a meeting, a non-date.

Tears blurred her vision—which was totally ridiculous. She dropped to the edge of her bed and fiddled with the filmy hem of the dress she wouldn’t be wearing tonight after all. “Oh. Ahem. Well, I totally understand. You just give me a call tomorrow, why don’t you? We’ll set up something else.”

“Amy, are you all—”

“Listen.” She swallowed down the lump in her throat. “I’ve got to go. Talk to you later.”

“But are you—”

“’Bye, now.” She disconnected the call and dropped the phone on the bed. And then, teeth gritted, eyes shut, she willed the tears away. So silly, to get all emo just because an old boyfriend needed a rain check on their non-date. It was in no way, shape or form a big deal.

Except, well, he’d been so much more than just a boyfriend...

But she wasn’t going to even think about all that. That was all in the past and it needed to stay there. She’d moved on long ago, gone out with other guys. Once, she’d almost gotten engaged. But when it came right down to it, well, it hadn’t been true love and she just couldn’t say yes. Not like with—

No. Stop. Not going there.

Besides, her dating history was not the issue. What mattered was that the days were flying by and they really did have to make some plans for the big party. They had a great venue and everyone had already been invited. Music and food were taken care of, or so she’d been told.

Games and activities. That was all she and Derek had to handle. And Eva and Luke were counting on them to do it up right.

Really, she would not allow a single tear to fall. Annoyance was what she felt right now. Annoyance and exasperation that Derek Dalton kept putting off the job they’d both agreed to do.

Down the hall in the bathroom, she washed her face free of every bit of the makeup she’d so carefully applied. She raked her hair up into a ponytail and changed into old jeans, a white T-shirt edged in lace that had seen better days and a worn pair of Converse high-tops.

Then, in her room again, she sat at her computer and spent half an hour brainstorming ideas for the party. When that got old, she logged in at work.

Around eight, she started getting antsy. Grabbing her phone, she went downstairs. Eva and Luke had gone to Jamie and Fallon’s for dinner, so she had the house to herself for the evening. She should fix a sandwich or something.

But she didn’t really feel hungry.

She wandered out to the front porch and perched on the step. Her phone was synced to her computer. She brought up the list for the party to jot down a few more ideas just as a red pickup rolled into the yard.