“We’re just friends. If Shelby says yes to your ugly face,” I told Briggs, grinning at him, “that’s her business.”
The game moved on, and thankfully, the guys did too.
But while they shuffled and laughed and dealt the cards, even poker night couldn’t keep my ex-wife, Miranda, from intruding on my thoughts.
Having to tell Sophie that her mom wasn’t ever coming back still kept me up at night. She was three years old when it happened. She wasn’t able to understand.
I still didn’t understand.
But holding Sophie during the night while she screamed and cried for her mom, unable to do a thing about it, was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Which was the reason my heart, that now beat only for my daughter, was black as night.
Having Shelby here this summer would be perfect. The best kind of distraction. Soon enough, everyone on the ranch would see that we were just friends. Hopefully, she’d start dating Briggs, and everyone would move on. Things would blow over.
But for right now, it felt like I’d been thrown off a cliff, only to find a safety net just before I hit the bottom. Shelby Tucker was back in my life. My whole body sighed with relief at the knowledge. Already, I could imagine us placing bets, shooting guns, and playing basketball just like the old days.
She knew I peed the bed that one time in fifth grade after we stayed up late watching a scary movie and hadn’t told a soul. I knew she wore night headgear in the fourth grade and had to change her pillowcase every morning because of the drool.
There could be nobody safer to have around me than Shelby Tucker.
2
SHELBY
Briggs pulledhis truck to a stop in front of my childhood home and killed the engine. The sudden silence cut sharply through the air. I eyed the front door with some degree of trepidation.
On our first date earlier this week, I had basically yelled thanks and goodbye as I sprinted from his truck to the front door, while he probably sat with a confused expression on his face.
But this time, he was in the middle of telling me a story about building the Lodge on the dude ranch, and it would have been weird, even for me, to have broken out into a run before he hit the punchline.
“I’ll get your door,” Briggs said, giving me a knowing look. I forced myself to unlatch the hand that clung to the door handle and attempted to act casual, despite the sudden lurch in my heart rate. “Unless you’re trying to break your PR for escaping a date.”
“Sorry about that,” I laughed awkwardly, running my hands through my hair. He watched me do it, his gaze on my smooth,silky locks that took approximately twenty million hours to achieve.
His hair didn’t move much, like a brown-haired Ken doll.
He had a wholesome look about him—maybe a little more rugged because of his profession. He was nice. Friendly. And definitely low on dateable options in our small town, which was probably why he had asked me out again. I knew for a fact he’d already been out with every other single woman in this town.
Of course it was my turn.
The only problem was…I was an illusion. A fake. He had asked me out the night of my dad’s wedding last Saturday. Though I’d heard of Briggs, we’d only just met that night—the day Tessa had spent two hours dolling me up for the wedding. She put me in a dress, heels, and a bra that didn’t double for athleisure wear. But the real kicker…she spent seventy-five painstaking minutes straightening every piece of my wild and frizzy hair into a mirage of gloss and silk. A little mascara and some lip gloss, and the deed was done.
We had both done a romantic-comedy gasp when we looked in the mirror after she’d finished.
Thatwas the person Briggs had met on Saturday.
Which, therefore, was the person I had to be on our first date. And again today. Minus the dress and heels, for obvious reasons.
“I’m just glad you said yes to a second date. I definitely got some mixed signals when you started sprinting toward your door.”
“Well, you promised ice cream tonight,” I teased, trying for a breezy shrug of my shoulders. “No girl can resist that.”
He grinned, his eyes dropping to my lips for a moment. “Good to know. Ok, don’t run–I’m coming around to open your door.”
Before I could blink, my date of the evening was rounding the bend of his truck.
Here’s the thing. Briggs held my hand during the movie tonight.