We slowed to a walk as we left the mountain trail and entered the ranch.
“You doing anything tonight?” Cade asked as we passed the playground by my cabin, waving at the guest kids playing on the swings. Cade had his own stable by his house that he’d built for Kelsey a year earlier. I followed him home to pick up Sophie from Kelsey’s.
“Got a hot date?” He grinned hopefully at me as we passed by Shelby’s cabin.
I had been about to tell him about my exciting plans that included a movie with Sophie before I put her to bed, but his obvious insinuation had me thinking. If I wanted them off my back, maybe telling him Shelby and I would be hanging out later wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“We’re going to watch a movie,” I said, dangling my hook over the water.
He took the bait. “We?”
“Shelby’s coming over.”
Cade’s eyes lit up, and he studied me for a long moment, trying to gauge the truthfulness of my words. I had to play it all carefully. Too far one way or the other, and he’d be on to me.
“Just as friends,” I added.
“Sure, sure,“ he said, adjusting his hat. “Sounds good.” I could tell he wanted to ask more. Actually, no, I could see Kelsey demanding more information when he told her all of this later. But thankfully, his more manly side won out, and he backed off.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” I asked.
He grinned. “I’m going to try my hardest to eat my wife’s dinner without making a face, play with the kids, rock the baby, and watch a show with Kels before we go to bed.”
“Living the dream.” I had wanted that statement to come out like I was joking, teasing even, but what came out was a tone so far from joking it scared me.
As we rode toward Cade’s house, I pushed discontent aside as a better thought came to me. Tonight, I was planning to make one of Sophie’s favorites, an elite and fancy kind of meal that included mashed potatoes with dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, before putting her to bed. After that, it was Shelby’s second lesson on flirting.
She just didn’t know it yet.
The Hot Housewives of Eugene and their Husbands
Cade: They’re on a date tonight.
Logan: You’re such a girl.
Logan: What are they doing?
Cade: Watching a movie.
Tessa: Wait. On a couch?
Cade: Yup
Tessa: Does Shelby know what that means?
Cade: If Jake’s still the guy he used to be, she’s about to find out.
12
JAKE
“I brought popcorn,”Shelby said by way of announcing her entrance into my cabin. I glanced behind me from my spot on the couch to see that her feet were bare and she was wearing gray joggers and a white t-shirt with her basketball team’s logo on it.
“Homemade?” I asked, training my eyes to focus on the TV instead of the red hair bouncing around my apartment.
“I knew you wouldn’t eat it from a microwave like a normal person.”
“Microwave popcorn is the greatest travesty of this nation,” I supplied while I scrolled through movie options.