Page 24 of Cheyenne

“Okay.”

She heard rustling and heard another voice over the line. “So, how was it hanging out with Micah?” It was her sister-in-law, Sadie.

Cheyenne couldn’t help but smile. Sadie was always the one for romance stories. “It was good. Fine.”

Sadie laughed. “Is he cute?”

Cheyenne lay back in bed and rolled her eyes. “I’m not discussing this with my brother there.”

Sadie giggled. “Okay. We love you. Be safe and have fun.”

“Love you guys too.”

“Love you,” Porter said.

She hung up, put the phone back, then closed her eyes, trying not to think about how cute Micah was.

Her phone rang again. She scrambled to answer it but was disappointed to see that the call was from Eli. “Hello?”

“Hey,” Eli said. “I just wanted to touch base with you, because a bunch of us are having a party tomorrow night and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with us.”

Cheyenne sighed. She was tired of this thing she had going on with Eli. “Eli, we are done. You know that, right? It was fun hanging out with you and having dinner, but we’ve talked about this, and there is no future for us.”

There was a long pause. “Cheyenne, I asked you to marry me last year, and if I’m honest, I’ve never gotten over you. I’ve thought a lot about it. If you want a kid, that’s fine. I can do one kid.”

Cheyenne would’ve laughed at the desperation in his voice and the way he acted like a kid was like a puppy or something. They couldn’t put a kid in a kennel when they were gone or when they didn’t want it. “There were a lot of things that contributed to my answer, and you know it.”

“Are you talking about the whole belief in God thing? Because I don’t think that people who believe in God are happy all the time. I sure don’t think that they always stay married. I don’t know why believing in God or not believing in God should be a deal breaker. We have so many other things in common.”

Cheyenne didn’t even know what to say. It made her sad that she’d wasted so much time dating this guy when it never would’ve worked out.

“Are you ghosting me because of that guy? The one you met at a wedding or something? What’s that about, anyway?”

There was no way she was talking about Micah with Eli. “I have to go, Eli. Have fun with your friends this week, and have fun building houses. Best of luck to you.”

He snorted. “So that’s what we are now? The type of friends who say ‘best of luck’ to each other?”

“I’m sorry, Eli. Goodnight. Goodbye.”

CHAPTER 13

Micah

Micah walked toward the boat that would take them snorkeling and couldn’t help but smile when Cheyenne came into view. She was stunning. Too bad she screamed ‘tourist’. A huge sun hat, a neon-pink swim dress over her swimsuit, and massive flip-flops made her stand out.

As if she could sense him, she looked up and grinned. That smile nearly stopped his heart. No, she’d gone out with Eli yesterday. He needed to stop thinking about this woman.

When he reached her, she handed him a ticket.

He stared at it, then jolted. “Right. I need to Venmo you for this.”

She placed her hand over his. “It’s fine. Really.”

“No.” He pulled out his phone, scrolling to find her contact. “I want to go snorkeling, and you already paid for this. I insist on paying my own way.”

“Look, maybe we can just go back to your place and look at whatever you think we need to look at with … you know what.” She looked around as if someone would pounce and take the amulet.

He wanted to tease her, but he just said, “Let’s snorkel and then go check things out.”

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