Page 54 of Lost and Lassoed

“Fair,” I said, even though she didn’t know the half of it.

“What does Emmy think about him?”

I swallowed. “She doesn’t know.” So far, I had pushed off that thought: What would Emmy think? If she knew about somethingpotentiallyhappening between her brother and me? I didn’t really know how she’d react. I didn’t think she’d be mad—that wasn’t her style—but I did think she’d be cautious, anxious, about what would happen if things went wrong.

Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about that, because so far all that had happened between us was two kisses, seven years apart, and if this morning was any indication, it didn’t look as though anything else would happen, so I pushed my thoughts of Emmy away.

I was more of an “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it” type of gal. I’d tell her when there was something worth telling, which might be never.

Ada narrowed her eyes at me. “She doesn’t know?” I shook my head. “So this guy is complicated enough that you haven’t told your best friend, and are instead asking for advice fromthe woman who was married for three months and subsequently fell in love with her boss a year later?”

“Because your boss was ‘the one,’ ” I said. “But yeah, basically.”

Ada arched one of her thick black brows at me. “Interesting.”

“Never mind,” I said. “Not important.” Ada gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me. She opened her mouth, but then we heard footsteps on the stairs.

Brooks appeared a few seconds later, wearing his signature look: worn-out jeans, backward baseball cap, and a cropped T-shirt, which he’d probably still be wearing at eighty.

Emmy used to think the muscle tees were douchey, which they would have been if Brooks wasn’t such a good guy.

“Hey,” he said. “I come bearing gifts.” He held up a few grease-stained brown paper bags, and I smelled fries.

Ada and I each grabbed a bag from him and took it over to the bar. Brooks followed. We sorted through the bags until all three of us had a sandwich of some sort—two for Brooks—and a carton of fries.

The fridge under the bar already had mixers in it, so Brooks pulled out a couple of Diet Cokes—one for Ada and one for me—and then filled a glass with water for himself.

I cracked open the Coke. The first sip burned down my throat. Some people like to crack open a cold beer at the end of a hard workday. Me? I like a crisp Diet Coke.

“It looks great up here,” Brooks said, looking around. “Thank you for helping.”

“When does this part open?” I asked.

Brooks swallowed a bite of his grilled chicken sandwich. “Next weekend.”

“That’s soon,” I said. “Are you nervous about it?”

“Kind of.” Brooks shrugged. “The Devil’s Boot has always only been one thing, so it’s kind of intimidating to add something new to the mix, but this part of it really feels like mine.”

Huh. That sounded familiar. Without even trying, Brooks had just put the storm of feelings roiling within me the past few weeks into words. My life had always felt like it was one thing, but there was so much…new around me. Including, it would seem, some feelings about a certain grumpy cowboy. And I had to admit…I was scared.

“It’s going to be great, Brooks,” I said. “The whole place is great.”

He looked around thoughtfully. “Yeah, I’m really proud of it.”

“How are you going to celebrate opening night?” I asked.

“I’m not sure yet. Got any ideas, Andersen?”

I was scared of a lot of things right now. But I’ve never been scared of a good time.

“Yeah, actually,” I said with a smile, “I do.”

Chapter 25

Teddy

When I got home that night, I was treated to another round of Grunty Gussy. More talking around me and avoiding any sort of eye contact. We didn’t even do our secret glance thing when Riley made an unknowingly inappropriate joke about roosters.

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