Page 4 of The Mountain Man's Curvy Surprisem
“That’s some letter,” she admits.
I wait for her to say more, lips pressed tightly together. But she refuses to indulge me.
“Is that all you have to say?”
She shrugs, drawing a line between her perfectly groomed brown eyebrows. Her expressive blue eyes swim with worry as she inhales deeply. “Well, the words are beautiful and all. So are the sentiments. But do normal guys even write like this?”
“Normal guys? Since when are we looking for normal guys?”
“Oh, you know what I mean,” she says, waving her hand in the air.
“No, I don’t. Especially coming from a woman who’s married to an almost off-grid Basque shepherd who lives at sixty-five hundred feet in one of the most remote parts of the Sierra Nevada I’ve ever visited.” I cross my arms. It’s no mic drop. But I act like it is.
“But didn’t you say this Mack guy lives somewhere not too far from Fierce and me?”
Fierce Amestoy is Felicity’s husband and a catch like none other. Think Henry Cavill with a sexy French accent and the touch-her-and-die mentality of a morally grey romantic lead.
My tongue darts out, wetting my bottom lip. “Yes, he’s in Northern California.” I shrug, not wanting to get any more specific.
“And you still refuse to tell me where?” Her voice betrays a tinge of hurt.
“Ah, Felicity, it’s not like that. I just need time to get to know this guy. To vet him out before I make any major decisions. I don’t need small-town drama thrown into the mix.”
“Or friend drama, apparently.” She frowns.
“I promise to keep you in the loop and let you know the moment I’ve met him. What I think of him. Everything. But for once—just this once—I need to do this on my own.”
I also need to do it before a week passes without a letter or email. I feel like I’m losing Mack, and I don’t know why. His communications have dwindled, the letter in Felicity’s hands, the only one I received this week.
His emails have also fallen off, getting shorter and shorter with more days spread between them. Maybe I got too demanding in my last letter about seeing him in person? But feeling this way about someone without meeting them is sheer torture. It’s also downright foolhardy, though I refuse to admit this to my bestie.
His excuse in each communication remains the same. That he’s busy. But it’s no way to treat your mail-order bride-to-be. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to that in the first place. I still don’t know how I’ll break it to Felicity if I go through with the contract.
But when the dating site where we met, Mountain Mates, approached us as a beta couple, offering ten thousand dollars toward our wedding as a promotion for their new mail-order bride platform, how could I resist?
Mack acted happy at the time. At least in his emails. But who knows what’s really going on? I spare my bestie this part as she’salready made up her mind not to like the guy. I don’t need to add additional fuel to the fire.
Felicity lets out a heavy sigh, her cheeks puffing out. “Once you’ve made up your mind, good luck convincing you otherwise. You can be so frustrating sometimes, Callie, though you know I love you. And I support you no matter what. But I don’t want you to get disappointed or hurt by this guy. And I hope you take all necessary safety precautions.”
I nod. “Yes, I’m leaving his address and information with Mama in case you really think you need it. Though I appreciate your discretion and respect of my privacy. And I’m packing my taser, my pepper spray, and years of martial arts and self-defense training.” Having a dad who’s law enforcement comes with its perks.
“And you’ll call me daily to check in and let me know that everything’s okay?”
I nod. “Geez, Felicity, you’re making me feel like a bad friend. I didn’t ask about any of this before you met Fierce for the first time.”
“True,” she admits. “But I talked to him on the phone multiple times a day, and we FaceTimed often. I also asked around about him in Hollister before heading to his cabin for the first time.”
Now, I’m the one furrowing my brows. “Girl, please. You showed up unannounced because your editor was hoping for aCheaters-style reveal filled with drama. The only reason you asked about him in town was because you didn’t even know where he lived,” I remind.
“Yes, but?—”
“But?” I interrupt, arching an eyebrow. “At least, I’ve got Mack’s address.”
“A step in the right direction, hopefully,” she concedes.
I nod. “As for safety, I don’t remember any mention of you taking pepper spray, a taser, any of that. We were more worried about shopping for sexy clothes and panties, remember?”
“Yeah,” Felicity says, tossing the long, curled brown hair that’s crept over her shoulders back again. “I would feel better if you at least talked with this guy over the phone or FaceTimed before your first in-person meeting, though. And a background check is a bare minimum requirement.”
