Page 13 of Catching Coy
Zane dropped into a chair across from him, steepling his fingers and leaning forward, studying the way Coy kept the container right next to his plate. “What’s up?” One eyebrow rose as he met Coy’s gaze.
Coy shrugged and pushed the container toward him. “Nothing.”
Zane narrowed his eyes and didn’t touch the crepes. “You having second thoughts about all of this?” He sat back in his chair.
Coy shrugged again. “Nope.”
Zane finally looked at the container and studied the crepes for a long time. “Bellamy?” he asked.
Zane had known Coy since freshman year at ASU, when they’d been roommates, and trying to deny anything wouldn’t do any good. He shrugged for a third time. “She’s cute.” Mmm, those dimples.
“Uh-huh.” Zane chuckled and stood to get a plate.
“You gonna tell Agnes?”
He sat down and lifted two crepes out. “Tell Agnes what?”
Coy grinned, letting several moments pass in silence as they ate before he asked, “Who’s the girl?”
Zane only grinned back, mouth full. “These are good.”
* * *
Garrett Griffin
Center, Denver Mountaineers
“Coy plays fiercely, and I expect he’ll put the same effort into finding love here.”
* * *
The Catchbroughtin Coy’s teammate Garrett Griffin to round out the teams for the Team Date. He managed to get Gillian on his team, which meant they beat Coy’s team. Neither Charlotte nor Willa were athletes in any sense of the word. Coy wondered if Bellamy could play basketball.
Garrett was whisked away after giving each of the women “game advice,” and the date progressed to a small diner in town, rented out so the cast could enjoy the rest of the date and the crew could work unhampered by fans.
“Corner booth, please?” Gillian said shortly after they’d arrived, taking Coy’s hand in hers. He liked the way she made sure they got alone time. He forced himself to get into the process, maybe try and shake whatever pull Bellamy had on him. He’d committed to the show, to the possibility of love with one of the eight women thatThe Catchhad introduced him too. He’d signed a contract and that meant keeping a promise to Nico and Agnes and the rest of the crew. It would make for a fun scandal if he ran off with Bellamy, but for a short show and no paychecks for people who weren’t raking in the big bucks thanks to the show’s popularity. He had to put his best into this, even in the moments it didn’t feel like his heart was in it.
Gillian kissed him before she got up to leave the booth after they spent twenty minutes together. In the weeks that he binged several seasons worth ofThe Catch, he could never quite make up his mind about what he thought of the men who starred in it kissing several women at a time. He accepted it as inevitable for himself and spent some time convincing himself that he was dating just like any other guy. Except that instead of spreading out the relationships with eight women, he dated them all at once. Efficient, really. No one would judge him for having four to six different girlfriends before he settled down with one. In fact, most people would expect him to date even more than that.
There was a different kind of insistency behind Gillian’s short, light kiss, not the same electric pull of Lucy’s. Gillian’s soft touch held expectation, not desire; a promise, rather than a demand. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that it was a relief that she didn’t insist on deepening the kiss. Maybe later, when they had a chance to be alone. Expressing his affection in front of the cameras was hard enough. Shoving it in the face of all the other girls made him queasy.
Bristol came next, even if Coy wished, for a brief moment, if he could ask Agnes for ten minutes of solitude to finish his burger. Conversation with Bristol didn’t flow as easily as with Gillian or Lucy (or Bellamy), especially considering Bristol’s insistence that he have a plan for after basketball. He’d invested well and he didn’t have to have a backup plan immediately, even if he injured himself the first day of the season. He didn’t have to have one ever, actually. Her pressure made him uncomfortable.
But he didn’t dismiss her either. One of his best relationships in college had started out stilted and sometimes difficult, but Ellie had persisted and there’d been enough of a spark that Coy pushed through it. He knew better than to discount something good because of a few awkward moments.
Willa and Charlotte both took turns as well. Charlotte made his night by offering to sit quietly and eat her meal next to him just so he’d have a few minutes to finish his food. “The sweet one.” That’s what Bellamy had called her. Coy agreed. They ended up praising the food and then chatting for several minutes about Charlotte’s time as a waitress while she was in nursing school and how the fact that her apartment was four miles from the school and that she didn’t have a car saved her from gaining fifty pounds thanks to the delicious fries at the restaurant where she worked.
Stella didn’t press for alone time, which confused Coy. She sat next to him when he joined the table full of all the women, and they had a few minutes to talk—mostly about how close to her hometown in Idaho she was—less than a day’s drive—and yet, she still felt so far away considering the isolation of Little River and the Arrow C and the communication restraints of the show. Coy had agreed with her assessment, but Bristol and then Willa turned the conversation to other topics while they all finished dinner. He wasn’t sure how to figure Stella out. Should he try harder and dig more? See if she opened up? Or did he let her go without guilt and remind himself that she hadn’t made a lot of effort? He hated this part. Before the show started, Gunner Bent had advised him to trust himself when it came to reading the women. “There will be women here just for the screen time—you have to accept that. But you should trust yourself and what you feel.”
After dinner, they walked around the small town in the warm evening, laughing and enjoying the quietness. But by the time the SUV pulled up to the Ranch House, Coy was ready for some alone time to reflect on the date and the women.
He and Zane watched the women walk down the stone path to the front porch and the door of the Ranch House before Zane pulled away to head down the road. If Coy had been driving himself, he might have just snuck around until he found Bellamy. Good thing he had Zane to keep his head on straight, though the reasons for not giving in to his attraction to Bellamy kept getting fuzzier and fuzzier. He had come to Little River to find love. He just might have found it in an unexpected place.
“Any idea who you’re cutting tomorrow?” Zane asked, turning to glance at Coy, who had hopped into the passenger seat after hugging all the women goodbye in front of the Ranch House. Zane turned the corner around the mansion to head down the dirt road to Roxy’s house. Coy didn’t even know the woman, but that’s how he’d come to think of his lodgings thanks to his friendship with Bellamy.
“Nope.” Coy grimaced. “Stella is so quiet. I wish I could have gotten a moment to figure her out.”
“Which ones do you want to keep—no thinking.” Zane had used the same tactic back in college when they’d tried to decide things.Give me the pros—no thinking first. He’d forced Coy to say whatever was on his mind.
