Page 22 of Catching Coy
“Wait for me!” a voice called, followed by the sound of feet hurrying up the stairs behind them before Roxy appeared.
“Rox!” Bellamy cried, rushing to envelope her friend in a hug. “What areyoudoing here? You did not come home early just for this, did you?”
“No.” Roxy wiggled her eyebrows. “Something to do with Coy’s date tonight.”
Bellamy laughed. “Ahhh, yes. Have you been told how obsessed Willa is with Tag?” She tilted her head in mock warning. “Because you might want to worry about losing your husband. Where is he?”
“At his mom’s. She’s tickled to death since he never used to stay with her when he was here.” Roxy hooked arms with both Kendra and Bellamy and pulled them into Bellamy’s apartment, shutting the door with a sweet smile and leaving the cameraman behind.
“Quick, you’ve got about five minutes before he tattles to Agnes and she comes up to remind me what I signed up for when I came on board.” Bellamy plopped down on the couch, pulling Roxy with her.
“I’ll just tell her we had business to catch up on.” Roxy waved her hand. “Run down of the women?”
“Charlotte is my favorite because she’s super sweet; you’d probably pick Gillian. She’s level-headed and played basketball in college, so they have that in common. Willa is here for the platform, I’d bet good money on it, and Lucy is possessive and crazy, like Zoe from Kane’s season. But we can’t count her out because she and Coy have good physical chemistry.”
Roxy frowned. “And you two?” Her gaze strayed to Kendra, who was pulling on a hoodie. They did keep the house at a cool sixty-eight degrees, but still. Roxy and Bellamy shared a smirk.
“I haven’t kissed him yet, so it’s hard to say, although the moments leading up to when we could have were pretty hot. How long are you here?”
“Not long enough. We have to fly out tomorrow afternoon to get to California for the last of Tag’s shows there.” Roxy sank back into the couch. “You know there’s no way Coy doesn’t choose you, right?”
“Rox, he just brought me on so we could get to know each other without worrying about if we were screwing up the show. He could pick Charlotte, he really could. Or Lucy.” Her stomach pinched at the thought of going on the team date the next day with Lucy, how she’d hog all of Coy’s attention and make sure to kiss him repeatedly in front of everyone.
“If he’s worried enough about doing things the right way just because of a reality show, then I don’t think he’s the type of guy to drag you into this if he wasn’t serious about you,” Roxy said, scooting over on the couch to make room for Kendra to sit down.
“You must have felt good about something,” Kendra said. “To make you do all this for him. Trust your intuition if it led you here.”
Bellamy let out a long breath. Hearing Coy’s voice on the phone three days before had settled a lot of nerves but having her mother and best friend reassure her made her confident again, as confident as she had been sitting on the porch swing, about to kiss him.
“Okay.”
A knock on the door was a pronouncement of the end of their secrets, and Bellamy went to it, not surprised that Agnes was on the other end. “Bellamy—”
“She had some business to catch me and Kendra up on,” Roxy interrupted. “And there is nothing in any of those contracts that says I have to reveal all of my private business dealings on TV.” She walked over to stand next to Bellamy, her eyebrows arched in challenge.
Agnes turned her gaze on Kendra. “Were they this good as kids?”
“Oh, honey, they were angels,” Kendra replied in a dry voice. “And thankfully a few years apart, so I didn’t have to worry about much until after high school.” She chuckled and stood as well. “Now tell me, you got any requests for dinner?”
“I see where Bellamy gets it,” Agnes muttered, but smiling and shaking her head again in good-natured exasperation. “I’m easy to please, Mrs. Hansen. Can you make a good burger?”
“The best.” Kendra gave a little clap and stood. “You know, they’re perfect with the homemade buns, so I’d better get started.”
“You mind if I help?” Bellamy asked Agnes as they all started back down the hallway.
“Nice of you to ask.” Agnes snorted with laughter and Bellamy bit back one of her own. “There’s nothing on the schedule today for anything, so I don’t see a problem. As long as you stop trying to slip the cameraman.” She pointed a stern finger at Bellamy.
“Got it, boss.” Bellamy held her hands up in surrender but made sure not to promise it would never happen again.
Roxy stayed to help with dinner, and the three women chatting and working in the kitchen helped Bellamy feel less like she’d jumped off a cliff. In the summers, when her mom worked as the Ranch House cook, she and Roxy never had time to just sit with her and cook like they used to. Every day was filled with taking care of guests and minding the business of the Ranch House, and for Roxy, the rest of the ranch as well.
Bellamy didn’t know how long Coy had been standing in the doorway when she looked up and noticed him, the other two women going quiet immediately as they turned to study him.
“Well, don’t mind me, ladies,” he said, grinning.
Warmth exploded through Bellamy’s chest at the contented smile on his face, the way it felt when she made something, and it almost tasted as good as her mom’s. But she shook herself out of it and hurried to the doorway, pushing him out.
“Oh, no you don’t, Coy Jones,” she scolded. “No more hanging out in the kitchen now that I’m in this. Especially not with my mom. You’re not supposed to meet her until I’m one of the final two women here.”
