Page 102 of Stirring Up Love
She remembered how his eyes had crinkled with a grin above the fanned-out travel brochures, like the prospect of dragging her aroundto tourist attractions was the best fun ever. Like being stuck with her beat being anywhere else.
Except that wasn’t true, because he’d walked away.
A swish of her tail showed Willow remained unconvinced. Fine. Simone had more ammunition. “I haven’t even mentioned his smile, which is infuriating. Sexy and wholesome, all in one.” She cleared the thickness in her throat. Allergies acting up again.Ugh.
If she felt like crap, may as well shovel some. She led her horse out into the aisle and clipped her lead to a post. Fetched a scoop and a wheelbarrow. She was halfway through mucking out the stall when Willow let out a loud neigh.
“Yeah, yeah. Almost done, Miss Impatient.”
“Simone?”
Great. Meg, Care Bear in human form, harbinger of the touchy-feely apocalypse, she who must dissect every emotion, here to pester her about her feelings again. Nowhere to hide in a twelve-by-twelve stall, so she shoveled with renewed vigor in hopes Meg would take the hint and disappear in a puff of sparkly smoke to the fairyland from whence she’d come.
Unfortunately, she didn’t, so Simone asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
Meg tugged loops of hose off the wall and walked in to fill up Willow’s water bucket. “It’s Sunday. Can’t teach to an empty classroom.” Pesky weekends. “Figured I’d come out and check on you.”
“Gross.”
Meg tipped her head back and laughed like the psychopath she was. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Itbeing the fact that when she’d emerged from the kitchen, her sister’s entire bridal party was lurking outside the door. They hadn’t asked any questions, simply whisked her off to the ballroom and handed her a refill of the drink she’d spilled right before Finn showed up. She should’ve known Meg wouldn’t be content to let it go at that.
“Why? So you can give me a patented Margaret Anderson pep talk? The one where you tell me all men are pigs and I’m better off without Finn? Because you can save your breath; I agree with you.” She set the pitchfork aside and pushed a wheelbarrow full of poop toward the door. Meg scooted out of the way just in time.
“You can try to run me over all you want,” Meg called after her, “but it’s not going to take away your feelings.”
Feelings.Bleurgh. But Meg was right. Nothing would make her feel better right now. Simone trundled the wheelbarrow over to the muck heap and dumped it. There. Out with the crap. If only it was so easy to get rid of pesky feelings.
Out of nowhere, someone wrapped their arms around her, hugging her from behind. Startled, she spun and jabbed, putting her kickboxing training to use. But she hadn’t practiced since moving back home, so her elbow connected with empty air.
Meg gasped and jumped back. “What the heck, Simone?”
“You surprised me!” Simone dusted off her knees, torn between remorse and irritation, and irritation won. “You can’t sneak up on people and hug them without warning.”
“You’re notpeople. You’re my friend.”
“Your friend’s little sister.”
“What?” Meg squinted at her like she was a student caught texting in class. “That’s a super-weird thing to say. What is wrong with you today?”
Maybe the fact that Finn had walked out on her less than a day ago? “Ever stop to think I might be a little testy after losing out on two hundred thousand dollars? Without Finn, there’s no deal.”
Shoving her gloved hands into the pockets of her coveralls, Meg stepped aside. “So it’s the money, then?”
She grunted an affirmative.
“Okay, if that’s the way you wanna play it, fine. But for the record, you were wrong about my pep talk. I wasn’t going to say you’re better off without Finn.”
That surprised her, but she covered up with sarcasm, per the usual. “Shocking. The woman who’s on ten dating apps thinks I need a man. How very progressive of you.”
“Two dating apps, and I didn’t say you needed him. Will you just listen for ten seconds and let me explain?”
Simone ground her teeth together and started counting to ten in her head.One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three Missi—
“I can see your lips moving,” Meg snapped. “I didn’t mean ten literal seconds.” She flung up both hands and disappeared into the barn.
The brush and tap of Meg’s push broom greeted Simone when she came back into the barn after she’d decided talking about her feelings would be better than hanging out by the enormous pile of manure. Meg stopped sweeping and met Simone’s eyes. “Why are you being so mean?”
