Page 37 of Christmas with the Cowboy
“Yeah.” Jill stepped closer to Brandon, who put an arm around her. “We’ll wait until your light comes on.”
“I think once I’m in the bottom door, I’m good,” Trenna said. “You guys have a good night.”
Bruno gave the couple one last surly look, then walked Trenna to the porch before returning to duty. She unlocked the door and stood in the foyer before tackling the stairs. Hopefully this thing with Jay was a one-off, but to play it safe, she was not going out for a while, which sucked because Christmas in Marietta was something to behold.
Chapter Eight
Audrey stepped outonto the porch for the second time in five minutes and shielded her eyes against the sun as she stared down the driveway.
“What’s up?” Reed called from where he was loading yet more wire into the back of the pickup.
Audrey wrapped her sweater around her and started down the steps, waiting until she was close enough not to have to yell before saying, “Trenna is a half hour late, and she’s not responding to my texts.”
He couldn’t say he liked the sound of that.
“She had a date last night. I’m thinking of driving to her place.”
“I’ll go.”
“I can’t help but be concerned,” his mom continued, talking a little too fast, “what with her living alone and all.”
“I understand.” He closed the tailgate. “She had battery trouble yesterday. Or it could be a flat.”
“In a place with no cell service.”
“Exactly.” He hoped. But until he found out, his gut was going to remain in a tight knot. He had just opened his door to climb into the truck when a plume of dust appeared in the distance.
“I think that’s her,” Audrey said in a relieved voice. She waited until she could see the distinctive bronze color of the car before saying, “Yes.”
She gave Reed a quick smile and he was reminded of all the nights he’d come home too late, and he didn’t want to think about how he was going to feel when and if Lex did the same. He owed his mom an apology for those nights.
“I’ll just wait for her inside,” his mom said as she headed for the porch. “I don’t want her to feel funny about coming late.”
Neither did he, but he’d love to know why the queen of punctuality was late. He busied himself double-checking his tools, making certain he had everything, even though he knew he did, until Trenna pulled to a stop on the far side of his truck. She got out of her car, and then stopped as if to catch her breath.
“It’s been a morning,” she said over the bed of the truck.
“Flat tire?”
“Yes.” She reached into the car for a tote bag. “I hope I didn’t worry Audrey,” she said after closing the door. “I lost my phone last night, so I couldn’t call.”
“No landline?”
“Why would I have a landline?”
She tried to brush by him, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Trenn…”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” He hesitated before saying, “It’s none of my business, but…you’re not. How did you lose your phone?” Did it have something to do with the date that Lex had mentioned?
“We can talk later.”
The words were an obvious stall, and he should have accepted them, but he didn’t.
“Are you brushing me off, or will we actually talk?”
“Does it matter?”
