Page 21 of A Cowboy's Claim
“But I wasn’t going to?—”
“It’s probably something that I’d like you to go along for. Haven’t done anything like this for a long time, and it would be good to see a friendly face in the room.”
Goddamnit. The man was either the most brilliant liar or he simply didn’t know what kind of knots he was tying her up in. “Sure, that makes sense. It starts at seven, so you can swing by and pick me up at six thirty.”
“See you then.”
As the phone clicked off, Sydney ended up staring into space, wondering what the hell had just happened.
After pullingin outside Sydney’s small house on the edge of town, Declan wiped his palms on his thighs and cursed himself for creating a nightmare of a situation.
He hadn’t felt nervous. Not until he’d lied to Sydney and said he was. Now all he could think about was how much of a fool he was about to make of himself, and wouldn’t that just endear her to him.
Still, there was no getting around it. He was here and he had made this bed. Now he had to lie in it.
The sight of her stepping onto the porch wearing one of those old pinup model dresses in a sunshiny yellow and white made up for a ton of the nerves he’d developed since putting this in motion.
She was short, but somehow her legs looked a mile long in that frilly sundress, vanishing at mid-thigh. The neckline dipped down over the curve of her breasts and her shoulders were bare, the faintest hint of tan turning her skin a light brown.
She’d put her hair up in a half bun with little bits of it hanging on either side of her face, and he could’ve stared at her for hours.
He met her at the bottom of the stairs, holding out a hand. “You clean up nice, but we already knew that.”
She laughed, and the sound brushed over him like a spring breeze. Fresh and clean and enticing. “You are a charmer.”
“Bullshit. What I am is worried I’m gonna be so tongue-tied I’ll have the women at this event running from my table screaming.”
He tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and led her toward his truck. Her fingers wiggled for a second, then she held on.
Her? Right there by his side?
Perfect.
She squeezed his arm lightly. “I spoke with the coordinator of the event. Madison, who is married to the pub owner, Ryan. I’m sure you’ve met him.”
“Asian Canadian about five foot seven? He’s a hard worker,” Declan said.
“From you, that’s a compliment of the highest level.” She levered on his hand to climb into the truck. He appreciated the flash of bare thigh as she settled into the seat, somehow not staring. “Anyway, Maddy said they’re doing this as amodifiedspeed dating event. I’ll tell you more in a minute.”
He got them on the road. Then when she didn’t start up again, he patted her on the thigh. “Modified speed dating?”
“Oh. So it turns out that dating apps are out, and speed dating and the like are making a comeback. People actually want to meet the person to know for sure that they’re not getting scammed, sent crude requests, or about to be ghosted.”
“Makes sense.” If he had any real desire to get back into the dating world, he would never have used an app. Meeting people at a bar even seemed wrong. “Still think it was better when you found someone you had things in common with and got friendly before the dating urge hit.”
Sydney eased back in her seat and twisted toward him. “Me too, but the world doesn’t make that easy right now.” She seemed thoughtful before lowering her voice. “How did you meet Sadie?”
Had he never told Sydney? Huh.
Then again, discussing his personal life in the past hadn’t really been a part of what they did together.
“She worked at the town hall as the receptionist. She also coordinated the weekly summer Farmers’ Market and Fall Fair. I was working as foreman at a local ranch, and volunteered to be the animal coordinator at the fair. We saw a lot of each other that September, and kept seeing each other after that.”
“That’s sweet,” Sydney said. She paused then laid a hand on his. “Is it okay to talk about her?”
“Of course.” Although, considering he rarely mentioned Sadie in public, it was easy to see where Sydney might’ve gotten the idea that the conversation was off-limits. He flipped his hand over and caught her fingers in his, squeezing lightly. “Sadie was a good woman who died too young. I’ll always miss her,” he admitted. “When I think about her these days, I tend to mostly focus on the good times.”
The bad days were when he had nightmares where he wasn’t able to save her.
