Page 8 of Still A Cowboy
“My grandmother put a curse on them. Well, a couple of them actually.” Willa shook her head, the edges of her mouth twitching with something that wasn’t quite a smile. “It’s nothing. Just nonsense. One of those things grandmothers say when they’re angry and old enough to get away with it.”
His gaze didn’t budge. “What kind of curse?Or rather curses?”
She stared at the scuffed floorboards for a second, then met his eyes. “She said if Brent stepped foot in the Seaglass again, that his most delicate places would always itch where he could never scratch in polite company.”
Cal winced. “Ouch. And the other curse?”
Now, she was the one who paused. “That Eden’s true love would always fall for me instead. A sort of karma biting her in the ass thing.”
Cal studied her, blue eyes still steady, still quiet. “That’s it?” he finally asked. “That the curse?”
Willa nodded. “That’s it.”
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t tell her it was ridiculous. He just looked at her as if he was turning something over in his mind.
And somehow, that was worse.
Cal finally spoke, his voice easy. “So let me get this straight. We’ve got a soulmate legend and a family curse.” His mouth twitched now as if he was holding back a smile. “Any other paranormal stuff I should know about? Haunted rowboats? Ghost raccoons?”
Willa felt her shoulders relax a little. He wasn’t taking it seriously. Good. She could work with that.
She pretended to think it over. “Well, Gus swears the jukebox plays Patsy Cline on its own when someone’s heart is about to break.”
Cal raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
She shrugged. “Or Gus just likes to play Patsy Cline when he’s drunk and wants attention. Hard to say.”
“That’s good to know. I’ll keep my ears open.”
Willa smiled, the smallest crack in her carefully built wall. “Yeah, you do that.”
Cal stepped away from her, still watching her, maybe filing all of this away for later. “I’ll let you get back to your coffee. Thanks for the heads-up about legends and curses.”
She lifted her mug in a lazy salute. “Good luck at the store and the diner. FYI, Abe’s just up the street has good omelets.”
“Thanks. And don’t worry, I’ll be careful. I’ll laugh off the soulmate stuff, the curse, and I’ll try not to trip over any ghost raccoons.”
That almost dragged a genuine smile out of her.
He gave her one last look, a quiet spark still hanging there like he hadn’t quite finished this conversation. Then he headed for the stairs, his steps slow, careful and steady.
Willa stayed in the hall, listening to his boots until the sound faded.
When the silence settled in, she sipped her coffee and whispered to no one, “There’s no such thing as curses and soulmates.”
But her heart didn’t seem to believe it. Nope. Not one little bit.
Chapter Three
With his belly full of a really good omelet and his rental car loaded with groceries, Cal stood on the edge of the beach and looked out at all that water. More than he’d ever seen in his life, that was for sure.
The Oregon coast was nothing like home. The water was a restless gray, the waves crashing sharp against jagged rocks and wide stretches of damp, packed sand. Driftwood lined the shore like the bones of old trees, and seagulls wheeled overhead, crying out like they had something urgent to say.
Cal slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket and muttered, “You’re not in Texas anymore.”
The words landed heavier than he expected.
The beach was nothing like the dry ranchland where he grew up, all wide skies and endless pastures. Nothing like his house in Dallas either, or the downtown office of Bennett Rodeo Promotions, the business he had built from the ground up. He barely remembered locking thedoor to that office when he walked away from it all, needing time to heal.
