Page 19 of The Hearts We've Broken
I nodded and took her hand in mine, if not for show,then for the small ounce of reassurance it gave me heading into this gathering.
“We’re here!” I announced as we walked through the front door.
If I had a camera on me, I would have immediately captured the looks on everyone’s faces.
Shock. Pure shock.
Too many seconds of awkward silence passed before Ellison finally got up, seemingly the only one to have a bit of sense not to make Juniper more uncomfortable than I was sure she felt.
“Come on in.” She waved us along before walking up to Juniper. “Dinner’s not quite ready yet, but it should be soon. I’m Ellison.”
“Juniper.”
The rest of the guys followed Ellison’s lead and stood from their spots at the dining table.
“I’m Colter. Better known as Ellison’s husband.” Colter shook her hand, and I thought his joke lightened the mood a bit, because Juniper let out a small laugh. I gave him a look of gratitude before following behind Juniper as she went down the line of cowboys.
“It’s nice to meet you, Juniper. I’m Reid.” His eyes—reflecting with what looked like uncertainty—flicked to me and back to her, but I didn’t think she noticed.
Jake introduced himself, giving her a handshake and a nod, and Hayden smiled at her while offering his name.
Once formalities were all exchanged, we sat at the table, Juniper on the end across from Hayden, Jake, and Reid. Colter was at the head while Ellison sat on my right.
It’d been a long time since we’d had one of these formal dinners. But Colter and Ellison had insisted, saying they wanted Juniper to feel comfortable instead ofthrowing her into the arena. Truthfully, I thought they didn’t want any distractions so I could be interrogated. I just hoped they went easy on her.
“So, how did you two meet?” Jake wasted no time getting to the point, the sole purpose of this meal. I stared at him with wide eyes and pursed lips, as though to send him a message of,Really? He responded with a nonchalant shrug like I should have expected this.
“I’m a bartender at Rudy’s,” Juniper answered. “We met there.”
Jake tilted his head, raising his brows in recognition. “Ah, so that’s what you were doing when you left us the other night, huh?” He couldn’t elbow me in the ribs like he normally did when he was teasing, so he just plastered on a stupid smirk.
Before I could speak, Juniper retorted, “I saw what I wanted, and I went for it. How did you all meet?”
I held back my smile as I looked down at the table. She was just like Ellison. Fiery and not afraid to dish it out. I liked it, and not just because it was nice not to be the one who that energy was being directed toward for once.
“Colter, Jake, and I all competed in college rodeo together in Goldfinch. Hayden, too, but Colter and Jake had graduated before he started school. We also met Mikey at a bar,” Reid answered.
“Ah, I just graduated from SGU with a degree in Molecular Biology.”
Heat flared in my cheeks.
Well, that’s a new development.
I hadn’t paid enough attention in the bar, or even after the fact. Juniper didn’t act like she was in college, though. She had a mature air about her that I didn’t even think to ask her how old she was. And she was clearly smart, Ididn’t need to know what she studied in college to figure that out.
The boys all exchanged subtle glances.
“Damn, I didn’t even know SGU had a degree like that.” Reid looked impressed.
“They added it my sophomore year of college, so I changed my major.” She shrugged. “Originally, I was going into chemical engineering, but I’m interested in biotechnology so the switch made sense.”
For a minute, the room fell silent, but then Colter was the one brave enough to cautiously ask, “How old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
One of the guys coughed like they were choking down laughs, and I sighed. Did that really matter?
“What brought you here? Especially with that degree, I’m surprised you decided to come to a small town in Montana.” Ellison changed the subject, seemingly sensing the uncertainty in the room. “Not that you can’t do that kind of stuff here, but a bigger city with greater resources makes more sense.”
