Page 8 of The Devil in Blue Jeans
Becky snorted with amusement. “But you’re in Timber Falls—love finds you here. You’d better watch out.”
Hilary nodded in agreement. “Didn’t you know? There’s an old legend about this place and magic in the Absaroka Mountains. The locals say that it’s the perfect recipe for love—the clean air, the energy in the mountains, and all the blue skies and water. Anyone who moves into town will find their soulmate.”
Willow leaned forward eagerly. “For real?”
“It’s an old story that locals tell,” Hilary started explaining, twirling her martini glass around with her fingers.
Charly replied quickly, her tone implying finality, “That won’t include me.”
Becky grinned while Hilary flashed their matching wedding rings as evidence of the “legend” and its power. “That’s what they all say,” said Hilary with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “But we were once like you too.”
Charly still felt the weight missing from her finger where her engagement ring used to be. She had wanted love. Ever since she was a kid with boy band posters on her wall, she’d dreamed of finding her one true love. But that dream had burned up when she’d caught Marcel with another woman. The life she’d thought she’d live with him had died that day, and now she was scrambling to build a new dream for herself.
A lump caught in her throat, and she cleared it away with a cough. “Anything else you need?” she asked, looking up at Becky and Hilary.
“I’ll have another round,” Becky replied, holding up an empty glass.
Hilary nodded in agreement. “Me too.”
“Coming right up.” Charly collected the glasses and moved down to the long mirror on the wall that stretched along the shelves filled with bottles of alcohol. At the same time, Aubrey was just coming back from delivering snacks to the cowboy booth. She said, “Look how polite they are—they all took off their hats when they sat down to eat.”
Charly hadn’t realized it, but she saw now that each cowboy’s hat was neatly lined up on the windowsill next to the booths. In the city, men often wore baseball caps in bars without taking them off.
She didn’t want to lose their vision about turning the bar into a space to celebrate female achievements and help women mend broken hearts, but she didn’t want to alienate the cowboys and the regulars who obviously had loved this place before too. “Maybe we should install some hooks or something for them to hang their hats on,” Charly suggested, thinking out loud.
Aubrey nodded. “That would be useful.”
Willow sidled up to them and said, “So, for our first ladies’ night tomorrow, I have a feeling we need something extra special to get people talking. But at this point, I don’t have any ideas beyond what we’ve already planned. Did either of you think of something? Anything that could really make an impression?”
Charly had already been considering this. She started to mix vodka and cranberry juice into two martini glasses for cosmopolitans. “I don’t have anything yet, but it might come to me later,” she said. “I’ll keep thinking about it.” She hated how slowly ideas were coming to her. Before she’d been cheated on, she was sharp and trusted her intuition. Now her judgement felt shaken.
“Same here,” Willow said as she checked her watch. “I’m going to do some research online too. Maybe I’ll find something there.”
“I need to make some apps,” Aubrey said, following behind and heading toward the kitchen.
As Charly grabbed the triple sec, she was busy pondering ways to draw in ladies from all around the area. They needed something incredible, something that would get talked about throughout town.
“Charly.”
She felt the weight of Jaxon’s gaze before turning around to greet his familiar grin—the same one she’d seen many times on Marcel’s face. That grin only belonged to a man full of confidence. She used to love a smile like this. Now she frowned at it. “Need another drink?” she asked.
He shook his head. “We’re just about to head out. But I got to thinking—how about I show you around Timber Falls and take you to all the good spots?” He settled onto a stool, planting his elbows on the bar top.
She restrained her scoff. He didn’t even bother to get to know her before trying to make his move. Becky and Hilary were right—this guy thought he was at the top of his game. “Do you always ask out women you just met?”
“Nope.” His answer was fast and decisive.
Putting her back to him, she poured triple sec into a martini glass. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t do that anymore.”
“Do what?”
“Date.”
“Ever?”
“Never again.” She put the bottle back on its shelf and added an orange peel twist to the glasses before taking them to the two ladies. Becky gave her a warning glance when she handed it over, but Charly didn’t comment.
Returning to Jaxon, she replied, “Do you want to settle up your bill?”
