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“One more try. Then we eat!” The mayor held up her smartphone, pop music blaring.
Rae, Cameron, and Bailey started the routine again and Tyler kept nodding, so I assumed they were nailing it. The danceended with a flourish. Rae’s face was flushed, and her smile glowed. Utterly radiant.
“That’s going on all the Elmer town socials. Jude, I’ll tag Beautiful Hills. Anything I post with Cami in it does so well.” The mayor tipped her reading glasses down so she could type on her phone.
“Thank you again, Amaryllis, and you too, Cami. The social media is great for the rental house business.” Jude and the mayor had always had a strong friendship based on putting Elmer first.
“Happy to help, boss man!” Cami nudged Jude with her shoulder.
“Don’t forget to tag Blue Star Winery too!” Rae popped a grape from the fruit salad between her lips.
The same lips I’d dreamed obsessively about last night. I stifled a groan.
“On it!” The mayor held up the finger she’d been poking at the phone with.
I moved behind Lara to get closer to the food. I scanned the buffet for the stack of tinfoil sheets left for anyone who needed to make their sandwich to go. And didn’t find them. My goal: eat and leave. All this was pushing buttons I didn’t know I had.
Tyler started the food line. Thank God for pre-teens who ate like prison convicts.
I took a plate and rushed the buffet, building my breakfast sandwich. The lure of the coffee pot was strong, and I made a detour to secure the caffeine that would get me through the rest of this morning.
“You ever want to put down the game controller and come ride or hang on the ranch, have your mom call me,” I told Tyler as I sat down next to him at the massive farm table. He was eleven or twelve, if I remembered right. Plenty old enough to ride.
“Call you for what?” Lara sat on my other side.
I saw a quick flash of distrust in her eyes. She and Rae must have talked. Great, more unsolicited bartender advice coming my way.
Her advice was how the incident in Austin happened. That meltdown was totally out of character for me. Before Rae, I’d never let a woman be important enough in my life that I’d get jealous. I’d let my dick lead me around without intervention from my actual brain, and it had been the worst idea ever.
“If Tyler and you want to play cowboy for a day, let me know. I’ve got horses for you both, and Major is always up for a game of fetch, especially once the worst of the summer heat passes.”
“Sure, when baseball season is over, that might be cool,” Tyler answered between bites of his food.
At the word baseball, Colton zeroed in on Tyler and they started a side conversation about the players on the Bluebonnet Bisons team. I tuned it out, numbly chewing and not letting my eyes stray from the crumbs on my plate. The mayor’s famous biscuits tasted like sawdust.
“I told you to follow the rules and not overthink it.” Lara kept her voice low. Her words made me squirm in my seat.
Thinking wasn’t my problem, it was feelings. And that is the shit I really didn’t want to talk or think about. Not with Lara when Rae sat only four seats away. I dared to look at Rae and our eyes met for a millisecond. My heart stuttered in my chest, and my fingers tingled with the remembered sensation of running my hand through her hair.
“She told you?” I asked Lara.
“Yeah, said you lost it.”
Rae wasn’t wrong. I had lost it, and I didn’t know how to get it back.
“Is she mad?”
“Disappointed. And itching to move to California that much faster.”
“You were right. I’m not going to do better than her.” Not in Elmer, not anywhere.
Lara patted my hand, her eyes fixed behind me on the sheriff as he ruffled Tyler’s hair. Her face looked a lot like mine must when I looked at Rae. What a pair she and I made. Unrequited love, table for two.
I choked down the rest of my food and chased it with a cup of coffee. I’d barely swallowed the last bite when I stood. The scrape of my chair drew everyone’s attention.
“The crew is working on the new fence from the county road to the dancehall. I’ve got to check on them. Thank you for the food, Cami, Mayor.” I nodded to the ladies.
“Hey, that was my homemade smoked sausage you were enjoying.” Colton smirked, and the table chuckled.
