“I’m surprised it’s not frozen yet.”
“Not until the temperature drops further. It’s not that cold.”
Turning, I glared at the man. “My fingers are frozen.”
He shrugged, glancing away from me. “It’s not cold around here until the ground is frozen solid and your cheeks turn red the second you step out of the house.”
That was a ridiculous statement, but I didn’t argue. He’d been here long enough to know when Montana was at its worst. When I’d first thought about moving out here, closer to Blake, I had asked some people I knew how long summer lasted and if the winters were bad. The old man had told me summer lasted a lot longer than expected, sometimes into winter, and that winter was tepid.
Of course, he lived closer to Yellowstone.
And he’d lived in Montana for thirty years. Maybe they considered sixty degrees to be summer.
“Ready to head back?”
I really wasn’t. The thought of getting back on that horse, or having my legs stretched that way, wasn’t at all tempting. Mostly, I was worried about the safety of my balls.
But there wasn’t going to be a better time.
“Yeah, let’s do this.
5
CASSIDY
“Here,”Alyssa said, sliding a margarita in front of me.
I stared at the glass, tempted to drink it, but I just wasn’t much for alcohol. Unlike everyone else in this town, I didn’t enjoy coming out to The Beaver and Boot every weekend for a good time. Instead, I sat curled up in my comfy chair, pretending it was a reading nook, and dug into the latest novel.
But when in Rome.
I took a sip, surprised that I actually liked it, though it would not become a regular thing for me.
“I can’t believe you don’t come here,” she said, looking around the raucous bar.
For a small town, it was awfully lively.
“I’m more of a homebody!” I shouted as the karaoke machine started up and Cheyenne, her roommate, took the stage, belting out a Randy Travis song.
“You’re missing out!” she laughed. “This place is great.”
It was odd that Alyssa fit into this small town better than I did. Half the people in here were classmates of mine from school, and yet, I hardly spoke with them because my nose was always shoved in a book.
“Hey!” she called out, waving to Bailey, who was over at a table with Blake, her sister-in-law. “Come on. Let’s go say hi.”
She grabbed my hand, barely giving me time to grab my drink, before she was tugging me across the bar toward her desired table.
“Hey! I see Cheyenne is making her singing debut of the night,” Alyssa laughed with Bailey.
“I told her not to do it, but she’s trying to seduce Archer.”
I glanced at the brooding man in the corner, whose eyes were on anyone but the woman on stage. At least, that’s the way he wanted it to appear.
“It doesn’t seem to be working,” Alyssa laughed. “Someone should tell her that.”
“Trust me. We have,” Bailey retorted. “I haven’t seen you out in a long time.”
“Yeah, well…” I had no good excuse other than I hated being out at the bar when I could be enjoying a blanket and a book. So, I switched gears and turned the conversation on her.
