AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Everly stepped around the end of a long aisle and spotted Blake sitting in a well-worn chair across the room. His feet were spaced wide, and his elbows rested on his knees. His black cowboy hat lay on the small table beside him. Blake was a big man–tall and broad shouldered, and he often inhabited a room as if he owned the place. He carried himself with a sense of purpose and belonging. Now, his posture was relaxed, but his gaze was locked on her, following her as she moved into the next aisle.
Blake’s uninhibited stare had her skin tingling. She could read the question in his eyes.
Are you okay?
Everly grinned and hugged the book she’d picked up closer to her chest as if to say “I’m fine. Books are good medicine.”
But Blake wasn’t buying it, and his questioning stare lingered.
When her cheeks began to burn, she turned and took a few steps down the aisle. How did Blake do that? It was as if he could speak into her mind then interpret her wordless response.
If she were honest, her cheeks weren’t the only thing heating. She often tried not to look at Blake too long because he was always looking back at her. He was a temptation she’d never allowed herself to give in to. Not that he was interested in her romantically, but that hadn’t stopped her wondering. If she hadn’t started dating David when she did, would her friendship with Blake have developed into something more? Blake’s looks made her feel special–seen somehow–in a way David’s hadn’t.
And before today, those thoughts would have been shut down as soon as they popped into her head. Today, she let them linger, if only to distract her from the mess waiting for her at the end of this outing.
She’d been pushing thoughts of the breakup out of her mind all afternoon, but little reminders kept sneaking up on her. The phone buzzing in her pocket was beginning to drive her crazy. She’d silenced it earlier when David kept calling and messaging.
Everly pulled the phone from her pocket and skimmed the notifications. She tucked the paperback copy ofThe Trouble with Cowboysunder her arm and opened a message from Megan.
Megan: You okay?
Everly: I’m fine. I’m at the bookstore with Blake.
Megan: Tell him I said thanks for the gift card.
Everly chuckled. Blake would never be accused of ungratefulness or selfishness. She knew he and her brother were wealthy, but she loved that they often chose to spend their money silently. She also appreciated that Blake never pressured her to “get out and network” the way David had.
Comparing David to Blake was dangerous territory, but it was almost a habit–a bad one. One she’d chided herself for every time the thoughts popped into her head.
Blake was her friend. David was her fiancé.
But not anymore. Why did that send a tingling thrill up her spine?
Another text waited from her mother.
Mom: Have you landed yet?
Everly groaned. She’d forgotten to tell her mom about everything that had happened, and the thought of rehashing it made her sick to her stomach. Her mother would be supportive and consoling, but Everly wasn’t ready to talk about the breakup yet. She wanted to at least make her way through the nonfiction section before she thought about David again.
But Everly couldn’t leave her mother worrying, so she stepped into another book-filled room to make the call. Not that anyone else could hear her. The only other people in the store were the cashier and Blake.
“Hello,” her mother answered.
“Hey. So, you’re not going to believe this, but I didn’t get on the flight today.” Best to get it over with, right?
“What? Why? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. Well, sort of fine. David and I broke up.”
Her mother gasped. “Sweetheart. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
Everly always told her mother everything, and they’d been more like best friends than mother and daughter. Her mother was her rock and the reason Everly hadn’t crumbled into a corner as a teenager or young adult. Her instinct was to step aside and give Ridge the limelight, but her mother had encouraged her and built her up daily without pressuring her to do or be something she wasn’t.
“He cheated on me. Megan told me this morning.”
“He did what? How dare he!”
Everly moved the phone half a foot from her ear while her mother shouted. It was rare for the woman to lose control of her volume like she was now.
