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I rolled my eyes. “I guess I’d better grab a coffee and some snacks now. It looks like I’ll be holed up here all night.”
She nodded. “That’s a good idea. Have a good night, Sheriff.”
I grumped at her formalities, and she chuckled.
“You too, Con.”
After saying hello to Paul Johnson and grabbing another large coffee and some snacks, I stopped off in the bathroom before I made my way back to my office. I shut the door and took my mystery novel to the couch with me. Grabbing the blanket off the back, I settled in for a long, boring night.
My cell phone rang, and I frowned. All of my friends were busy with their spouses and kids, so it likely wasn’t them. The only other person who would call this late was my mom, and I had no interest in speaking with her.
I grabbed the phone as it was about to go to voice mail and stared at the screen. It was a number I didn’t recognize, and I decided to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Sid?” It sounded like Kat.
“Kat?”
“Yes. Sorry. I should have led with that since you probably don’t have my number.” She giggled, and I rolled my eyes.
“How did you get mine?” I asked.
“Oh, um, Sarah gave it to me.”
I grunted.
“So, I was calling to say that I thought about your offer.”
My stomach tensed. Why had I offered to go to the gala with her? Neither of us wanted to go, and unlike Kat, I could tell my mom no. There was no reason for me to go anyway. I never donated money, and the only reason my mom wanted me to go was to find a wife.
When I didn’t say anything, Kat continued. “I think it’s a good idea if we go together. I’m just not sure how we’d pull it off. My sister will be there, and she knows we’re not together. In fact, everyone in town knows it. How believable will it be that we’re suddenly dating?”
My head spun. She talked so fast and about shit I hadn’t even thought about since it was only for one night and not anywhere near town. What did it matter what the people in town thought? It wasn’t like we were going to continue this charade past the night of the gala.
“It will be fine. If you want to tell your sister it’s fake, that’s fine. We only need to convince our parents.”
She snorted. “If I tell my sister it’s fake, she’ll tell my parents. I need to her to believe that we’ve been seeing each other.”
“We’ll figure something out. I gotta go, though. I’m at work.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry I bothered you,” she said.
“No bother. I’ll talk to you soon, and we can work out the details.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
I nodded and then realized Kat couldn’t see me. “Sure.”
We hung up, and I put my head in my hands. What the hell was I doing?
ORION GRACEFULLY CLEARED THE last jump, and I steered him around the arena, slowly bringing him to a stop near the fence. I hopped off and led us out of the jumping arena and into the small roping arena beside it. I taught the roping classes and thought it would be easiest to have the kids practice swinging the rope around and trying to rope a post.
Frank and I had set up a course that the kids would do on foot first and eventually work their way up to roping while on a horse. If things went well, I’d eventually teach advanced roping.
I practiced with the rope a few times while Orion grazed, then I grabbed his reins and turned toward the barn. The sound of feet shuffling through the grass had me freezing in my tracks. I looked over my shoulder and saw Kat approaching. She was wearing a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a sweater that hung off one shoulder, exposing her creamy skin to the cool air. Her blond hair was down around her shoulders in curls. She looked stunning.
I frowned. Where had that come from? I’d never thought of her that way before. When she stopped near the fence, I averted my gaze and stared at the ground. Her boots were a little too nice for the farm but complemented her outfit.
