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His stomach churned. A stranger in her barn was probably not what she’d expected to find on a Saturday morning. He was lucky she didn’t pull a shotgun off the wall and shoot him with it. Adam cleared his throat and took a step toward her. The worst that could happen was that she would run screaming to the house and attract all kinds of unwanted attention. As soon as he got close enough to confirm this was not indeed Faye, he waved his hand and called out to her.
“I’m here to see Faye. Is she around?”
The woman placed her hands on her hips and then leaned backward far enough that he could only imagine her looking toward the house. She muttered something under her breath and shook her head. “Yeah. She’s here. I’ll go get her for you.”
“Thanks… um…”
“It’s Bri.” She strode away, and he could have sworn he heard her mutter something about Faye deserving what was coming to her.
Adam hovered in the doorway to the barn. Now that Faye was being fetched, he didn’t feel like he needed to leave necessarily, but he wasn’t sure how she’d respond to him coming when they didn’t clear a meeting.
What was he thinking? He wasn’t usually this on edge. They had an arrangement. He shouldn’t feel awkward for coming when this was the plan all along. He just needed to stop reading too much into what had happened yesterday.
As his thoughts drifted in that direction, Adam couldn’t help but compare his evening with Dahlia to his evening with Faye the week before. They were so vastly different from one another, except for one major similarity. They were both headstrong women who knew what they wanted and how to get it when it came down to it.
He just hadn’t expected to find that Dahlia wantedhim. Bumping into her as he had arrived at the country club had been a strange coincidence but not as odd as bumping into Faye. After she’d left, he’d spent the majority of the evening with Dahlia. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant way to spend his Friday night. Except he couldn’t seem to stop his thoughts from shifting to Faye. He was distracted, and it wasn’t just because she left with that cowboy.
Or maybe it was.
“I’m so sorry.”
He jumped, forcing himself to focus on Faye. She was actively pulling her hair into a ponytail. It almost looked like she had just woken up. But that couldn’t be right. Cowboys were supposed to get up with the sun—or earlier.
“You okay?”
Her eyes darted to meet his before she looked down and crouched to adjust her pant leg in her boot. “Yeah. Why?”
“You just… I’ve never known you to be late.”
Once more she glanced at him but only briefly. “Yeah, well, I had a late night.”
“With that guy?”
Her hands stilled. Actually, her whole body seemed to freeze. His assumptions were correct. She was with that guy for who knows how late? A sharp pain ripped through his chest, settling with a thud in his stomach. It felt like he’d been hit by a heavy rock that had somehow caught on fire before it made contact. She got to her feet and nodded toward the barn.
“We should get started so we can head out to the pastures. I’m going to see if I can teach you how to rope a calf.”
Adam’s jaw tightened. Why wasn’t she answering the question? He turned on his heel, following her into the barn. The question still burned in his mind, but he knew he couldn’t ask again. He couldn’t even inquire about the guy’s name without sounding jealous. “It was weird seeing you at the club last night.”
No answer.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you there before. Was that your first time?”
She shot him a disgruntled look. “Are you inferring that I don’t get out much?”
“Do you?”
Faye snorted. “That is no business of yours.”
“Really? That’s how you’re going to play this?”
“I’m not playing anything. I just don’t want to talk about personal stuff.”
As if guided by a force that was not his own, he reached out and grasped her upper arm. “Wait a doggone minute. I thought we’d decided it was okay for us to be friends. You’re helping me, and I’m helping you.”
Her expression softened. “You’re right.”
Adam dropped his hand. “Heck yeah, I’m right. Let’s have a conversation that doesn’t feel like I’m trying to pull your teeth.”
