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“I didn’t do anything!” he snapped again. “I didn’t tell her I liked her. I didn’t kiss her. I didn’t?—”
“You might as well have!” She marched closer. “Whether you like it or not, you did something, and now she can’t get you out of her mind.”
“Is that what she told you?” His voice was quieter, and he could hear the hopefulness shining through. As much as he hated that he was confessing everything to Brianne, he couldn’t deny how this information pleased him.
“Of course not!”
That caught him off guard and he stiffened. “What?”
“She didn’t have to,” Brianne continued. “She called me after I left and told me to set her up with someone else.”
Disappointment washed over him like a tidal wave, taking with it his stomach and lungs. He was being swept up in a storm and he was drowning. “She did?”
“I can only assume you did something after I left. At first, I thought that you’d kissed her… or that she kissed you and you turned her down. But then I realized that she would have told me if that had happened. But I knew something weird was going on between you. I just had to see the look on your face to confirm it.”
“Well, you can rest assured that nothing will happen between us.” Saying the words out loud made him feel sick to his stomach. “Is that what you came here to do? To make demands and ensure that Katrina and I will never become a thing?”
Still, her hands were on her hips. Her hard stare remained fixed on him, pinning him in place. Then, slowly, she shook her head and her hands dropped to her sides. “No.”
“Then what do you want from me? I didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve been fighting these feelings for the last several weeks. You should be thanking me for staying out of it.”
She huffed.
“What do you want?” he demanded again.
“I don’t know. But she’s upset and you made me a promise when she got back that we would get her back on track. What happened to that plan? Huh? She was doing so great…” Her eyes shifted to the side, staring at nothing. “She… really was,” Brianne murmured quietly. Then her gaze flitted back to meet his. “She was doing better because of you.”
“I wasn’t doing anything. I just let her help out with my farm.”
Brianne moved closer still. “No, she was spending time with you. I was telling the truth when I said she couldn’t stop thinking about you. It’s all coming together. Katrina likes you, too.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he hedged. “Like you said, it’s against the friend code. We can’t?—”
She sliced her hand through the air, waving him off. “That was when we were in high school. Who cares what happens now? For the last several years, she wasn’t even living in Montana. What if all she needs is somewhere to feel like home again?” Brianne was rambling more to herself than to him and he knew it. She wanted Katrina to stay just as much as he did.
Her eyes shot to meet his and she smiled widely.
Simon shook his head. “I know that look. You’re planning something.”
“And you’re going to be on board the second you hear what I have to say.”
He held up both hands and let out a worried chuckle. “I don’t want to play any games.”
“It’s not a game, Simon.” She rubbed her hands together. “She wants to date someone who gives her that spark. And that’s you.”
“You don’t know that,” he argued. “She hasn’t said a single thing to make me believe she’s interested.”
“So? Maybe she’s waiting for you to do that.” She hopped up on the balls of her feet. “You’re going on a date with her!”
“What? No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You’re going to tell her you have feelings for her and you’re going to see if she feels the same way.”
He gaped at her. This plan was a very bad idea. Brianne could be wrong. Then he’d be putting his heart out there and Katrina could turn him down, leaving him broken and alone.
“That’s a bad idea.”
She gave his shoulder a little shove. “Of course it is. But you started it. And if you don’t tell her, I will.”
