A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek #2)(48)

“I know.” Jo Ellen sighed sympathetically. “She sounded lonely too. We shouldn’t have left her so soon. We should’ve stayed and talked just a little while longer.”

“Are you crazy? Since Brand was born, I’ve been an emotional time bomb. I can’t cry now. Once I start, I won’t stop. And another minute in that woman’s company would turn me into a perpetual fountain.”

“Okay, fine.” Jo Ellen gave in. But she glanced back to wave when she saw Loren in the doorway, watching them from dejected eyes.

“Dear Lord.” Emma Leigh fanned at her face, already forgetting Cooper’s mother. “Is it ever hot out here or what?”

“I told you to borrow one of my thin shirts,” Jo Ellen argued, growing more tense the closer they moved to the men who’d parked Cooper’s tractor by the barn.

“Uh, hello. If you haven’t noticed, we no longer wear the same shirt size.”

When Emma Leigh splayed a hand over her chest, Jo Ellen groaned. “Yeah, you do look like the porn star version of me now that you’re breastfeeding, don’t you?”

Emma laughed. “Branson doesn’t seem to mind.”

With a snort, Jo Ellen rolled her eyes. “I should think not.”

As if hearing his name, Bran glanced their way. Emma Leigh waved and stuck out her huge boobs. Her husband grinned and his gaze grew heavy, making Jo Ellen feel like a voyeur for watching the two simply look at each other.

“Pervert,” Emma Leigh whispered the word lovingly as if she was mouthing them for her husband’s eyes alone.

Branson’s grin only widened. He said something to Cooper and both men laughed as they focused on the ladies’ approach.

Emma Leigh bumped her elbow into Jo Ellen’s. “Don’t you love it when you know two handsome men are checking us out?”

“Em, I’m only pushing a C cup over here. Trust me, it’s not me they’re ogling right now. It’s all you.” But as she glanced at the men again, she found Cooper’s stare nowhere near her sister.

Emma chuckled knowingly. “You were saying?”

Jo Ellen couldn’t seem to drop her gaze from him, her body stirring with more tense energy. This was exactly why she needed to stay away from him. His effect on her was too powerful. He could hurt her so easily, in so many different ways.

“Ready to fish?” Branson called.

“As long as you bait your own hook like you promised,” Emma Leigh sassed back.

Turned out, Bran couldn’t bait his own hook. When his wife wasn’t looking, Cooper slid the live worm in place for him. Jo Ellen grinned and shook her head when the Reno city boy gagged but thanked his new guy pal with a conspiring wink when Cooper handed him his pole.

“I think we’ll start over there across the lake,” Emma Leigh decided as she returned from scouting the area. “You two okay here?”

Jo Ellen gulped, wanting to kick her sister when she saw the mischievous, matchmaking glitter in Emma’s eyes. But from somewhere behind her, Cooper innocently answered, “Yep. We’re fine.”

Well.

If he was fine, then she could be fine. She nodded and waved her sister off. Focusing her attention on her task, she baited her hook, brushed the excess dirt and slime off her fingers onto her shorts and found a nice spot from which to cast her line. After deciding this was as good a place as any, she settled herself on a patch of ground littered with clumps of drying grass dotting the rocky, clay banks of the lake.

She ignored Cooper, though she heard him fiddling around behind her slightly to her right. Then he grew silent. When she couldn’t stand it a second longer, she peeked over her shoulder to find him about twenty feet away, his legs stretched out in front of him as he rested back on his elbows and watched his bobber lazily float through the water. He’d tipped his cowboy hat so low the rim shaded his face from the setting sun.

Her attention shifted to his long legs. This was the third time in the past twenty-four hours she’d seen him sprawl them out like so. The man obviously enjoyed his space, probably detested tight, cramped places, and crowded hordes, like a big city. He’d hate living in Dallas. No matter where you turned, someone was always there.

He could never comfortably squeeze into the life she led, even if she could open herself to him long enough to give him the chance to try, which she couldn’t.

A sad sigh later, she returned her gaze to her own bobber and wiped at the perspiration on her brow. The hopelessness of the situation depressed her. Swallowing, she realized how dry her throat had grown.

“Is there anything to drink in that cooler you brought?” she asked before she could stop herself.

Cooper tilted his chin up so his light brown eyes could meet her gaze from under the brim of his hat. “I’ve got some beer. You can help yourself to it.”

“Beer?” She glanced toward the cooler where the live bait was also being stored in a small Styrofoam container and winkled her nose.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he harrumphed. “But I’m fresh out of white wine and spritzer.”

At the acid in his tone, Jo Ellen glared, upset he’d totally misread her hesitation. She lifted her chin and sniffed. “Actually, I was thinking water sounded good.”

“Well, I don’t have any of that either,” he muttered, snapping his attention from her to scowl at his bobber.