One Texas Cowboy Too Many (Burnt Boot, Texas #3)(73)

The guest room that was to be hers was only about half the size of her bedroom at the ranch, but it had a good-sized closet. Her heart was as empty as the closet right then, waiting for something to happen in her life that would prove to her that she’d made the right decision. She heard her phone ringing in her purse, rushed to the living room, and fished it out, hoping that it was Rhett.

Before she could answer, it vibrated in her hands letting her know someone had sent a text message. Honey was asking her where in the hell she was. They were at church, and it was starting in ten minutes. She was already in hot water with Granny, so she’d best get her ass in gear.

She sighed on her way out the door and was only five minutes late when she slid into the pew beside Honey.

“You are late,” Honey whispered.

“Yes, I am, and I didn’t go to Sunday school, but I made arrangements, so don’t fuss at me.”

“You still hell-bent on leaving River Bend?”

Leah nodded.

“Shhh.” Quaid tapped her on the shoulder from the pew right behind them.

The song ended and the preacher took the podium. Leah glanced over to the other side of the church and met Betsy’s gaze. Betsy’s smile was smug. Movement on another pew farther back grabbed her attention, and Tanner blew a kiss from the tips of his finger across the church toward her.

The preacher’s voice droned on for what felt like hours and hours instead of the usual thirty minutes. She kept her eyes glued ahead and wished the next two days were already over. The preacher made reference to a verse that talked about honoring your mother and father, and that set her mind on another loop, one that involved her mother, Eden. Now that she was divorcing River Bend, should she try to approach her again, or leave it alone and not reopen old wounds?

One thing at a time, she thought. Get the tailgate picnic over with. Then call Rhett. Go home and pack. Sleep in the house you were born in one more night. Go to school. Move into Polly’s house. Settle in, and then think about calling Eden.

That’s the way it lined up, and the first thing on the list had to do with Tanner Gallagher, something that she dreaded worse than anything else on the list. She carefully snuck her phone out of her purse and sent Rhett a text message, asking him to call her as soon as he got home from dinner at Wild Horse with Betsy.

He sent one right back that said he would, then leaned back across the pews and smiled at her. She tucked her phone away and tried to pay attention to the end of the sermon, but it was useless. Finally, she played out a dozen scenarios about how she would handle Tanner when they were alone. The second that the last amen was said after the benediction, Betsy latched on to Rhett’s arm and pulled him toward the door.

Leah stepped out into the aisle, and Tanner quickly crossed over to the Brennan side of the church, laced his fingers in hers, and squeezed. She pulled her hand free, so he slung an arm around her shoulders and escorted her outside into the hot, broiling August sun.

What was she thinking when she’d planned a tailgate picnic? Even parked under the only shade tree in the parking lot, the metal pickup bed would be hot. A nice, public restaurant would have been a much better choice. After all, it did not have to be a secret. The whole damn town knew she was having dinner with Tanner Gallagher.

“Where to, darlin’?” he asked.

She stopped beside her bright red truck. “It’s a tailgate picnic right here.”

“Too hot for that kind of thing, Leah. Let me take you out to dinner in a nice restaurant,” Tanner said.

“Rules say that I have to produce dinner, so this is it. Now if you can’t take the heat, then it’s your prerogative to forfeit the dinner and then the whole Sadie Hawkins race will be done and finished,” she said.

“No, ma’am, but I would like to go somewhere a little cooler.”

“Right here,” she said.

“Okay then, if that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is.” He grinned. He put the tailgate down and sat down on it. His boots came off first and then his socks.

She could feel her eyes trying to pop right out of her head. “What are you doing?”

“It’s hot. I came dressed for church, not dinner in the broiling-hot sun. If it’s going to be right here, then I’m shucking out of half of these clothes,” he said. “You are free to do the same if you’d like.”

The noise of engines starting, trucks, cars, and vans all leaving the lot, muffled the sound of a truck when it came to a stop right beside Leah’s. Betsy rolled down the window and yelled, “Good grief, Tanner, you are still on church grounds. Don’t take it all off.”

The next truck to pull out of the lot left behind a long, sexy wolf whistle, and she turned back around to see Tanner swinging his long legs off the edge of the tailgate, waving at everyone like he was the newest model for romance novels. His jean legs were rolled up to below his knees, and his unsnapped shirt flapped in the hot wind, showing a bare chest and ripped abs.

Leah might be moving away from River Bend, but that didn’t mean she was befriending the Gallaghers. Someday, she intended to yank every single red hair out of Betsy’s scalp, a handful at a time, for today, if for no other reason. Leah’s hands knotted into fists thinking about the joy of that fight.

“Ahh, a picnic basket and a cooler. Does that mean we have cold beers?” Tanner asked.