Sharp Shootin' Cowboy (Hot Cowboy Nights, #3)(36)

“So where’s your friend?” Krista asked.

“Her name’s Haley,” Reid snapped.

“Poor thing,” Krista remarked. “I never saw anyone puke on a Ferris wheel before.”

“She doesn’t like amusement park rides,” Reid said.

“Then why’d she come?” Krista asked.

“Because I pressured her to.” With as long as it had taken to wear her down, he should have known better. Like a dumbass, he’d pushed her too hard. Now she didn’t want to see him again.

“Why would you do that?” Krista countered.

“Because I wanted you to meet her.”

Krista’s gaze narrowed. “Then it’s serious?”

“I thought it could be.” Now I’ll never know. Haley was such a fascinating contradiction. Smart and sexy, yet shy and insecure. But brave, too. She took risks, faced her fears. She’d proven that on the ride today. If only she’d take the same risk with him.

Krista shook her head. “She doesn’t suit you at all, Reid. She’s too uptight. Takes herself way too seriously.”

“Why would you say that? You don’t know anything about her.”

“To start with,” Krista challenged, “she has no sense of humor.”

“Only because she felt like we made her the butt of the jokes,” he defended.

He never should have brought her to meet Tonya and Krista. He’d done it because he didn’t want to lose any time with her. It was a selfish, dickhead move. Now he’d lost her.

“I know you, big brother. She’s not right at all.” Krista laid a hand on his arm. “Trust me on this. Women have intuition, especially about other women. Tonya knows she screwed up, Reid. You should give her another chance.” Although engaged in conversation with Garcia, Reid noticed that Tonya slanted them curious glances.

“She’s the one who called it quits. Not me. And now I’ve moved on.”

“But—”

Reid raised a silencing hand. “While I appreciate your sisterly concern, my love life is off limits. I don’t want or need your meddling in it. I can f*ck it up perfectly well all by myself.”

*

Haley began packing her things almost as soon as she got home.

“You’re leaving already?” her grandmother asked. “I thought you were going to be home for at least another week.”

“I was,” Haley said, sniffling, “but now I’m not. I really need to go back to school. I have a lot of work to catch up on.”

“Did you and Yolanda have a nice time at the beach?”

“Yes. It was real nice,” Haley replied woodenly.

“He seems like a decent young man. Attractive too,” Grams remarked with a knowing look. “Want to tell me about it?”

“How did you know?” Haley asked.

“You don’t get to be my age without learning what heartbreak looks like. Besides, I’ve experienced it firsthand.”

“You have?”

“Yes. Your grandpa wasn’t my first love, sweetheart.”

“He wasn’t?”

“No.” She shook her head with a wistful smile. “There was one before him. His name was Brian. We were high school sweethearts.”

“What happened?”

“I waited for him to graduate college, expecting we’d marry, but he wasn’t ready to settle down. Brian was an idealist who wanted to join the Peace Corps. Kennedy was president. It was a very popular thing to do back then. He went to Africa without making me any promises. I suppose I could have gone with him, but I was a traditional girl. Like most young women in the early sixties, I’d expected to marry and make babies.”

“Do you regret not going?”

“No, sweetheart.” Grams shook her head. “I like my creature comforts too much and didn’t have any grand ideas about changing the world. He did. Our relationship had run its course. At the time I was heartsick, but in the end, I realized we didn’t suit. Later, I met your grandpa.”

“Do you ever think about Brian?”

“On occasion I do, but Bill and I have been happily married for forty-nine years. Although he wasn’t my first love, he’ll certainly be my last. I don’t think it’s the same with you and Reid as it was with me and Brian, Haley.”

“How can you say that? It’s all wrong with Reid and me. He’s all wrong.” Haley dropped her bag on the floor and threw herself into her grandmother’s arms.

“I disagree, sweetheart.” Grams stroked her hair. “Maybe you have different beliefs about things, but seems to me that you and he are more alike than you think. You are obviously both strong-minded idealists. I think maybe you even want the same things, but just have a different way of going about it.”

“I believe what I believe, Grams. I want to be with someone who respects my opinions, not someone who wants to change me. I’m not about to let myself become anyone else’s shadow.”

“A man like Reid is certainly the type who’s continually going to challenge your way of thinking. It would take a strong woman to hold her own with that kind of man.”

“But I don’t want that type of relationship, Grams. We’d only end up fighting all the time.” Maybe Grams was right, but Reid wouldn’t just change her world, he’d become her world. If she let herself fall any further, she feared she’d lose it all. She’d lose herself in Reid Everett. Perhaps it was plain cowardice on her part, but she wasn’t willing to risk everything she’d worked so hard for. She couldn’t take that chance.