Pick Me Up

It was a harmless white lie, and he saw the relief on Lauren’s face. Pete smiled, holding his hand out, and Brett held his breath that his brother wouldn’t make any comments about the wedding.

“Nice to meet you, Lauren. Glad my brother convinced you to give the ranch a try.”

“Thanks. It sounds like it will be…different.”

“From your accent I’d say you come from New England, am I right?

“Connecticut—how could you tell?”

“I went to college out there. Beautiful state.”

“Thanks. I’m enjoying Arizona as well.”

Brett remained silent through the exchange, though perked up a bit on her response—was that slight bit of huskiness in her tone for him, or was she flirting with Pete?

Surprised to find himself on the hair-trigger end of jealousy, he looked at Lauren and his brother, finding nothing but polite interactions between them. He was obviously going nuts—being jilted had affected him more deeply than he’d thought. Pete finally shook him out of it.

“So, we getting moving, or are we standing here all day?”

“Let’s go. I’ll drive with Lauren, if we want to get home anytime today.”

Pete looked at them curiously, and Lauren filled in the blanks.

“I’m afraid of heights. Makes it hard to drive these roads.”

“You get used to them. I’ll see you back at the ranch—you go ahead, I’ll be slower with the trailer.”

“Will do.”

Lauren walked back to the car, sliding into the driver’s seat, and Brett hung back for a moment, following Pete to his side of the truck.

“Listen, bud, do me a favor.”

“Another one?”

“I don’t want Lauren knowing what happened yesterday.”

Manly understanding crossed Pete’s face within moments, and Brett wasn’t sure if he’d cooperate or not.

“I see. It’s like that, is it? She’s your payback? She seems too nice.”

Brett clenched his jaw. “It’s not like that. I just like her, is all. She seems nice, so I invited her back, and it’s…uncomplicated. I want to keep it that way. She’ll probably take off in a few days or a week, and there’s no need to drag her into all of this.”