The Groom, I Presume?

She searched frantically for something casual to say. “I’m a little surprised that you’re content to stay in a large city after spending so many years living here on a ranch.”

“That was more my mother’s choice. She never liked living in the city.”

She tapped his large, silver belt buckle. “You still dress like a country boy, what with that hat, fancy buckle and boots. What is it they say? ‘You can take the boy out of the country, but…’”

“I suppose I’ll always be a country boy at heart, but I don’t think I could ever make ranching my life. I need a challenge that I can come to grips with… not worrying over the price of beef and the uncertainties of the weather.” He motioned for her to get into the car.

She paused, and waved to the two women who were watching them from comfortably reclined lawn chairs.

“Megan, if Travis comes looking for me, tell him I’ll be back in a little while.” With a wink toward him, she added, “Chris is going to take me for a ride in his fancy little car.”

“Are you going to take that from her?” Megan asked without moving. “She doesn’t deserve such courtesy if she’s going to make fun of your trusty steed.”

Chris walked around the car, saying, “The woman has no taste. We all know that, now, don’t we?”

They pulled away amid the laughter of the three women. Ever curious, Maribeth scrutinized the dash, peeked behind the seats at the area that was little more than a shelf, then settled back into the luxurious leather seats with a sigh.

“I should have been watching you closer. How in the world did you manage to get into this thing? With a shoehorn?”

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” He pointed to the floor. “At least there’s plenty of legroom once you’re inside.”

She just shook her head. “It’ll never take the place of a full-size pickup truck.” She glanced around her once again. “Why, you could barely haul anything in this dinky li’l ol’ thing.”

Chris tried to stifle his laugh, then gave up, allowing the laughter to ease the tension he was feeling. “Maribeth, you are definitely one of a kind.”

She looked at him in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that. You’re definitely unique.”

“Is there anything wrong with that?”

“Not at all. There are times when I find myself envying your attitude toward life. You’re content with what you have. I’ve never known you to yearn for something someone else has.”

She grinned. “That’s because I already have everything I want.”

After a pause, he said in a more sober voice. “Everything?”

She glanced at him in surprise. “What more could I possibly want? I have my family, and in three days I’m marrying the man I’ve loved most of my life. As the old saying goes—’who could ask for anything more?’ “

“I know you must have had a tough adjustment, coming back to Agua Verde while Bobby took off to follow his dream. That took a lot of courage for you, not objecting to his plans when you expected to get married as soon as we graduated.”

“I was really naive back then, wasn’t I? Just because I was ready to get married didn’t mean that Bobby felt the same way. I guess that’s the biggest difference between men and women. Men want to take longer to find themselves or whatever.” She looked out the window, then back at Chris. “I probably wouldn’t admit this to another soul, but when Bobby first left, I thought I would die from missing him, missing all the fun times the three of us used to have together.”

“I know what you mean. It felt really strange to live in Dallas year-round.”

She looked at him, surprised. “You missed us? I find that hard to imagine. You always seemed to be content with your own company… sort of a loner, you know?”

“Yeah. I know.”

They rode along in silence for a while before Maribeth began to speak, her voice very soft. “For those first few months after he left, I would lie in bed at night, thinking about him being so far away. Wondering if he missed me as much as I missed him. Then I thought about how it would have been if we had gotten married, and he’d gone on the road afterward. Finally I consoled myself with the fact that at least we’d never been—” She paused and cleared her throat. “Uh, we’d never had—been intimate.” Talking faster, she said, “I think that would have made it so much worse, knowing what I was missing while he was away. It was bad enough just imagining what it might have been like to…” After a longer pause, she muttered, “Oh, you know what I’m trying to say.”

Chris turned off the highway they’d been on and followed a little-used road until it ended at the top of bluffs overlooking one of the rivers in the county.

“Why don’t we get out here and enjoy the view while we talk, okay?” He reached behind his seat and grabbed a blanket.

“Sure. Why not?” Maribeth hopped out of the car and looked around. “I haven’t been here in years. We used to come here when we were kids, remember?”

“Oh, yes. I remember everything we ever did together.”

He spread the blanket on the ground and they sat side by side, looking across the Texas hills to the horizon.

Chris waited to see if Maribeth was going to say anything more. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat, then gruffly said, “I know it’s none of my business, but I’d just assumed that you and Bobby had already been intimate. I mean, neither one of you has ever dated anyone else, through high school or college. I just figured that kind of commitment was because—Well, you know what I’m saying. I guess that’s why I’ve been so surprised that he could stay on the road for so long, all the time knowing that you were here, waiting for him.”

He gave her a quick, sideways glance in time to see her face turn as rosy as her hair.

“Um, well, I guess lots of people have assumed that.” She turned so that she was facing him. “I’m not sure that anybody else but you could possibly understand this, Chris—” she began, then stopped.

Chris swallowed. Well, hell. He’d brought up the subject, hadn’t he? And it looked as though she was going to unburden herself. He just wasn’t certain he was ready to hear all that she was going to say.

He was still reeling from the sudden knowledge that she had never made love to his childhood buddy. That news went a long way toward helping him forgive Bobby for his thoughtless behavior.

She leaned back on her elbows, still looking off into the distance. “You remember how it was when we were growing up. Bobby and I never really paired off. We were always with the group, or at least with you.”

Chris thought about that before drawling, “You never seemed to mind.”

Her eyes quickly met his and she shifted, as though slightly restless. “Oh, I wasn’t trying to imply that you were in the way. It was just the way things were for us. You remember.”

He nodded, allowing himself to relax a little.

“It seems strange talking to anyone about it. I mean, really, there’s nobody that I could have talked to about it, even back then. Maybe there was something a little weird about us. I know of other couples in high school who were quite open about their relationships, and there were several. But Bobby and me—I don’t know. We just didn’t fool around. Of course we did our share of parking and necking, but for me at least, I was a little afraid of the whole idea of it. I mean, who could I talk to about it, anyway? Can you imagine what Megan would have said or done if I’d asked her any questions about it? Besides, Travis and Deke would have used Bobby for coyote bait if they’d thought he was fooling around with me when we were in school! Just the thought of accidentally getting pregnant would freeze my blood. There was no way I could have faced Megan with that kind of news.”

She gave him a quick glance from beneath her lashes and chuckled. “I guess I was lucky that Bobby never really pushed the limits I set. I’m not sure why, exactly. We never really talked about it.” She sat cross-legged, her elbows resting on her knees.

“Looking back to that time, what I remember was how much fun we had together, the whole group of us. Remember how it was? We were always going places, doing things, having fun with the gang.” She seemed to be thinking out loud, as she said, “Growing up the way we did on a ranch, it wasn’t as if we didn’t know what’s supposed to happen and all, but still—Knowing about it isn’t the same as actually doing it, is it?”

Her face glowed with embarrassment but she kept her gaze steady as she faced him.

“I think you were very wise, myself,” he said with a great deal of sincerity.

Maribeth felt a wave of an unidentified emotion sweep over her at his words, as though she’d been seeking his approval, which was ridiculous. What was the matter with her today, anyway? Although Chris had been a part of her life for years, she’d never been so open with him before. Hoping to turn the tables, she suddenly demanded, “What about you?”

“Me!” He almost strangled spitting the word out. “What about me?”

Good. She’d managed to get past his guard that time. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. If I’m going to be confessing all about my nonexistent sex life on the eve of my wedding, I figure you owe me a tale or two in return, just so I won’t feel alone.”

He eyed her warily. “Such as?”

“Such as filling me in on some of your activities while we were at A & M. I remember you dated several classmates during that time.”