Her Cowboy Reunion

After the shot—perfectly executed—he realized Chip was back to staring at him.

“You know,” Chip said, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “Sometimes the Circle K guys play softball. How about if you—”

“Not interested.” Mike shook his head.

“Why not? Those guys are all young, probably about my age. They wouldn’t know about you playing baseball back in the day.”

Mike couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t imply I’m old if you want a favor.”

“So, you are thinking about it?”

“Softball isn’t even the same—” Mike saw the blonde walk up to the jukebox and completely forgot what he was going to say.

* * *

SAVANNAH SCANNED THE long list of songs. She hadn’t heard of most of them, but then she’d always been horrible at remembering titles. Or even knowing what they were in the first place. And frankly, she didn’t have time to listen to music. Work managed to eat up most of the hours in her day. During her commute to and from the office, she generally listened to self-help CDs. After all, no matter how much she loved her life and career, there was always room for improvement.

“Hey.”

Startled by Nina’s voice practically in her ear, Savannah turned on her with a glare. “What are you doing? We can’t suddenly be best friends.”

Nina gave her a funny look. “Jesus, you’ve been riding a desk too long. You really need to chill.”

Savannah supposed she might be letting paranoia mess with her head and then, worse, overreacting. “What is it?”

“That cowboy from earlier... I think the bartender called him Mike? He was asking her about you.”

Savannah’s heart nearly exploded. “Asking about what?”

“He wanted to know if she’d seen you before. Said he thought you looked familiar.”

Savannah leaned on the jukebox for support. This was bad. So, so bad.

“Obviously it was just a line,” Nina said, glancing over the song selection. “Oh, and he’s hot and I hate you.”

“Duly noted.” Somehow, Savannah managed to stay calm. “Why don’t you go after him?”

“I tried. He wasn’t interested.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I didn’t want to say anything in front of Ron. But if I were you, I’d totally ditch his ass and go for the cowboy.”

They both laughed, and Savannah relaxed. Maybe Nina was right and it was just a line. The possibility that he could actually be attracted to her sent a little shiver down her spine.

But wait...he wouldn’t need to use a line with the bartender. Savannah circled back to worrying. Still, how could he remember a girl he’d never really known or had ever seen more than a dozen times from afar? Fourteen years ago?

Nina pointed to something on the jukebox. Savannah squinted to see what it was then realized Nina was covering up the fact that they’d lingered too long and for no apparent reason. No one was paying them any attention, but she’d get the third degree from Ron.

“I’d better scoot,” Nina whispered. Then in a louder voice as she backed away she said, “Thanks for letting me cut in with my song.”

“No problem.” Savannah shot a quick look in Ron’s direction before returning to the song list. He was still answering texts.

She’d chosen several songs, but she couldn’t for the life of her recall what they were. What she really wanted to do was check out the back room, but she knew she’d better wait until Mike left.

It was a tough call. Should she get it over with, see if he remembered her? Or try to avoid him? She wondered how often he came into town. All she really had to do was stay away from the two bars. Maybe the diner and steak house, too. And probably the Food Mart and variety store just to be safe. Definitely the hardware store but that one was easy.

Oh, hell. The town wasn’t all that big. Twenty-three hundred people in the whole county, most of them spread out on ranches and farms.

Should she or shouldn’t she?

Since she couldn’t decide, she figured the smart thing would be to leave. Ron had had one foot out the door from the minute they’d arrived. If she pleaded a headache and went to her room, he just might decide to hit Kalispell.

And she’d be left in peace to write up today’s notes. If she were to run into Mike again, at least she’d be more prepared.

Taking a step backward, she was struck with the temptation to steal a quick look at the pool players. All she had to do was turn her head to the right...just for a second...

She moved back another step and felt something directly behind her.

A deep rumbling laugh caressed her ears.

“We’ve gotta stop doing this.” It was Mike’s voice. His laugh. His hand touching her lower back.

Savannah whirled around.

He stood a couple feet away, holding his almost-empty mug aloft. Enough beer remained to have made a collision unpleasantly wet.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t look. Again.” She glanced helplessly at Nina, who arched a brow at her, clearly trying not to laugh.

“Excuse me,” another voice said from behind her. “Could I squeeze by to get to the jukebox?”

Savannah turned, and as she moved out of the way, smiled an apology at the woman trying to hold on to a fistful of quarters. When she switched her gaze to Mike, the intensity with which he was studying her jolted her back to the problem.

If she wanted to test the waters, now was the time.

But Nina was right there, not more than ten feet away now. And Ron...he could be charging toward them for all she knew.

Savannah turned her head and saw that he was still preoccupied with his phone. She inched around so that she wasn’t directly facing Nina.

“I’m usually not this oblivious,” she said, keeping her voice low and steady, even as her courage faltered. “I would really appreciate it if you’d let me pay for a refill.”

“I didn’t spill a drop,” he said with an easy smile. “But if you have the time, I’d like to buy you a drink.”

“Oh. No.” Her mouth went dry. “All I meant... I’d just—” She cleared her throat. “I’m with someone.” She glanced briefly toward Ron. “But I’d like to pay for your beer. You know, as an apology. That’s what I meant...”

His smile faded. “I understand,” he said, nodding slowly. “Can I ask you a quick question?”

This was it.

Savannah was an idiot. She wasn’t prepared, and there was nothing she could do but listen. “Okay.”

“Have we met before?”