Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
This just keeps getting better and better.
“Maybe,” Callie says. “I don’t know her last name.”
“Blond? Very bubbly?”
“That’s her,” Callie says dryly.
“Déjà vu,” I say softly.
“Excuse me?” Sadie says.
“Nothing. Where are you from, Sadie?”
“A suburb of Denver. Broomfield. I did two years of community college, and I have an associate’s degree in hospitality.”
She’s young, then. Younger than both Callie and me. Possibly even younger than Maddie.
A perfect age for…
Brock.
“How old are you?” Callie asks.
Nicely done, Cal.
“I’m twenty-four. How old are you?”
Twenty-four. Older than I pegged her for. In fact…she’s Brock’s exact age.
“Twenty-six. I’m starting law school in January.”
“That’s wonderful! And you?” Sadie says to me.
She’s asking me for my age, which I’m not ashamed of, except that I’m four years older than Brock, who she clearly has her sights set on.
“I teach music here in town,” I say, deliberately dodging the age question. “Piano and voice.”
“Wonderful,” she says.
Right. Wonderful.
“So tell me all you know about the Steel family,” Sadie gushes. “I met one of them the other night, when we met at the bar.”
“Right,” I say. “Brock Steel.”
“He’s positively delicious. A great pool player too.”
“All the Steels are good at pool,” Callie says.
“Are they? They must be good at everything.”
“Callie is engaged to a Steel,” I say.
“You are? Oh my God, which one?”
“Donny. Donovan.” Callie waves her left hand.
Sadie grabs her hand and gawks at the ring. “This is positively gorgeous. Donovan, you say? He’s the blond one. Nora has quite a thing for him.”
“Well, he’s taken,” I say dryly.
“Of course he is. You are absolutely the luckiest woman in the world.”
“I won’t disagree with you there.” Callie smiles.
“How about you, Rory? Are you seeing anyone?”
How am I supposed to answer that?
“She is,” Callie says. “Brock.”
“You are? He didn’t say anything to me that he was seeing anyone.”
“Well, they’re quite an item,” Callie says.
“Callie… Actually, we haven’t been seeing each other that long.”
“I’m certainly glad you told me,” Sadie says. “But we just saw you the other night at Murphy’s, and he didn’t act like you two were together.”
“She just said they haven’t been seeing each other that long,” Callie says.
“Oh. I guess I’ll stay away from him then. There’s certainly no shortage of hot Steel men.”
“For sure there’s not,” I say.
For sure there’s not? Those words aren’t even in the right order. What the hell is wrong with me?
I discreetly look at my watch. Only five minutes have passed? Her break is probably for at least fifteen. Ten more minutes of this torture.
“Do you two know all the Steels?” Sadie asks.
“Our family owns a ranch adjacent to theirs,” Callie says.
Thanks a lot, Callie.
“So you’ve known them a long time, then?”
“Yeah, forever.” Those words from me.
“That’s so great. So you’re engaged to Donny. And he’s…the son of Jonah?”
“No, he’s Talon’s son,” Callie says. “Brock is Jonah’s son.”
“Awesome. What other delicious men are there to choose from?”
“Donny has a brother, Dale,” Callie says. “But he’s married.”
“Such a shame,” Sadie gushes.
Callie continues. “Brock has a brother as well. Brad. He’s been in a relationship for the last two years.”
“There’s another blond one though, right? Nora was telling me.”
“Yeah. Henry Simpson. He’s the son of Marjorie Simpson, née Steel, and he’s also in a relationship. He has a brother named Dave, dark hair and blue eyes. And that’s it. The rest of them are women.”
“Is Dave seeing anyone?”
“Dave’s a womanizer,” I drawl.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Sadie says. “Reforming a womanizer is fun.”
Is it? I meet Callie’s gaze. She just reformed a womanizer. She can take this one.
But to my surprise, she says nothing.
“Dave Simpson it is, then. I guess he’s my only shot.”
“Your only shot at what?” Callie asks.
Good for her. Callie’s going to make Sadie say it.
“At a Steel, of course.”
“Snow Creek has its share of hunky cowboy men,” Callie says. “The Steels aren’t the only family in town.”
“They’re the only family that matters. They own this town, don’t they?”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Callie says.
“But I thought—”
“Rumors,” I say. “They’re abundant in a small town. My sister’s right. Don’t believe everything you hear.”
CHAPTER SIX
BROCK
It takes about a half hour to drive the perimeter. Nothing of note is visible from the car in the road.
“Now what?” I say to Dad.
“We have a couple of choices,” he says. “We can walk through on foot, walk in a few miles and see what there is to see. Or we can go see Doc Sheraton. Check out his land.”
“He may not be there.”
“All the better,” Dad says.
“If he has a home there, a road has to go in.”
“Exactly.”
“What if he’s there? I think he’s… Dad, I just remembered. He and Brittany are here in Wyoming. Rory mentioned it.”
She mentioned that when she told me she and Callie had searched Doc Sheraton’s house while Pat was there, house-sitting.
“Hmmm…” Dad says.
“What?”
“Let’s go talk to them, then.”
“Is that the best way to handle this?”