That First Special Kiss

Cameron checked his watch. “I guess I should head home. You probably have some cowboy chores to do.”

Chuckling at the wording, Shane shrugged. “I’ve got a few things to take care of. Why don’t you hang around and help? I’ll teach you how to milk a bull.”

Cameron grunted. “Real funny, Walker.”

“I suppose you have plans with Amber tonight.”

“Er—no, actually. I told her I’d probably want to crash after getting up so early for fishing. I need a night off.”

Shane didn’t know quite what to say to that. He’d heard that note in Cameron’s voice before—every time Cameron got tired of his latest girlfriend. When it came to women, Cameron had a very short attention span. He generally made an effort not to leave a string of broken hearts behind him, and had somehow managed to remain fairly good friends with most of his former lovers. But Shane wasn’t sure that was going to be possible this time. Amber was so obviously besotted—and had been for a long time, even before Cameron had noticed. He had an unpleasant premonition that the affair between Cameron and Amber was not going to end as amicably as Cameron’s previous liaisons.

“You’re worried about Amber, aren’t you?” Cameron asked, correctly interpreting his friend’s silence.

He cleared his throat. “Well...maybe a little. She’s been a good friend. I wouldn’t want to see her hurt.”

“Neither do I. I wish I could promise you it won’t happen.”

Shane studied his friend’s face. “You’re going to end it, aren’t you?”

Squirming on the couch, Cameron looked away. “I haven’t said that.”

“Cam, think about who you’re talking to. I was around for your first girlfriend, remember? I’ve been here for all of them since. I know when you’re getting restless.”

Cameron sighed. “It isn’t working out. Amber’s starting to hint about marriage and kids and, damn it, Shane, I’m just not ready for that. At first I thought maybe there was a chance...but I was fooling myself. And now it looks like I’ve gotten myself into a situation where I’m going to hurt her, no matter what I do.”

Shane winced. He’d known from the start that Amber wanted more than an affair with the man she’d been not-so-secretly in love with since she was a teenager. That had been back when Shane, Cameron, Scott and Heather had been in high school. Amber, a couple of years younger, had become a member of the group by being a friend of Heather’s on the cheerleading squad. Her crush on Cameron—one of the “coolest” guys in high school—had been no secret to anyone except Cameron. Until recently.

It was going to be devastating for her to have come so close to her longtime dream, only to lose it again.

Shane couldn’t even be angry with Cameron about it. He thought Cameron had really tried this time. He knew Cameron would rather cut off an arm than cause Amber pain. But the match had been ill-fated from the start, and unfortunately Cameron and Amber had been the only two involved who hadn’t realized that until too late.

“I’m not going to break it off today,” Cameron said in a feeble attempt at reassurance. “I’ll try a little longer to make it work. Maybe if I just give it a little more time...”

“Yeah,” Shane said, aware that there was little confidence in his reply. “Maybe so.”

Putting Cameron’s problems out of his head, since there was nothing he could do about the situation, he changed the subject and Cameron gladly went along. Whatever happened, this friendship was solid, and neither of them could imagine anything that would bring it to an end.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Kelly was invited to a D’Ales

sandro family gatherings. Vinnie and Carla D’Alessandro were delighted to have their entire family under one roof for lunch. Tony was there with his wife, Michelle, and their four children. Michael, an attorney who lived in Austin with his wife and daughter, had brought his family for the weekend, and would be staying through the holiday. And the youngest D’Alessandro brother, Joe, was spending his second holiday season with Brynn as his wife.

It was because of her close connection with Brynn that Kelly had been invited to the family gathering. The D’Alessandros were aware that Kelly had no family of her own with which to spend the holidays. For the same reason, the gregarious Walker clan was expecting her to join them for several holiday celebrations.

Because she had always been welcomed warmly and sincerely by both families, and had never been made to feel intrusive, she often accepted their invitations. It was so nice to feel as if she had family for the holidays, even if the connection was only an honorary one.

She returned to her apartment late that afternoon with a container of leftovers Carla had insisted she take home and a glow of contentment deep inside her. She’d had a lovely time with the D’Alessandro family, enjoying the noise and cheerful confusion. She’d been the first to slip away, claiming truthfully that she had several chores to attend to that evening. It was barely 6:00 p.m. when she pulled into her parking lot, but already quite dark. The night air chilled her as she climbed out of her car, reminding her that winter was just getting started.

She was still smiling to herself when she locked her faithful, no-frills little car. Her purse and the container of leftovers were tucked beneath her left arm. Her smile changed to a gasp of alarm when a hand fell on her shoulder. She came very close to dropping everything she held.

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

Kelly put her right hand over her racing heart as she stared up at Shane. “No, you didn’t startle me. You scared the spit out of me. What are you doing here?”

He smiled apologetically. “I brought your VCR. I figured out what was wrong with it and I think it will work fine now.”

“Shane, you didn’t have to come all the way in from the ranch just to return my VCR. I could have gotten it from you Thursday when we all come to the ranch for Thanksgiving.”

He shrugged. “I had to come into town anyway. We had a water pump go out this morning and I had to find a part for it. I figured I might as well bring your VCR while I was at it.”