The Rancher and The City Girl (Tempting the Rancher 1)

But for some reason, Charlotte kept trying. Like getting this woman to like her—hell, she’d take “not hate her” even—was a big goal. Like it would prove…

What?

That she could maybe entertain the idea of staying here in this town?

“Have you lived here your whole life?” Charlotte asked, going for small talk, but the woman looked at her like she just said the stupidest thing ever.

“Yes. I grew up here. Like most people. Went to school with Tripp and the Drake cousins.”

“Oh, Bo and Cash?”

“So you know them, too. You don’t waste time, do you?” the woman said with a smile, but there was nothing friendly about it.

Charlotte went to say something, but her mouth just hung open, and the woman lifted her chin toward her grandma waiting at the other end of the waiting room.

“I’ll let you know when the doctor is ready for you.”

And like that, she was dismissed.

Charlotte just nodded once. No way in hell was she going to apologize, because she didn’t do anything wrong. But she felt…shame?

But why? For being a woman? A woman Tripp was interested in? It’s not like he was the fricking second coming of Cheyenne.

She sat next to her grandmother, apparently looking as huffy as she felt, because Gram just tsked and said, “Don’t let that Lucy get to you. She’s a hateful woman. Been looking to land Tripp for some time.”

Charlotte took a deep breath and glanced at the ceiling. “I’m not trying to do anything with Tripp. We’re…”

“Friends?” Grammy finished.

“Something like that,” she said. Charlotte couldn’t bring herself to say “friends with benefits” out loud. She also couldn’t say the word “boyfriend.” She and Tripp were somewhere in between, and she had no clue what the term for their status even was.

“Well, whatever you are, it’s nothing bad. And it’s going to stir some feathers in the henhouse because that boy is a coveted cock.”

Charlotte choked on her own tongue.

But when Grammy looked at her with perplexed worry, she realized that she didn’t get the joke.

“Rooster,” Charlotte said. Her grandmother had meant rooster…or cock in the henhouse.

“Yes, Tripp is an eligible bachelor in these parts. All those boys are. But Tripp specifically has given many women the polite ‘no thank you’ to dating…until you. I’ve never seen a display like last night from him, and I don’t think anyone else in town has, either.”

“It was a dance.”

“It was more than that, honey. And I saw that kiss.” Grammy nudged her shoulder. “You looked happy out there.”

She had been, but she couldn’t think about that now. Reality was still ever-present, and the reality was Cheyenne didn’t have much to offer her career path.

She grabbed her cell from her pocket and glanced at it quickly. Still no word from the final company she’d applied to.

“Change is in the air, honey,” Gram said, and patted her knee. “And you’re not the only one noticing.”

The older woman winked, but before Charlotte could ask what she meant, the nurse came out and called her back. Charlotte helped her grandma with her walker and headed back for her checkup, having no idea how to handle the change coming her way.

Chapter Nine

Tripp double-checked the casserole in the oven and glanced around. The house was clean, the table set, and any minute, the lovely Charlotte Gram would show up. Bo and Cash had taken Gracie out about an hour ago, and between dinner and the roller-skating and movie, they’d be out for another four hours or so. He didn’t bother telling either Cash or Bo about his date in because then he’d get the third degree. He only had a few hours to enjoy her company, and he was going to enjoy them, damn it.

He’d just taken the casserole out when the front door boomed open.