Fool for You (Southern Bride 7)

“What happened between y’all?”

I shrugged. “It just wasn’t working. She wasn’t happy when I was racing. Then she wasn’t happy I was back home for good. She didn’t like the way I wore a baseball cap backwards. And the one issue that always seems to bother the women I date—she didn’t like Emmerson.”

My father laughed. “Well, can you blame them? You have a female for a best friend.”

I shrugged. “So? It’s not like there’s ever been anything between me and Emmerson.”

He leaned against my truck and took a long drink before he spoke. “You know, there was a time when we all thought for sure you and Emmerson would become more than just friends.”

Yeah. Me too.

“Then we grew up?” I asked with a smile.

Laughing, he said, “I guess so. You still do movie nights with her on Mondays?”

“Yeah, it’s been nice being home and being able to start that tradition up again.”

My father was a retired NASCAR driver. So was his best friend, Malcolm Wallace, who happened to be Emmerson’s father. They were partners now and ran a vineyard, as well as an olive orchard. They also raised cattle, but Emmerson’s brother Noah pretty much ran that side of the business.

My mother and Emmerson’s mom, Paislie, also owned and ran a bed and breakfast in Clifton, Texas, our hometown.

I knew my father never expected me to follow in his footsteps with NASCAR, but I had for a short time. I was damn good at it as well, but I hated being gone from Texas. From my family and, most of all, from Emmerson. So I walked away, even though I was on top. Voted most popular driver, even listed as one of People magazine’s sexiest bachelors last year.

It wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. Sure, it had been fun, but my true passion was restoring old cars and trucks. I also loved working the cattle, but hated the vineyard and the olive orchard. So did Noah. Hailey, my sister, ran most of the administrative stuff and marketing for the vineyard and the olive orchard, as well as handled the marketing for the bed and breakfast. It came as a shock to everyone when both Emmerson and I announced we wanted to pursue jobs outside of the family businesses.

Emmerson loved the ranch just as much as I did, but she also had her own dreams. She went to Baylor and got a business degree, and right out of college she started up a wedding planning company. Serendipity Wedding Planning. For as long as I could remember, Emmerson had been obsessed with all things weddings. She was damn good at what she did, and had already made a good name for herself, not only in nearby Waco, but in Austin and Dallas as well.

“And you wonder why Grace was jealous of Emmerson,” Dad observed as he pulled me from my thoughts.

Even though I didn’t want to admit it to my dad, he was right. Women I had dated over the years either loved Emmerson or hated her. Most of them hated her, or at least our friendship. Emmerson was and would always be one of my very best friends.

I’d been hiding my deeper feelings for her for as long as I could remember. Every time someone I dated started to get a bit too serious, I knew I had to end things. No matter how many times I tried to tell myself I could move on and fall in love with another woman, I was proven wrong. So when they started talking about futures and asking where I saw us ten years down the road, I was honest. That led to most of them breaking up with me. I hadn’t had many long-term relationships, though. Two, to be exact.

Emmerson had the same problem. Most of the guys she dated would end up giving her an ultimatum. It was either her friendship with me, or it was them. She always picked me, and I always picked her. It wasn’t hard for me to pick Emmerson over other women, though. I had been in love with her for as long as I could remember. Of course I would never admit that, especially since Emmerson didn’t reciprocate my feelings, or at least she’d never admitted to them. But the damn cat and mouse game was getting old. A part of me knew there was a real chance Emmerson could feel the same way I did. I was just too much of a pussy to find out. No, I was terrified to find out. If she didn’t love me, I wasn’t about to risk our friendship and have things become awkward.

“Grace and I were never going to work out.”

My father sighed and pushed off my truck. “The sooner you admit the truth to yourself, son, the sooner you’ll make your mother happy. She wants you to settle down, start a family.”