Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 1)

“What? God, Renie, you can’t say that to me.”

“What? It’s not like I’m interested.”

“Jeez, what’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t see what the issue is, but let’s get back to the original subject—you should hire Blythe.”

“She know how to take care of horses?”

“No, but…”

Renie was at least five times as infuriating as any woman Billy’d ever met. “Why would I hire somebody who doesn’t have experience with horses?”

“Because she needs the job Billy, and she’ll learn. In fact, I’ll teach her.”

“No.”

Renie grabbed his arm.

Whoa, what the hell? It was as though a bolt of lightning hit him, and the current surged through his veins. It almost knocked him on his ass.

“Please,” she said, in that soft tone she used sometimes when she tried to get her way. It used to make him laugh, and he’d tell her he saw right through her. Today, he had a different reaction. Today, he’d be willing to do anything Renie Fairchild wanted him to.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.” Billy didn’t know what in God’s name was going on, but he knew he needed to get away from Renie, right now. “Listen, I gotta go into town.”

“Where are you headed? I’m not doing anything. I’ll go with you.”

“No. Not tonight. I’ve…um…got a date.”

“You do? With one of these girls you don’t plan to bring home?”

She was killing him. She didn’t appear as affected by the touch as he had been.

“Whatever, Renie. Mind your own damn business.”

Renie watched Billy stomp away from her. She spent a lot of time watching him walk away. She’d been in love with Billy Patterson her whole life. No one, not a single living person, knew how she felt about him. The only one she ever talked to about him was her horse, which was stabled in the barn Billy now owned.

It didn’t seem as though much had changed at the ranch since Billy bought it. In fact, her mom left most of the furniture in the house when she sold it. She and her new husband, Ben, hadn’t needed it at his place in Crested Butte.

With Billy home infrequently, most of the house looked exactly the same as it always had. The master bedroom was the one room Renie was sure was different. She hadn’t set foot in it though. It was almost as though the bedroom was the only place in the house Billy lived. It seemed wrong to invade his space.

When her mom decided to sell, she asked Renie first if she wanted to keep it, live there herself, but Renie told her to sell it to Billy. With four years of school still ahead of her, she didn’t have time to take on the ranch.

She thought a lot about whether she’d regret her decision later, after she graduated and started a practice. Even then, she knew she wouldn’t be able to live the rest of her life next door to the Patterson family. The heartache of seeing Billy come to visit his parents with the wife he would he eventually marry, and the children they would eventually have, was more than she’d be able to handle. You didn’t love someone the way she loved Billy and ever truly move on from it.

Something didn’t feel right between them tonight. It seemed as though Billy was mad at her.

She’d planned to stay here for the weekend, ride Pooh, and study. Maybe she was making too much of it, but if he really did have a date, she didn’t want to be here.

Can I still stay this weekend? She texted him.

He answered within seconds. Of course.

Thanks. See you tomorrow.

William Prescott Patterson, Jr. was eleven years older than Irene Louise Fairchild. Her first memory of him was when she was ten, right after her grandfather died, and she got Pooh. Renie and her mom were out riding in the meadow. It was wide open, and a great place to let the horses run. Billy waved them over.