“You sell yourself short, Blythe.”
“Oh, yeah? Tell me, then, what do you find interesting about me?”
He said she was beautiful and nice to talk to, and then she stopped listening, and started thinking about Tucker.
There hadn’t been a minute in the time she spent with him when she hadn’t believed he found her fascinating, or that she hadn’t felt like the center of his attention. Jace reminded her of boys she’d dated in high school. He was hot as all get out, funny, charming, and flirtatious, but there was something missing. She wouldn’t have known to even look for it if she hadn’t felt it with Tucker.
“Have you been to the Next Door Bar?” she asked as they were leaving the restaurant.
“No, where is it? Next door?”
She laughed. “Not next door to here. It’s actually next door to Castle Café.”
“Let’s do it. Can we walk from here?”
“Definitely,” she answered. “What happened, Jace?”
“With Tuck?”
“Yeah.” She couldn’t stop herself from asking. He’d been on her mind all night. Jace had to have sensed it.
“I figured you’d ask at some point.” He rubbed his face with his hands again, as he’d done the last time she asked him about him.
“It isn’t my story to tell, Blythe. Tuck…God, I’m so uncomfortable. He should tell you. Not me.”
Blythe put her hand on his arm and stopped him. “It’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“I’m sorry, Blythe. I can’t talk about it.”
“Like I said, it’s okay. Let’s change the subject.”
They walked to the bar in silence, but once they were inside, the music and crowd distracted them. They danced and talked more about rodeo. There were a lot of cowboys in the bar, and soon Jace got involved in a conversation about the stock show. When he mentioned he was traveling with Billy Patterson, people started asking about him.
“Billy’s a rock star,” said the girl sitting next to Blythe at the bar.
“Yeah, even outside the rodeo he is,” answered Blythe, laughing.
“I’m Lyric,” she introduced herself. “I’m the host of RodeoChat.”
“Blythe, I…uh…don’t know that much about rodeo. I mean, I’ve been a few times, but that’s it.”
“No matter. It’s nice to meet you, Blythe. Pretty good lookin’ cowboy you’re out with tonight.”
Blythe looked over at Jace. Good looking didn’t begin to describe him. He was beautiful. He’d let his blonde hair grow out since the last time she saw him, although she heard him ask her dad if there was a place where he could get a haircut tomorrow. If she remembered later, she’d try to talk him out of it. She liked the way it curled against the collar of his shirt.
He looked over at her and smiled. When he saw she was talking to Lyric, he winked, and then went back to his conversation with the guys.
Lyric fanned herself when he did. “God, he’s hot. What color are his eyes? Green? He doesn’t have a brother does he?”
Blythe laughed again. “He does. A twin, in fact.”
“Oh my ’lanta,” said Lyric. “Is he here, too?”
No, he was in Europe—that’s what Jace had said. She wished she could see him, talk to him, get him to tell her what the big secret was. Obviously it was something important, life-changing and traumatic, given his reaction on Thanksgiving.
“I’m a twin, too. How ’bout that? I have a twin brother.” When Blythe didn’t answer, Lyric asked if she was okay.
“Yeah. Sorry. No, his brother isn’t here. He’s in Europe.”