Dance with Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 2)

His dad shook his head. “You may have gone too far this time, Billy.”

Billy texted Renie again, for the fifth time. Still no response out of her. He wanted to wring her damn neck.

Probably not the best idea, but he called her mother. “Hey Liv, have you talked to Renie?”

“Earlier this morning, why? Is everything okay?”

He couldn’t remember much about last night, and didn’t want to speculate about what may or may not have happened. He also didn’t want to tell Liv that Renie moved Pooh to his parents’ stable, or that he brought Pooh back to his barn. That would unleash a whole slew of questions he couldn’t answer.

“Everything’s fine. Texted her, but she hasn’t answered yet.”

“Don’t know what to tell you, Billy. Maybe she’s ignoring her phone to get some studying done. What’s up? Anything I can help with?”

“You’ve done enough. How you talked me into keeping the stables goin’ is beyond me.”

“What does this have to do with Renie?”

“Please just ask her to call me if you talk to her.”

Three hours later he got a text.

What?

Was she kidding? What? He’d been texting and calling her all damn day. Call me.

Fifteen minutes passed with no response. He called her for the millionth time, and again she didn’t answer. He was pissed.

What the hell, Renie? What’s your problem?

What was her problem? If he remembered what happened the night before, he wouldn’t be asking that question.

All her life she wanted Billy Patterson to kiss her, and now that he had, he didn’t remember.

Renie was about to have the most awkward conversation of her life. She was calling her mom to talk about Billy. She didn’t have any choice, there was no one else she trusted enough to tell her deepest darkest secret to.

“Hey, Ben,” Renie said when her mother’s husband answered. The cell coverage at their ranch in Crested Butte was spotty, so Renie usually tried the house phone first. “Is my mom around?”

“Yep, she is, I’ll get her. How are you? Everything okay?”

She loved Ben, but she didn’t want to talk to him. She wanted to talk to her mom. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She heard the phone jostle and Ben tell her mom she was on the phone.

“Hi, sweet girl. How are you?”

“I’m okay.”

“Did you get in touch with Billy?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. I need to talk to you about him.”

“What’s going on with you two? Is he giving you a hard time about the stables? That isn’t your problem, that’s between him and me.”

“No, that isn’t it.” Could she do this—admit to her mom how she felt about Billy Patterson? “Um…”

“Renie, just say it. I can hear you’re upset by the sound of your voice.”

“It’s about me and Billy.”

Silence—the reaction Renie had been expecting.