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She was very familiar with those. When she couldn’t afford ice cream she would just go in and sample flavors as long as they would let her.

Yeah. Maybe she was just one of those.

“Bix?”

She looked up at Michael. “Huh?”

“You okay?”

“Fine. Just fine.”

Thankfully the music was loud so it was almost impossible to talk, but she did her best to keep her eyes more on Michael than on Daughtry and partner.

They finished dancing, and went back to their table. Daughtry and his mysterious redhead kept on the dance floor. Michael and Bix ordered fried pickles and a basket of JoJos. They made shallow conversation about the beer, and Bix had a hard time not staring at Daughtry.

And then Daughtry took the redhead’s hand and they walked out of the bar.

Bix felt like she was going to be sick.

“You okay?” Michael asked her for the second time that evening.

She tried to hold back a snarl, but she ended up sounding like a feral possum. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because Daughtry just left with somebody else.”

She curled her fingers tightly around her glass. “Well, so what?”

“Bix,” Michael said kindly, but a little bit like she was a child. “You have a crush on him.”

“I do not,” said Bix, but even she could hear the lack of conviction in her own voice.

“It’s okay. I mean, it makes sense. And makes me feel a little better about how not into this you are.”

She let out a low, hard breath. She felt like an asshole. And she also felt a little bit proud. Because she had never been on a date with anybody, and she didn’t think she was what anybody could ever consider a heartbreaker. And here she had done something a little bit... It was terrible to be pleased she was the one in the power position. The one who was wanted, not doing the wanting.

But she was.

“I don’t want to have a crush on him,” she said. That was honest. “In fact,” she said, “I’m not entirely convinced that’s what I have. I just... He helped me out during a really hard time. I think I might just be grateful.”

“You’re stuck on him either way, does it really matter why? You could make all kinds of arguments about that. Maybe I only have a crush on you because you’re the first new woman to show up at the ranch in over a year.”

“That’s not very flattering,” Bix said, frowning.

“In fairness to me, neither is watching your date moon over another man the whole time.”

She grimaced. “Sorry.”

“The point is, it doesn’t really matter why. If the feelings are there, they are.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I like you. I wanted to feel something.”

He chuckled. “I appreciate it.”

He was being surprisingly decent, especially for a man who’d said his ex was crazy.

“What... did your ex girlfriend do to you?” she asked.

He frowned. “Why?”