Page 50 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)
She stayed sitting next to the river and watching the fish swim upstream, smiling as they tried to jump up the small, four-foot-high falls closer to where the cameraman had set up. She’d given Boston clues for this place, and she smiled at how happy he’d been when he’d been able to guess it.
Eventually her stomach growled, and Cora didn’t want to be walking through the woods, even on a populated trail, too close to dusk, so she got up. Once again, she nodded to the cameraman, who had not seen any bears, and headed back to her car.
The late July evening heat had seeped right back into her car, and she turned on the AC to try to ward it off.
She’d left her phone behind too, and she almost didn’t want to pick it up.
The screen sat dark in the console, but the moment she touched it, a vibration rumbled against her hand, and that meant she had at least one message.
When she swiped on her device, she found she had a lot more than one.
She read quickly through the things her mother had said about the babies and the request for Cora to stop at the market in Rusk and get a few things for Kat and Jeremy. She said she would, and she ignored all texts about work, noting that none of them needed to be answered right that moment.
What she really wanted to see was a message from Boston, but one had not come in. Sighing, she tapped over to her social media, where she often got tagged when someone said something about Silver Sage, as she ran their company account.
She realized with a pang of regret that she should have taken her phone with her to Little Brown Bear Stream and taken a short video clip of the salmon spawning and swimming in the wrong direction.
Then she could have put it on the Silver Sage Mountain Lodge and Resort page and told people it was only a short thirty-minute drive from the lodge to see such an amazing wonder.
At the same time, Cora didn’t want to share this place with anyone. Not everything had to be used for a promotional opportunity.
She pulled up a professional photo of the resort’s pools and posted that, saying that they would be having pool parties on Tuesdays that would be family-friendly and Fridays for date night.
“And the best part is,” she said slowly as she typed. “You don’t even have to have a reservation at Silver Sage Mountain Lodge and Resort to come. If you’re local, you can attend the pool party for just ten dollars per person, and twenty-five dollars for families with up to six kids.”
She made that post, glad to see one of her ideas finally making it to the public.
The pool parties would run from seven to nine, and two hours didn’t seem like a long time.
She’d committed to having handheld tacos on Tuesdays for the family events, and sliders on Fridays.
People could purchase more food and drinks if they wanted to.
Her post chimed as it went through, and then her feed refreshed. Cora almost looked away from the group photo that had just appeared, and then she realized that it was the Young cousin night and had just been posted by Cash Young.
His handle was cashforrodeos , with a money sign in his bio. Cora started to smile, especially when her eyes landed on Boston, who stood next to Cash, the two of them with their arms around each other, and grinning at the camera like they’d won free vacations to their favorite destination.
His sister Beth stood there too, and she recognized Harry and Belle, Bryce and Codi, Adam and Joey, Rosie, Liesl, Corinne, and a younger boy that she hadn’t seen at the first cousin night, but had met at the Fourth of July.
“Eric,” she whispered. He looked a little bit out of place, but Cole had his right arm around Eric’s shoulders and his left hand secured in that of his girlfriend’s, Rachel Walker.
An angry sound exploded out of Cora’s mouth. Why did Cole have his girlfriend there, and she couldn’t attend with Boston?
They’d started dating after her and Boston, too.
She tapped to call him, though cousin night was probably still raging at Cash’s vacation rental.
“Hello?” Boston asked as if her name didn’t sit on his screen. She definitely heard laughter in the background, but it quieted as he added, “Cora?”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “I’m here.”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
She wasn’t sure what to say. Her nerves buzzed with her hurt feelings, and her stomach pinched. “I just saw that Cole has Rachel at cousin night.”
“Yeah,” Boston said slowly, as if he didn’t get it.
“Well, you told me that boyfriends and girlfriends weren’t allowed, that that was just a one-time thing that Adam and Joey did.”
“I don’t know what Cole arranged with Cash,” Boston said, and he sounded like he didn’t have time or patience for this conversation.
“Well, I could have come tonight,” she said. “I arranged to get out of the office, and I’m up at Little Brown Bear Stream right now.”
Boston sat on the line for a moment that filled full of judgment. “You went up to the stream without me?”
“You had cousin night,” she said. “I just feel bad. I would have come to?—”
“Well, how could I have possibly known that, Cora?” he asked. “You didn’t tell me you’d arranged to have free time tonight. If I would have known, maybe I would have asked Cash if you could have come.”
She swallowed, because she didn’t want to force herself on to Boston. She wanted him to go to Cash and beg him to allow Cora to attend cousin night with him, and then she wanted Boston to come to her and beg her to clear her schedule. Neither scenario was fair, even if it was how she felt.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “We just haven’t had much time for each other in the past couple of weeks, and it didn’t even occur to me that you might be able to come.”
He didn’t sound super sorry, and that irritated Cora too. In fact, he almost made it sound like this situation was her fault. Maybe it is , she thought.
“I can’t believe you went to Little Brown Bear Stream without me,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said in the same flat tone he’d given her. “I’m drowning at Silver Sage, and I needed an escape.”
“You should have told me,” he said. “I might?—”
“I hate it when people start sentences with ‘you should have.’” She spoke over the top of him, effectively silencing him. “ You should have said something too.”
Nothing came through the line, and that only made Cora’s cells buzz even more.
“Maybe now is not the right time for us,” she said.
“With the babies and the lodge. I mean, I knew I’d be busy when I came here, and of course, I didn’t expect to meet you.
” She blew out her breath, not quite sure what she was saying. Her eyes filled with tears.
“You’re probably right. We probably shouldn’t be in a relationship when we can’t make time for each other.
” His words sliced through her chest, because he made it sound like she was the only one who’d gotten busy, and that she’d deliberately chosen anything and everything over him. She hadn’t done that. Had she?
Something scuffed on his end of the line, and then he said, “Yeah, I’m coming,” in a quiet voice. “Listen, Cora,” he said, obviously talking to her again. “I gotta go, okay? I guess I’ll…see you around the lodge.”
“See you around the lodge, yep,” she clipped out, her voice too high, and definitely not her own.
“All right. Bye.” He ended the call, and Cora let the phone drop to her lap. She’d known she and Boston were not on the same page at the moment, but she’d never thought she’d have to close the book completely.
Tears filled her eyes and escaped out of the corner of her left one. She brushed angrily at it and put the car in gear to get back to the lodge.
“Don’t be stupid, Cora,” she muttered to herself. “He’s just some cowboy that you dated for a few weeks to ease your transition back to Coral Canyon.”
Cora heard the lies inside her own voice. Boston was not some cowboy , and she had not used him for anything.
No, she’d been steadily falling in love with him, and it hurt to know that now he sat completely out of her reach.