Page 27 of Cowboy Heat

June laughs. “I can’t say we know either feeling. Kissy and I have been living in the same town since birth, which means being in the same class with Drew Tatum since pre-K until graduation.” She rolls her eyes then does a small nod toward the man still singing loudly in the corner.

Kissy gives her friend a look of disapproval. “There’s nothing wrong with Drew Tatum, and don’t you go saying there is,” she says, lowering her voice. There’s some humor in it, though. She tries to explain it to me. “June here is kind of down on him because he gave her an awful prom when we were juniors.”

“Saying ‘awful’ sure is generous,” June returns. She gives me a side-eye. “He left me twenty minutes in to go hang out with Rachel DeLuca at the docks, and I had to third-wheel Kissy here until her date finally took us both back to Mimi’s. Then, to drown my sorrows, I partook in Wyatt’s hidden stash of pre-mixed Long Island Ice Teas.” She did a dramatic shudder. “I can let you guess wherethatdecision led me.”

Kissy laughs again. Her eyes eat me up as she adds on, “If you guessed the bathroom to get sick, you’d be wrong. June here took adifferentroute. Mimi’s rainboots, to be exact.”

I chuckle. “At least you found something that was a bit easier to clean,” I point out. “One time, my brother Lee drank too much and thought the vegetable drawer in my fridge was the perfect place to relieve himself. I don’t care what Lysol may say about disinfecting. After that, you just don’t want to keep your fruits and vegetables in the same place urine has been.”

I worry for a moment that I’m being too crass, but both ladies devolve into more laughter.

It’s nice.

It’s also interrupted.

A young woman with a shock of red hair, two nose piercings, and a bar-collared tee-shirt with the name Mel over the right breast stops at the side of our booth. She smiles and nods to Kissy and June. “Hey there, you two.” She switches her gaze to me. Her eyes are a deep dark brown, almost black. She can’t be more than twenty-five. “And you?”

Kissy’s quick with another introduction. This time, she leaves out my last name.

I wonder if it’s on purpose.

I shake Mel Havereaux’s hand.

She’s the first resident of Robin’s Tree I’ve met who doesn’t comment on my status as new guy. Instead, she takes our drink orders. Her parting words are to Kissy.

“Benny was in here last night. He said your Jeep’ll be all fixed up tomorrow. You’ll need to hoof it out to his shop to get it, or he’ll bring it out to you. Your pick. He said text him and let ’im know.”

If it’s Benny Junior or Benny Senior, I don’t know. Kissy nods all the same.

“Thanks, Mel. I’ll text him.”

“I hope the damage wasn’t too bad,” I say to her when Mel goes off to put in our drink orders.

Kissy shakes her head. “Worse than nothing but better than what could’ve been had I been going any faster before my swerve.”

She puts some feeling on the last word. She’s still beating herself up about her choice to try to avoid hitting the cat. I start to tell her again that it’s not something she should tear herself up about, but June pulls me in quick with the start of a new topic.

And it’s a doozy.

“So who is Beau Montgomery, and how was your life before coming to our small slice of the world?”

“June, way to be a snoop,” Kissy interjects. I can see, though, that she’s wondering too.

Time to straddle the line between the truth and omitting some things.

“I think it’s hard for a person to say who they are other than the things they like,” I start, careful. “I’ll try anything once, so I like a lot of things, but I guess family is a big thing for me. I also like to read, though I picked up that habit in the past year or so. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to really get into TV, but you set me down in front of any of theJurassic Parkmovies, and I’m not moving until they’re over. I also don’t know much about cars, as Kissy can tell you, but because of one of my brothers, I can hotwire one if I need to.”

I grin as the girls react to that with surprise.

“Not saying I’ve used the skill on anything but a car of mine when I lost the keys. Just saying it’s there.”

“And what about your brother?” June asks. There’s genuine curiosity in her words.

I shrug, still grinning. “That’s a story for him to tell, not me.”

“Fair enough,” she says, humored. Then her curiosity is at the front again. “None of those likes seem to include ranching or anything salt of the earth. I heard you came from Orlando. I’m betting not a job that had you tilling land or taming horses.”

I see it then.