Page 63 of Denim & Diamonds

I stuck my shovel into the ground and looked down at the screen. Letting out a deep sigh, I groaned. “I don’t understand why she keeps calling.”

“Keepscalling? She’s called you more than once?”

“Yeah.” I placed the phone in my back pocket. “It’s not the first time she’s called this week.”

“You’re not answering?”

“I haven’t, and I don’t plan to.”

My brother narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that kind of rude?”

“Yeah, well, so is using women to make you Mexican food and then ghosting them.” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I don’t actually think it’s rude, no. Isn’t she the one who left town? Why should I answer her calls if I don’t want to talk to her? There’s nothing to talkabout.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just seems rude not to return someone’s call.”

I raised my voice. “I know what she wants, and I’m not interested.”

“All right. All right.” He resumed working. “But you think she wants you back?”

“Well, she tried to get me to commit to her. That didn’t work. So she left town. Pretty sure she believed her disappearance would change my mind. But that strategy doesn’t always work. Sometimes distance doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes you grow evenfurtherapart. Since she’s been gone, I’ve realized even more how incompatible we were.”

“Is it that, or is it thatsomeone elsecame on the scene not so long after she left and mended your broken heart?”

February most definitely had taken my life by storm. But even if she and I were opposites, we werecompatible. And if therehadbeen a broken heart to mend, she would’ve helped with that. But contrary to the rumors in this town, I wasn’t devastated by myex leaving. It turned out to be more of a relief than a heartbreak.

“My feelings for February don’t change the fact that Nina was never right for me,” I told Trevor. “But as far as February goes…” I shook my head and smiled, thinking again about our virtual sex last night.

After a moment, he burst out laughing. “Damn,thatgood, huh?”

I couldn’t help grinning. “Yes, my brother. It is that good.”

“You devil.” He lowered his voice, though our only company out here was wild animals. “You had sex with her?”

I didn’t feel comfortable giving my brother details. So I tried to be vague. “We didn’t have sex…in person. That’s all I’ll say.”

“Well, shit. That sounds kinky. No wonder you don’t give a shit about Nina’s calls.”

“It’s not that I don’t give a shit about Nina. You don’t just stop caring about someone you were with for a while. But I see now that we weren’t right for each other. And it’s not gonna help her if I entertain whatever it is she wants from me. That would be like opening an old wound. End of story.”

Trevor dropped the subject as we got back to work, and I began chopping wood.

Several minutes later, I’d just swung my ax backward, getting ready to slice into a huge log, when a voice stopped me.

“Hey!”

I turned to find February behind me.What the hell?

“What are you doing here? I nearly took your head off.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize this was a danger zone.”

I put down the ax. “How did you know where I was?”

“I went to the bar, and the bartender on duty gave me the address. I used the GPS on your phone to walk here.”

“Hey, February,” my brother called out.

“Hi, Trevor…” She smiled, but it seemed strained.