29. Remi

Chapter 29

Remi

“B e right back.” I closed the door to Myles’ compact car.

“Sure.” He shook his head at me like I was a lost cause.

With the stress of his job, I’d forced Myles to take a Friday night off. On our way into town, we’d stopped for burgers, and without thinking, I’d also placed an order for Angie. She’d become a part of my daily routine and had me trained like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

No, I wasn’t trained. I just couldn’t let her go hungry.

Pine needles littered the sidewalk, and the scent of evergreen permeated the dry air. Harsh evening light warmed my back as I faced the main entrance to the hospital. If the sun could get this hot in the first couple of days of July, then working in the fields would be brutal come August.

Weather this far north wasn’t supposed to compete with the Texan summer. Of course, I spent most of my days in an air-conditioned office or a cool pool house.

The sliding doors opened, and I stopped pacing by the banner that read Heroes Work Here , nearly dropping the bag I held. Angie walked out in her scrubs and slipped the mask first off one ear and then another. Her blonde hair flowed in soft curls around her navy-scrub-clad shoulders, and I couldn’t stop staring.

The pull I felt for her magnified tenfold. She saved lives for a living, tiny baby lives … what could be more attractive than that?

I exited my trance and took a few steps to meet her under the awning. Lili and another nurse flanked her sides.

“Hey, Remi.” Lili waved, looking all nine months pregnant and wearing oversized scrubs.

“Hello, Lili.” I forced myself to look away from Angie and focus on her. “Did Blake get those cribs built?”

“He’s gotten one up. But the other one is giving him fits. I’ve heard more cuss words coming from the nursery than I do from his mechanic’s shop.”

I laughed and turned to the other woman standing with Angie.

“This is my co-worker, Gabby.” Angie motioned towards the other woman but betrayed herself and eyed the to-go bag I still held.

“Nice to meet you.” I nodded at Gabby, whose Latin heritage showed in her deep-brown eyes, black hair, and tanned skin.

“See you later.” Lili waved and walked into the parking lot.

“Until tomorrow,” Gabby said, walking alongside Lili—with round flecks of white paper floating behind her.

I looked from Gabby’s purse to Angie. She laughed. “It’s a long story.”

I handed the fast-food bag over to her. “I thought you’d be hungry since you didn’t have a chance to eat before you left.”

Walking to the bench situated under a large pine tree, she sat as she dug through the bag of food I brought. She pulled out the wrapped burger and gasped when she opened it. She took a bite without saying anything.

“I got you the bacon cheeseburger, but I know you don’t like the calories in fries, so I ordered you the sweet potato ones,” I chattered on and on while she took bites, chewed, and swallowed.

“Mmm … This is the best thing I’ve eaten all year,” she said between bites. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I sat with her while she finished her burger, telling her about the day and the rooster attack I’d barely avoided. All at once, the desire to do this every day filled me. To come visit Angie at work or wait until she walked in the door and fill her in about the happenings on the farm.

My eyes constantly dropped to her lips. The longer I went without, the more I wanted to kiss her, yet I resisted the urge to tuck her under my arm and plant one on her. Why? Because friends didn’t kiss, and I needed to prove to myself I could be friends with a woman. I’d never successfully had a platonic relationship with one, and the challenge of it pushed me to try harder. Plus, Myles told me he didn’t think it was possible. What he didn’t understand was having Angie in my life as a friend would be way more tolerable than living without her.

This life was fiction, and as much as I wanted to act out Leave it to Beaver with her, how did I think it would end? I fell silent as she told me all about the feud between her co-workers until she’d finished the last fry.

“Well, I better get back inside. I left Ryan alone in there.” She crumpled the burger wrapper and stood.

I followed her to the garbage and walked her to the front door. My hand itched to hold hers. Fisting my hands, I kept them by my sides.

“Have a great night saving those babies.” I moved in to hug her but paused when I got close. Our eyes met, and for the briefest second, she leaned toward me, her eyes half-lidded and glazed. I smiled and ran my tongue over my bottom lip. So, I wasn’t the only one still stuck in the memory of what happened on the side of that mountain trail.

She straightened and took a breath. “What’s in it for you?”

In it for me? “I didn’t want you to go hungry … I don’t know what I could gain—”

“No. Buying our property.” She spoke softly, but we still stood close enough I heard her words fine. “You’re putting a lot of effort into this. What do you get?”

My first instinct was to lie and say something like profit for the company meant profit for me. A friend wouldn’t do that, so I told her the truth. “I don’t like what I do. I’m good at it, though, which is why my father has made it nearly impossible for me to leave. He’s promised that if I make this deal happen, he’ll let me leave the company and give me enough startup money for mine and Myles’ business.”

I expected Angie to react in anger, but she became more contemplative. “What business idea do you have?”

“We want to open an extreme sports store called Texas Bros.”

I waited for her reaction, but a slight crinkle on her forehead and a nibble on her fingernail were the only indications she repressed her feelings.

I went on, “We’re working on the name. But if we open it here, we could also offer tandem jumps off the bridge.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re thinking of staying here and not going back to Dallas?”

Shuffling a step closer to her, I took one of her hands and rubbed my thumb on her palm, never dropping my gaze from hers. “I can think of a few good reasons to stay. One in particular.”

Stiffening her posture, she tugged her hand from mine. “Well, thanks for the burger.”

The automatic doors whooshed open, and she rushed back inside. I’d rattled her. She couldn’t only think of me as the big bad wolf coming to blow her house down if I had goals and dreams.

Wandering back to where Myles was parked, I got in with a slight smile on my face.

“That took longer than you said.” Myles backed out of his spot. “I’ll never believe you again. ‘I’m going to drop off this burger. Be back in two minutes.’” He air-quoted and did a sad imitation of my voice.

“She had a few things to go over with me. You know, farm stuff.”

Myles out right laughed at me. “You mean the stuff you’ve been hiring our crew to do?”

“Shhh … if you don’t say anything, no one will find out.”

The workload Angie laid on top of me had become unbearable, and I remembered … I have money . So, I cheated.

New construction in the neighborhood had slowed with the supply chain, and it’d been a headache trying to get the houses built without destroying the budget. Myles needed to keep his full attention on being CDC’s lead foreman, but still, I pulled him away to help get my list done, taking on Angie’s work as well as mine so she could get the sleep she needed.

A few times this week, I’d even tasked guys from landscaping to get the hay bales off the fields and hoe the beet field. Angie had no idea since I only employed the extra workforce during her shifts at the hospital and put in sixteen-hour days when she didn’t.

Tonight, I took great pleasure in the fact that the pea field harvest was getting finished while Myles and I went to the climbing gym. Some things were worth paying for.

“You’re so far gone with this girl you can’t tell up from down.” Myles pulled out of the parking lot into traffic.

“We’re friends.” If I could even call us that. When she wasn’t avoiding me, we still argued. Fighting Angie sparked more life in me than jumping out of a plane.

“You’re telling me you haven’t made a move on her?” He stopped at the red light and turned to look at me with one skeptical eyebrow raised.

I shrugged and half-smiled, unable to hide the truth from my oldest friend.

“Remi.” He shook his head, faced forward, and slammed on the accelerator when the light turned green. “What are you thinking?”

I scrubbed my right hand down the side of my face. “I don’t know. She’s so amazing and—”

“Has a vagina?”

I glared at him. “Not fair. Last time I checked, you like vaginas too.”

“Not ones that could cost me my lifetime goals and dreams.” He flipped on his blinker and turned toward old-town Twin Falls. “We’re this close to being free to open our store—”

“You think I would jeopardize that?”

“With your track record … I’m not sure. Angie isn’t your usual type.”

I wasn’t aware I had a usual type. “Meaning?”

“She’s a girl who wants commitment. Remember what Blake said.” He turned the wheel and swerved into a parking spot facing the gym. The car jerked to a stop as he shifted into park before coming to a complete stop.

“Of course, I remember.”

“She’s the first woman who hasn’t cowered to you or worshipped you, and you’re not one to back down from a challenge. That’s all this is. She’s another Katie Carlenti.”

College. Junior year. Katie wore her principles on her shoulders like a cape. It took me a while, but eventually, she gave in to my persuasive powers … like they all did. It didn’t end well for Katie and me. She wanted more than I was willing to give, so when she presented me with an ultimatum, I left.

Every time I thought of a woman` in my past, I imagined a guy treating Angie that way. I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable with the nauseating guilt settling in my stomach. I’d used Katie horribly. How could I have been so unfeeling, self-centered, and … wrong?

“Angie’s not Katie. I’ve never felt this way—”

“You know what’s going to happen once you buy her land. She’s never going to get over it. A relationship with her is impossible.”

He echoed my relentless thoughts. “Who said I’m looking for a relationship?”

Myles leaned his head onto the headrest and hit me with an I-don’t-believe-you look. “Sure. And you brought her a burger and spent twenty minutes talking with her while she ate it, without so much as a peck. You’re hooked.”

“Are you kidding? You’re talking about a woman who’s punished me from sunup to sundown for the last three months.”

“Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered. Make sure you stay the pig.” Myles opened his door and got out.

I always thought that saying was dumb. Pigs get slaughtered too, in the end.

Looping an arm over the top of his open door, Myles leaned back into the car. “You’re setting both you and Angie up for a whole lot of pain.”

He closed his door and popped the trunk to retrieve our gear.