Damn, I’ve missed her. He hadn’t realized how much until he’d set eyes on her pixie face again. He wondered if she had kept up with her riding skills while living in the city, and why she had cut her hair. The thick mass of inky, braided silk still hung down between her shoulders, but no longer reached her lower back.
As he wound his way through the tables to the back booth where Caden and Grayson already waited, he found himself hoping nothing else had changed about the girl he’d always been so fond of.
“Hey,” he greeted his brother and the sheriff as he took a seat. “Did you order yet?”
“No, Avery’s getting our drinks. She’s bringing you a coke,” Grayson replied.
“Your girl knows me too well. I have to say, I’m surprised she’s still working here after landing the IT job in Billings.” Avery’s skills on the computer had aided her in finding evidence against two corrupt cops and had also endeared her to everyone in Willow Springs who benefitted from her expertise.
Grayson’s eyes followed Avery as she made her rounds. “She didn’t want to leave Gertie short-handed, and since she only has to make the trip to the Billings office twice a week and can work from my place the rest of the time, she wanted to help out here when needed.”
“Order up, Gertie!” Clyde’s voice rang out.
“Hold your friggin’ horses. I’ve only got two hands,” Gertie snapped, unconcerned with who heard her.
All three men smiled at the cantankerous owner’s raspy voice. Loyal to a fault, the widow still ran the popular eatery with a gruff disregard for polite manners. “At least Avery has quit stuttering around Gertie,” Caden said as Grayson’s girl returned with their drinks and smiled at him.
“I’ve learned her bark is much worse than her bite. Hi, Connor.”
“Hey, sweetie.” Connor paused, remembering Tam’s comment she didn’t think he heard. “Tell me something. Does it bother you when I call you sweetie?”
She shook her head. “No, why would it?”
He nodded, shoving aside the hurt reflected in Tam’s eyes that popped into his head. “Exactly. I’ll take the BLT and a double order of fries.”
“So, did you keep your physical therapy appointment this morning?” Caden wanted to know after Avery had taken their orders. Reaching for his iced tea, his brother’s look told Connor he expected his answer to be no.
“As a matter of fact, I did, and you’ll never guess who the new therapist is.”
Grayson frowned in thought. “There’s no one new in town I know of.”
“Tamara Barton’s not a new resident,” he said.
A smile creased Caden’s weathered face. “That explains your good mood even though you want physical therapy like you want a hole in the head.”
“Of course I’m happy she’s back and was glad to see her again,” he shot back, his tone defensive against the glint in his brother’s identical blue eyes. “We’ve been neighbors for years.”
“And your pissy mood when she left lasted for months,” Caden reminded him.
Connor didn’t debate him about that. He’d been both upset and ticked off from the way Tam had left town without even a goodbye and over the way she’d ignored his calls for weeks. She’d accepted his numerous apologies by text, ignored his pleas to get together and then let him know she’d accepted the job in Boise and was on her way to Idaho before he could say goodbye. If it hadn’t been for her father’s willingness to answer his inquiries about her whenever Connor happened to see Richard, he might have tracked her down and insisted she talk to him. The blame lay solely on his shoulders for her silence, forcing him to respect her wish for distance. He shouldn’t have come down on her the way he had when he’d discovered she’d watched that entire scene in his barn. To this day, he didn’t know if it was the shock of knowing the kid he’d befriended all those years ago had witnessed such a thing, or the way his sated cock had stirred again from the lust in her eyes that made him lash out at her and say things he never meant.
“Richard’s death devastated her. I know she made frequent visits to the ranch, but I’m surprised she didn’t move back before now.” Grayson removed the toothpick nestled in the corner of his mouth as Avery returned with th
eir order. Reaching for his plate, he drawled, “Thank you, sugar.”
Caden picked up his burger, saying, “It surprised me she left at all. I wonder why she did.”
“Who?” Avery asked him but it was Connor who answered.
“Tamara Barton, who inherited the ranch abutting ours last year after her dad died. Nice girl.” He drilled Caden with a challenging glare his irritating brother ignored.
“Yeah, Nan mentioned she might join us tomorrow at her tea shop. I’m looking forward to meeting her. I’m clocking out, so I’ll catch you later.”
Grayson watched her stroll away, his eyes soft as he bit into his hoagie. Connor shook his head with a frown of mock disgust. “Whipped, both of you. It’s nauseating.”
Caden laughed and slapped him on the back hard enough to have him choking on a fry and reaching for his coke. “Someday, I’ll enjoy watching you eat those words.”
“Not me, no way, no how. Why settle for one entrée when I can indulge in a buffet any time I want?”