“This is amazing,” Gracie said, and had to lean in close to Beth’s ear just to be heard over the band.
“Turned out great, didn’t it?” Beth looked around at the size of the crowd and then noticed Justin heading toward her.
She didn’t need to deal with this today. Especially after yesterday and those amazing, soul shattering hours with Camden. God. She should be regretting the decision she’d made to sleep with Cam, but how could she? She’d never known anything like what she experienced with him. But how could she trust him? How could she ever hope for them to be more than simply lovers?
In spite of what she’d told him the day before, she did believe in love and marriage and the happily-ever-after that had eluded her so far. Once she’d thought that future would include Cam; now she didn’t see how it could.
Still, that didn’t mean her future would include Justin.
Beth turned and told Gracie, “Gotta get lost in the crowd. Justin’s coming and I just can’t do this today.”
Gracie looked past her and said, “Go. I’ll stall him.”
“Remind me to give you a raise.”
“I will.” Gracie smiled and went to head Justin off.
Beth, meanwhile, slipped into the crowd, ducking behind people, hoping to lose herself. She caught snatches of conversation, eruptions of laughter and squeals from little kids. It was all so normal. Except for what she was up to. Imagine being a grown woman and hiding from a man rather than just telling him to go away.
But, in her defense, Justin didn’t listen.
“What are you doing?”
She looked up and grimaced at her cousin Zeke. “Hiding. Don’t give me away.”
Zeke turned to look in the direction she’d come from and sighed. “Can’t he take a hint?”
“Apparently not.” She looked up at him and pleaded, “Help.”
“Right.” He grabbed her hand, pulled her onto the dance floor behind him and barely slowed down when she squawked.
“This is not hiding, Zeke.”
“No, this is dancing.” He slipped his arm around her, took her right hand in his and smoothly moved them in with the other dancers. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him cut in.”
“You’d better not.” After a second or two, she looked up at him and asked, “Don’t you have someone here you’d rather be dancing with than your cousin?”
“Not at the moment,” he confessed, then grinned at her. “Besides, I dance with my cousin, and I look like a great guy to all the interesting women around here.”
She laughed. “So you’re using me.”
“Absolutely.” He winked and spun her into a turn.
The crowd was a mash of color and movement. The music was loud but catchy, and the local band knew exactly the kind of songs to play to keep their audience dancing. This was Texas, so the music was country, but the beat was so good that even those who preferred rock and roll were kept happy enough.
“You did a great job on this, Beth.”
“Thanks.” She looked to her right. On the other side of the fire station, the gleaming red-and-white trucks sat in the sun while children climbed all over them. “I think we pulled it off.”
“I’ll say. Did you see Bob Hackett when he won that truck?” Zeke laughed. “I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head.”
“Well, he’s twenty-two and just got a brand-new top-of-the-line truck. That’s enough to make anybody a little bug-eyed.”
“Yeah, he’s posing for pictures with it. I think his girlfriend, Cherry, is getting jealous. He keeps touching that truck like he’s afraid it’s going to disappear.”
Beth knew that feeling. She’d had it yesterday when she couldn’t stop touching Camden—a stroke on his arm, a caress across his chest, smoothing his hair back from his forehead. It was as if she had to keep feeling him to reassure herself that he was really there. With her. After so long without him, having him close again had been almost dreamlike.
“Oh, God.”