Too Close For Comfort (Sweetrock Cowboy Romance Book 2) (11 page)

“Suit yourself. You can drop me at The Chuckwagon, if you don’t mind. I’ll get a ride home with Rena. I’m meeting her there later,” Melina said.

Cash glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Later? How much later?” Cash knew the bar at The Chuckwagon was one of Mel’s favorite haunts and if she had extra time, he hoped she wouldn’t be spending it drinking.

She glanced at her watch and shrugged. “About an hour. I’m not a child that needs to be watched every minute.”

“Okay. You’re right. Sorry.” Just as well. The Chuckwagon was closer than Melina’s place.

He dropped her off, declining her invitation to go in and then took a rarely traveled shortcut to the Riley ranch. He was out of the Jeep while the engine was still spinning, pounding up the steps and running into the house straight to Tessa’s room.

She wasn’t there. Her suitcase was gone. He opened the drawers, looked in the closet. No clothes.

He ran back to the living room and looked out the window. He hadn’t even registered whose cars had been parked in the driveway when he’d pulled in. Hers wasn’t there. Nor was it at her little house across the field.

He was too late. She was already gone.

T
essa had thrown
her clothes into her suitcase and then tossed that into the bed of her truck. The wood floor refinishers were just clearing their things out of her house. She’d go back and unpack later—now she needed to get to Sam.

By the time she pulled into The Chuckwagon, her eyes were red from crying and her throat clogged up with snot. The giant dust plume from someone who’d just high-tailed it out of there hovering in the parking lot didn’t help much and she coughed her way through it and into the restaurant. She stood in the doorway as her eyes adjusted, trying to compose herself.

Beulah came from the left where the bar was, her long-fringed brown suede vest swaying back and forth, her wrinkled face scrunching up even more as she noticed Tessa.

“What’s the matter, honey?”

“I...need to see Sam,” Tessa blurted out, barely holding back the tears.

Sam appeared from the same direction, stopping short when she saw Tessa. Her eyes drifted from Beulah to Tessa. “Is something going on?”

Beulah shrugged, diverting her focus to a stack of menus. Tessa stood there, trying to speak through the lump in her throat. Finally, her words blurted out in a rush. “It’s happening again. The same thing that happened with Derek!”

Sam’s frown deepened. “What? What are you talking about?” She took Tessa’s arm, and led her to an empty table away from the rest of the diners and pushed her down into a chair. “Let me get you some water.”

Tessa was glad for the reprieve. She composed herself while Sam was getting the water. Now she was starting to feel a little silly. She wasn’t a naive college student anymore. She was a grown woman and she couldn’t run to Sam every time things didn’t work out with a guy. Of course, this wasn’t about just
any
guy. This was about Cash—one of the most important people in her life...or so she’d thought.

Sam put the water in front of Tessa and sat in the chair beside her, her face full of concern. “What happened? What do you mean the same thing as Derek? Did you see him? I know Becky said he’s in town...”

Tessa shook her head. “No. I mean, I did see him. He was downtown, but when I saw him I hid, and that’s when I saw
them
.”

“Them? Maybe you should back up and start from the beginning.”

Tessa hesitated. She couldn’t start from the beginning without telling Sam about her and Cash. Suddenly, she felt nervous, embarrassed. She’d made such a fool of herself—though it wouldn’t be the first time Sam had seen her make a fool out of herself. Maybe not even the last, either.

“It’s not Derek...it’s...” Tessa stumbled on the words, not knowing quite where to start.

“Does this have something to do with Cash?” Sam asked.

Tessa’s heart jerked at the sound of his name. Did Sam know what was going on between them? Had Cash told Nick? “Did Nick say something?”

Sam shook her head. “Nah, it’s as plain as day that there’s something going on with you two.” She leaned forward, put her hand on Tessa’s and squeezed. “I could tell he had eyes for you my first week here. My only question is what took you so long?”

Tessa snorted, grabbed a napkin and blew her nose. “Well, it looks like that was a mistake. The same mistake I made before.”

“That’s the part I don’t get. What mistake?”

“I thought what was between Cash and me was real.” Tessa took a shaky breath—she could barely bring herself to say the words. “He’s the first guy I actually felt anything with since Derek. I thought maybe I’d finally found someone, you know? But it turns out I was just a momentary fling to him.”

“Momentary fling? I don’t think so. Why do you say that?”

Tessa’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She could see getting fooled by a guy once, but twice, and in the same exact way? Sam must think she was a total idiot. It was clear her internal guy-trusting radar was way off. Maybe she’d been right to push all her other boyfriends away when things got serious.

“I guess I should’ve known. He never said anything about keeping things permanent. I suppose I was just convenient because we were living in the same house.”

Sam scowled at her. “Convenient? That doesn’t sound like the Cash I know. Sure, he’s dated a lot of women but he’s always been respectful and judging by the way he looks at you his feelings are much more than a convenient fling. Do you think this simply because he never said anything was permanent? Did you even give him a chance?”

“He had plenty of chances. Why, just this morning...” Her voice trailed off. This morning he had been about to say something but then his grandfather had called and he’d gotten distracted. Had he been about to say something about still seeing each other after they moved back to their own places? If he had, she’d been the one to cut him off, pushing him out the door before he could continue the conversation.

But she’d
seen
him with Melina downtown and past experience told her she shouldn’t trust a man, especially not when the evidence was right in front of her face.

“This morning what? It sounds to me like you’re jumping to conclusions.” Sam leaned back in her chair and studied Tessa. “I know how hurt you were with Derek. You’re gun shy and that’s understandable. You’re probably misinterpreting everything you see. You know how it is when you get hurt. You try to protect yourself, and you get the wrong signals. You see things that aren’t there.”

“Yeah, well I wish that was the case. But I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“Saw what?” Sam asked.

Tessa blurted the words out before she could stop them. “I saw Cash with Melina at the Planned Parenthood office downtown. I think Melina is having Cash’s baby—he cheated and got someone pregnant, just like Derek!”

“Are you
joking
?” Tessa spun around to the angry voice behind her. “Melina...I didn’t know you were here.”

“Yeah. I’m here, and I heard what you just said. What the heck? You think I would be fooling around with Cash? What the hell is wrong with you? He’s my friend.”

“So what’s going on? Did you guys get everything settled?” Beulah appeared at the table and Tessa felt dizzy. Her eyes still on Melina. Was Melina covering or could it be possible that Sam was right and Tessa was reading things into the situation that weren’t there?

“No, we didn’t.” Melina pulled out a chair and sat down, placing a glass full of dark liquid in front of her. She rested her elbows on the table and stared at Tessa. “What are you talking about? What
is
going on?”

Tessa looked at the three women uncertainly. She saw another person approaching the table behind Beulah. Rena.

Jeez, was the whole town going to come to the table and watch her make a fool out of herself? But Tessa had known what she’d seen with her own eyes. So she wouldn’t be the fool because she was right, wasn’t she?

She turned to Melina. “I
saw
you with Cash downtown at the Planned Parenthood office.”

Melina looked down at her drink, picked it up and swirled it around, letting the ice cubes clink against the sides while she stared into it thoughtfully. Then she took a big swig, put the glass back down loudly. “That’s right. You did see me, but it’s not what you think.”

Rena had arrived at the table and was now looking at them curiously. “What’s going on?”

“You might as well have a seat and watch the show.” Tessa gestured to the empty chair.

Rena sat down, her eyes darting from Beulah to Melina to Sam, then coming to rest on Tessa. “Is something wrong?”

“Tessa thinks I’m having Cash’s baby.” Melina laughed and Tessa straightened in her seat. If there was something funny, she sure as hell didn’t see it.

“What? Why would she think that?” Rena asked then turned to Melina. “Are you? I thought Tessa was the one that had something going on with Cash.”

“We all thought that,” Melina said.

They all stared at Tessa. She squirmed in her seat. Had everyone known about her and Cash this whole time? “Wait a minute. You guys knew? Who told you?”

“It’s written all over both your faces,” Rena said. “In fact, we have a bet going. Now, don’t tell me something’s gone wrong because I might lose a lot of money.”

“You? I put a hundred bucks down,” Beulah said then turned to Tessa. “Now tell us what
exactly
is going on here. And don’t tell me this has something to do with you not resolving issues with Derek.”

Melina sighed. “I think I can clear things up. I didn’t want anyone to know but I’ve been working with some of the underprivileged teenage moms in the area. Cash’s grandfather actually got me into it. This morning, Cash and I had to run a little errand for Gramps. That’s what we were doing down at the Planned Parenthood. It’s got nothing to do with me and Cash. We were there for one of the teen moms.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you,” Sam said. “Why didn’t you ever tell us?

Melina shrugged. “I didn’t want you guys to think I was turning into an old softy.”

Tessa’s heart stopped. Was that true? If so, she
had
jumped to conclusions. Conclusions that could ruin everything she had with Cash. But that still didn’t change the fact that
he
hadn’t mentioned anything about what would happen after the floors were done.

Then again, who could blame him? Now that she looked back, she realized she’d been acting stand-offish because she was worried about getting hurt. Just like she’d done with all the other men she’d dated.

“But what’s this got to do with Tessa and Cash?” Rena asked.

“When I saw them together, I thought the same thing had happened that had happened with Derek.” Tessa confessed now, feeling ashamed she’d suspected Cash of that.

Rena’s face softened with sympathy and she grabbed Tessa’s hand. “Oh, I can understand how that would happen. You’re still trying to protect yourself from that same hurt. But don’t you see, you’re actually hurting yourself more.”

Tessa’s heart pinched as tears pricked the backs of her eyes. “I see that now. Now I’ve gone and ruined everything.”

“No, not yet. You still have a chance,” Beulah said. “But you gotta go deal with your issues or you really
will
ruin everything. You need to face Derek. And, once that’s behind you,
then
you need to get over to Cash’s and tell him how you really feel.”

“I don’t know. I think it’s too late. And I don’t know if I can face Derek.” Tessa felt scared, nervous. What if she confronted Derek and Cash still didn’t want her anymore?

“Oh, no you don’t.” Rena hauled her up from the chair. “You need to go and do this. If not for yourself, do it for me. Because we’re in the same boat, and I need to know that you can confront your issues and move on. Because if you can do it, then that means there’s hope for me.”

Tessa stood there uncertainly, her eyes flicking from Beulah to Sam to Melina to Rena. They were all smiling, encouraging her.

Her heart started to fill with hope. They were right. She was the one screwing things up with her own self-doubt and there was only one way to fix it.

She turned and ran out to her car, hoping to find Derek at home before she lost her nerve.

* * *

C
ash slammed
the Jeep into gear and peeled out of the driveway, taking all his frustrations out on the car.

Tessa was gone. She’d left without saying even one word.

He should’ve listened to Gramps. He should’ve used his head instead of his heart. If he had, then maybe he wouldn’t be swimming in a sea of regret right now just like Gramps. Well, that would teach him.

He took a deep, steadying breath. No sense in getting Gramps upset. At least he’d gotten Gloria set up at the clinic so the day wasn’t a total loss. Gramps would be happy about that, and Cash should be happy about it, too.

He drove to Golden View, not even seeing the beautiful Montana scenery that passed by. He didn’t notice the clear blue sky or the fresh breeze that filtered in his window. When he parked in the lot, he didn’t even care where he was parking. He got out and walked into the building, his heart heavy, barely managing a wave for the elderly residents he’d become so familiar with.

He took the elevator up and knocked on Gramps’ door. Gramps opened the door, took one look at him, and frowned. “What got into you, boy? You look like you lost your best friend.”

Cash didn’t want to saddle Gramps with his troubles so he faked a smile. “Nothin’, Gramps. Just had a full morning.”

The old man looked at him sideways and ushered him into the apartment.

“Lemonade?” Gramps opened the door to his small refrigerator then peered back over his shoulder, questioning Cash. “Beulah brought it over from The Chuckwagon.”

“Sounds good.” Cash didn’t really care about drinking lemonade but he supposed it would make things seem more normal. He proceeded to the living room and sank into his usual seat on the sectional, the familiar feeling of the buttery leather and the soft creak as he sat soothed him. It felt good to be here with Gramps. He knew Gramps was at least one person who would never let him down.

The thought twinged his heart. Had Tessa really let him down, or had it been his own unrealistic expectations? How could he have possibly expected her to go from friends to lovers that quickly? It wasn’t like she’d had those feelings buried underneath the whole time as he had, was it?