Flirting with Love

by Melissa Foster

  “Robbie—”

  “Let me finish, please.” He pressed his lips together, then smiled again. “I was stupid to think I had to have a degree in hand before we could take things to the next level.”

  “Robbie—”

  “I want you back, Elisabeth. I want you to come back to Los Angeles with me, start a family. You always said you wanted a big family. I want that, too. You know that.” Robbie searched her eyes.

  That had been exactly what she wanted, and a year ago she might have gone wherever he asked her to.

  “Robbie, don’t interrupt me,” she said quickly. “You needed your degree, and I understood that. I was happy that you went after what you needed in your life. But I have, too. I need to be here, and you’ve always known that I wanted to come back here.”

  He furrowed his brow. “I know. I think we can make it work.”

  What? This tripped her up for a minute. Did he really think they’d fall back into their old relationship? She glimpsed the line of people and pets by her booth.

  She looked at Robbie’s bright, hopeful eyes, and she rose to her feet. He did, too, and reached for her hand again.

  “Elisabeth, just tell me you’ll think about it.”

  “Robbie, I’m sorry you came all this way. I’m with Ross now, and I’m happy.” She began walking toward her booth.

  “I’ll be at the hotel until tomorrow morning. Just think about it. That’s all I’m asking.”

  That’s all? Like it was nothing?

  She caught sight of Daisy waving her hands over her head from within the booth, and when she glanced over, Daisy pointed to Wren Wynchel, standing at the booth with a frustrated look in her eyes, Barney and another of the dogs tugging at their leashes beside her.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  Elisabeth took a few steps away and sensed Robbie staring after her. She knew she was hurting him, and she hated that. It wasn’t in her nature to hurt someone else, especially someone she once cared for.

  If only walking away was as easy as boxing up their past and stowing it away had been.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ROSS COULD HARDLY concentrate on Jake pulling off one life-threatening stunt after another. He checked his cell for the hundredth time that hour. Still no text from Elisabeth.

  “Sun’s going down. Why don’t you go find her?” Wes suggested. “I can call Callie and see if she’s back at her booth.”

  “No. She’ll text when she can. No need to get everyone involved.”

  Wes arched a brow. “Everyone’s already involved.”

  Ross’s phone vibrated and his pulse sped up with hope that it was Elisabeth. It wasn’t. It was one of his clients.

  “Was it her?” Wes asked.

  “No. Mr. Ricker. Problem calving. I’ve got to go check it out.” Ross headed for the parking lot—the opposite direction of where he wanted to go. “Wes, Elisabeth will need help taking down her booth.”

  “I’m on it, and, bro, don’t worry. She loves you, man. We know that. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of. Go help the cow.”

  Ross was halfway across the fairgrounds when he heard Margie Holmes’s voice. He’d seen her outside of the diner so rarely that it took him a minute to put the voice together with Margie without her waitress uniform.

  “Is that one of my favorite Bradens?” Margie caught up to him.

  “Hey, Margie. Sorry, I’m in a hurry.” He continued walking at a fast pace, not the least bit interested in small talk, worried about the cow and its calf, and going crazy over Elisabeth.

  “Uh-oh. I guess it’s true, then.”

  “What?”

  “That the guy who was asking about Elisabeth this morning at the diner and who we saw sitting with her in the grass was her ex-boyfriend.” She made a tsk sound and shook her head.

  Sitting with her in the grass?

  “What is it about this town?” Ross picked up his pace.

  “We care about you, Ross. It’s a shame. We were all just starting to really like her.”

  Ross stopped cold and closed his eyes to reel in his anger. “Margie, do me a favor. Don’t add legs to this gossip, okay? Yes, he was her ex-boyfriend. Ex being the operative word. She’s with me, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Margie tilted her head and her eyes filled with compassion. “I’ve known you since you were just a boy, and you’ve always seen the best in people. It’s one of your strongest traits.”

  What the hell is that supposed to mean?

  Margie stepped away. “I’d better go find Alice. We came together, but she went to get a funnel cake. That’s something I can afford to skip.” She patted her hip and walked away in the direction of the snack pavilion.

  He wasn’t crazy about interrupting Elisabeth if she was still with Robbie, but he wanted to let her know where he was going to be for the next few hours in case she needed him while he was at the Rickers’ farm. There was no way he could answer his cell phone while dealing with a difficult calving. He texted her on his way to the farm. When she didn’t text back, he called her. He didn’t want to take a chance of her calling while he was busy and misinterpreting why he didn’t answer his phone, especially after he’d left her and Robbie alone.

  “Ross.” She sounded breathless.

  “Hey, babe. I’m on my way to the Rickers’ farm. So I’ll be late tonight. Are you okay?” Are we still together?

  “Yeah. Just had a slew of people to take care of at the booth.”

  “You’re back at the booth?” Thank God. Then she couldn’t have been too hung up on Robbie.

  “Yes. Sorry. I walked away from Robbie and right into a barrage of customers. I can’t believe it, but Wren showed up with two of her dogs. I have about seven people waiting now, including two guys who said they were suppliers for your clinic, and the fair closes soon, so I can’t stay on long, but I really am sorry about Robbie.” She was talking fast. He knew she couldn’t discuss this in front of customers.

  “We’ll talk tonight. Go ahead and take care of your customers.” Relief swept through him. She was still his Lissa. Thank God. “I’ll come by when I’m done, and I arranged for Wes to help you break down the booth.”

  “I know. Callie told me right before you called. Thank you. I’m sorry. I want to talk, but I’ve got to run.”

  “Okay.” He smiled to himself, picturing her beautiful face conflicted between staying on the phone and helping the people who were waiting for her. “Love you, Lis.”

  His words met dead airwaves. She’d already ended the call. Even though he knew it was just because she was busy at her booth with a line of people waiting for her, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

  Ross was at the Ricker farm until well after dark. The calving cow had grown tired with her efforts and Ross worried she’d given up. When the calf finally made an appearance, it was with only one leg showing.

  Ross knew he had to move quickly. It was a tricky and uncomfortable process for mother, calf, and for Ross, to reach inside the cow and manipulate the calf’s leg so the calf could come out without breaking the appendage. After fifteen minutes of patient manipulation, he safely delivered the sweet little calf. He was relieved when the exhausted mother cow began cleaning off the calf. His muscles were corded tight across his neck and back. The exhausted mother took her tongue to the calf and cleaned the membrane from her slick body. This element of bonding was one of the most beautiful things Ross witnessed in his profession, and it tugged at his heartstrings every time. Despite the blood and fluid, the mother’s innate desire to nurture her calf was a beautiful and amazing sight. He waited for both mother and baby to stand, and for the baby to begin to nurse, and for the first time, watching these moments, spurred thoughts in him about his own future. About having children with Elisabeth someday and watching her take their baby to her breast.

  Once he was certain the baby was nursing well, he knew they were in the clear and breathed a much-needed sigh of relief.

  He needed to
go home and shower before seeing Elisabeth, though he wanted nothing more than to go to her house, take her in his arms—and never let her go. He called her, and his call went to voicemail after the third ring. He left a message.

  “Hey, babe. I’m heading home to shower and then I’ll come over with the boys. Sorry it’s so late. Miss you.”

  He called Wes on his way home.

  “Hey, bro. How’s the calf?” Wes sounded like he was in a good mood.

  “Fine. Long night, but mother and calf are both fine. Just wanted to thank you for helping Lis tonight. Sorry to leave you hanging.” He could always count on his brothers, just as they could always count on him.

  “No worries. Besides, I owed you for the day I called and had you drop everything to come take the quills out of Sweets, remember?”

  Ross laughed under his breath. “That’s a day I’ll never forget. That was the day I found out about you and Callie. I remember thinking that you’d been roped and I’d never be in that position.” He shook his head as he pulled into his driveway.

  “Yeah, I remember that look in your eyes, and now?”

  He pictured the smirk on Wes’s face and was tempted to give him a smart-ass answer, but when Elisabeth’s beautiful face and red-rimmed eyes flashed in his mind, he couldn’t muster the lie.

  “Honestly, Wes. I can’t imagine my life without her.”

  THE FIRST THING Elisabeth did when she got home was call her mother and give her hell for telling Robbie where she was. After an uncomfortable, albeit necessary, conversation, she ended the call, then contemplated calling Robbie for so long that she thought she was going to lose her mind if she didn’t just do it. She didn’t even know why he’d given her the stupid card for the lodge. She had his cell phone number in her phone. Some couples were venomous when they broke up. She and Robbie hadn’t been like that. They’d dated for more than a year, and Elisabeth had been happy. For the first time in all the years that she’d been craving returning to Trusty, she thought that her hopes and dreams must have been wrong. That there wasn’t really a stronger love. She thought that she’d somehow believed in a myth and that what she and Robbie had was what relationships were. Even-keeled and happy to see each other. And although she had longed to live in Trusty, and she longed for a stronger, deeper love, she was loyal to Robbie and accepted their relationship as her fate. Then one night when she’d least expected it, Robbie came over and they watched a little television, and the next thing she knew, Robbie was telling her that he needed to focus on getting his PhD. And just like that, as if it were as simple as changing his clothes, he’d ended the relationship. There was no yelling, and that night, there were no tears. The tears came later. The yelling never did.

  Fate—the real fate—had played its hand. And she’d never again doubted fate, love, or that she’d find both in Trusty. And now it was time to deal with fate head-on.

  She went to the closet and slid the box out. She pushed her aunt’s letters to the side, pausing briefly to glance at them one more time, and withdrew Robbie’s T-shirt and the framed photograph of them. She ran her fingers over the picture and could hardly believe he was there in Trusty. That he’d come all that way to try to win her back.

  She closed the box and pushed it back into the closet, then leaned her back against the closet door as she called his number. He answered on the first ring.

  “You called.” He sounded so hopeful, it tugged at her heart.

  “Yeah. Can you come over so we can talk?” She glanced at his T-shirt, folded neatly on the couch beside the framed photograph of the two of them.

  “Sure. Just give me directions and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  She gave him directions and then sat on the couch and buried her face in her hands. She’d told Emily, Callie, and Daisy about Robbie and that she wasn’t interested in getting back together with him. They’d rallied around her, offering to spend the evening with her and to take her out for a cocktail. She’d had enough cocktails for a while. All she wanted was the life she’d always dreamed of, with the man she adored.

  Fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door, and she froze in the middle of the living room. Her legs wouldn’t move. Her heart thundered against her ribs.

  I can do this.

  She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then breathed deeply several more times before answering the door with the shirt and frame clutched to her chest. Robbie stood before her with a kind smile and a soft gaze. He was the man she’d thought she wanted for a long time, and now here he was. Ready, willing, and offering to make things work. One of Aunt Cora’s pearls of wisdom flashed through her mind. You’ll know when you let the one that matters get away, because when you look into his eyes that last time, your heart falls to your feet and you can barely breathe.

  She stepped out on the front porch and without a word, sat down on the top step. Robbie sat beside her, and she felt her heart squeeze. That’s Ross’s seat.

  “I’m glad you called.” Robbie leaned his elbows on his knees in the familiar way he had and clasped his hands together. “I know it took you by surprise when I showed up.”

  “Yes, it did.” He was so sure, effortlessly comfortable. It would be easy to fall into that friendship again, which, she realized again, was exactly what they’d had. A really great friendship that had found its way into the bedroom. They could have been called friends with benefits, although she hadn’t seen it that way at the time. Only since being with Ross did she understand how deeply her heart was capable of loving, how alive her body was capable of feeling.

  Robbie reached for her hand, and she let him take it. There was no need to fight the friendly notion. She was ready to say her piece, and then, like the last time they’d ended things, he’d walk away, seemingly unperturbed. And unlike last time, she’d go back to Ross.

  Passion. That’s what was missing in Robbie. Passion for life, for others, for someone he loved. Robbie was a nice guy, a good man even, but not a passionate man. His passion was fleeting, based on what it would earn him in his career, or based on what was expected of him. Ross had passion for everything he did and for those he loved. Ross’s passion was as real and true as the air that he breathed.

  Robbie looked into her eyes with another hopeful gaze. “Elisabeth, I want to be with you. Please give me another chance.”

  “Robbie.” Her chest tightened and her throat swelled with emotion. This was more difficult than she’d imagined it would be. Not for what she had to say, but for hurting him. She forced herself to remember that he’d hurt her, and to harness that hurt and use it to move forward. But as she looked into his magnetic blue eyes, it wasn’t hurt she felt. It was gratitude. If he hadn’t set her free, she never would have met Ross, and Ross was her destiny. She couldn’t drum up anger or resentment toward Robbie. Their breakup, like everything else in Elisabeth’s life—even this uncomfortable night—was meant to be.

  “Robbie, there will always be a part of me that loves you for the friendship we’ve shared, but that’s what it was. A very strong, deep, caring friendship. I never quite made it over the edge from comfortable to lose-myself-in-you love.” She paused, letting her admission sink in—for both of them. “I have that now. With Ross. I look at him and everything in my world is brighter, and somehow, it also falls away. There’s only the two of us. I know you don’t want to hear this, Robbie, but Ross is my forever love. He’s the man I want to spend my life with.”

  He pressed his lips together, and she watched his Adam’s apple move up, then slide down as he swallowed that heavy pill of honesty. She set the framed photograph and shirt in his lap.

  “These are good memories, but they’re your memories, Robbie. I cried them away long ago, and I have new memories to make. You’re a good man, and you’ll find the right woman for you. I know you will.” She rose to her feet, and he rose with her.

  “Elisabeth, I came all this way. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? I’m moving in all the right directions. You c
an have anything you want, anything you need. You can have a house here and a house in LA.” His brows knitted together, and the pleading in his voice was so foreign that it sounded surreal.

  As bad as she felt being the cause of his hurt, it also made her stronger. There wasn’t an iota of doubt in her mind or in her heart about the man she wanted to be with. The man she was meant to be with.

  “I have everything I want right here, and he’s going to be here soon.”

  Robbie nodded, defeat in his eyes. “You always said your heart was in Trusty. I just never imagined that I couldn’t find my way back into it. I took that for granted.”

  Yeah, you did. She still didn’t feel resentment, not even knowing that he’d taken her love for granted back then or now. The love she had for Ross was bubbling up inside of her, filling all the spaces that might have otherwise been reserved for those harsher feelings toward Robbie. It softened her heart and made it strong at the same time, and when she reached up to give Robbie a final goodbye hug, it was that love for Ross that brought a sigh.

  ROSS SETTLED THE dogs into the cab of the truck and drove to Elisabeth’s. Knight must have recognized the slowing of the truck and the view of Elisabeth’s house from the road. He panted with anticipation. The truck’s headlights flashed on a BMW in the driveway. Ross slowed to nearly a stop instead of turning in. His eyes locked on Elisabeth encircled in Robbie’s arms, illuminated by the porch light. Jealousy and anger clawed at him, dragging deep and fast along every nerve in his body. He narrowed his eyes, following the line of Robbie’s thick arms around Elisabeth’s waist. Trout’s words came rushing back to him. You gotta let go of what you love so you can move forward knowing that despite it all, you helped someone else live the life they were meant to live.

  Fuck. Was she meant to be with Robbie? Sarge barked out the window, startling Ross out of his stupor. He lead-footed the gas and took off, cursing under his breath.

  At home, he slammed the truck into park and stalked across the yard. The dogs followed on his heels. What the fuck was going on? He thought he knew Elisabeth so well. He thought he’d heard the strength of their relationship in her voice when he’d called. Then why the hell was she draped all over that asshole?