Joel laughed loudly, and Caroline could see the resemblance between the brothers. It was obvious they didn’t take life too seriously.
“I have a cat that comes in here and causes complete chaos. I’m going to have to get you to come in next time Sweetie has an appointment. Maybe you’re some kind of cat whisperer or something. You might have missed your calling.”
Travis shot an annoyed look at his brother before handing Bentley back to her. “I’m not a cat whisperer. Don’t you remember that time one of Brooke’s cats got on top of my head and scratched my forehead so badly I almost needed stitches?”
Joel just laughed louder as he washed his hands. “Well, Caroline, Bentley here seems to be in perfect health. Other than his strange bromance with my brother, that is. I’d say he’s likely just trying to adjust to all the changes and maybe he hasn’t quite settled in yet. Give him a few days to get used to his new surroundings and I’m sure he’ll stop trying to get out and roam around town.”
He reached into a pot he had beside the exam table and pulled out a tag. “But just in case he does wander off, put this tag on him and it will let people know to call here. This number will tell us that it’s Bentley so we can make sure to get him back to you. It’s only a temporary solution, though, so I’d suggest you get him microchipped as soon as possible.”
By the time they were finished, and on their way back to town, Caroline was sure she’d never felt more relaxed around people she’d just met in her life. The entire Quinn family seemed to have a way of making you feel at ease, especially Travis.
“So, do you really believe Joel’s dog, Stanley, is in love with that donkey?” She peeked over at the man behind the wheel, enjoying the dimple that showed up as he thought about her question.
After her appointment, Travis had shown her around the property a bit where Joel had some strays and other animals boarding. Of course, she’d had to meet Winnie, the mini donkey that everyone claimed was in love with Joel’s dog Stanley. It really was kind of cute to watch them hanging out together.
“Honestly, with Stanley, you never know. And I guess you just can’t help who you fall in love with.” When he turned to smile at her briefly, her breath caught. “Even if it’s a donkey.”
Something about the way he said it made her burst out laughing, sending Bentley clawing his way into the backseat of the car.
“You have no idea how right you are about that.”
She knew all about falling in love with a donkey.
She moved her eyes to watch the scenery fly by the window. Quinn Valley was so different from where she’d grown up in Florida. Out here, she felt like she could see for miles and that everything was just so green and alive. She couldn’t wait to see the fall colors of the trees and the thought of snow in the winter made her feel like a child full of excitement.
“You’ve never really told me much about yourself. I mean, it’s only fair since you already know just about every detail of my life. Being a Quinn doesn’t leave you much room for any privacy around here, and the fact that you work with my parents now, I shudder to think of the stories my mother has shared with you.”
She laughed as she looked back at him. His profile as he drove showed off the strong jawline she’d never really noticed before. And that dimple…
“She hasn’t shared anything too horrifying. Although she has mentioned something about you being far too obsessed with hockey and that a person never wants you as a partner for a game because you can’t win anything to save your life.”
His mouth fell open and he looked at her in pretend shock. “I am not too obsessed with hockey.”
“I get the hockey but you aren’t going to argue about the whole losing at every game you play thing?”
He grinned as he shook his head and looked back at the road. “No. I fully agree with that assessment. But I still like to keep playing because you just never know when that day will come.”
“Well, that’s good. Because your mom has invited me to your next family game night. But I hope you don’t feel bad if I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t end up on your team for anything.”
The smile never left his face as he shrugged. “I can’t really blame you. But I should warn you that I can feel a win coming soon.”
After a few minutes of quiet, Bentley finally hopped back up into her lap. He’d become much better at riding in the car since the drive from Florida, so he immediately plopped down and went to sleep as she stroked his soft fur.
“Have you had him long?”
Travis’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She smiled as she kept her eyes on the cat in her lap. “I got him a couple of years ago. I found him in a dumpster with two other kittens who were only a few days old. He was the only one who survived. I bottle fed him and did everything I could to keep him alive because there was just something about him that gave me so much hope, you know?”
“I guess that’s why he’s so devoted to you.”
“My boyfriend at the time hated him. He tried to say he was allergic and that cats were dirty—anything he could to make me get rid of him. But Bentley was the one thing I never let him take from me. And I think that was part of the reason he hated him so much. Almost as much as he hated horses and me going riding. I gave that all up for him, so when Bentley came along, I wasn’t letting him go too.”
She swallowed and slowly looked over at Travis, embarrassed that she’d revealed so much just like that. The only person in the world she’d ever talked to about anything like this was Marley, so she wasn’t quite sure why she’d spewed the words out so easily to a man she’d only met a few days ago.
When her eyes met his, he gave her a smile that showed her she had nothing to be embarrassed about. “Well, I’m glad you never gave him up. It sounds like you needed him as much as he needed you.”
He watched the road as they made their way toward Main Street where the office apartment was. As he pulled up in front of the building, he stopped the car and turned to face her with a concerned look on his face. She was afraid he was going to ask her more about Lawrence, and right now, she didn’t know if she wanted to share any more. She’d been having so much fun just hanging out with him, and she’d ruined it by bringing up someone from her past who didn’t matter anymore.
“So, you gave up riding? I can’t imagine not being able to go hop on the back of a horse and ride whenever I wanted to. I really think that’s something you should start doing again.”
She let the breath go she’d been holding, waiting for the questions she wasn’t sure how to answer. She could have reached out and hugged him for seeming to know she didn’t want to talk about that.
“Well, I stopped going riding for a long time. But I did go out one time, and since I was out of practice, I ended up getting thrown from the horse. I still have a limp from that day if I sit or stand in one spot for too long. And after that happened, it was just easier to never get back in the saddle. It was like he’d been proven right about how bad horses were. So, I haven’t ridden since.”
Travis was shaking his head in disbelief. “You need to get back in the saddle. You know what they always say…”
She laughed and nodded. “I know, I know. Both Marley and my dad have told me that repeatedly. I’m actually ashamed to admit it, but the truth is, I’m a little bit afraid now. It’s almost been too long, and I’m scared something else will happen. Plus, I don’t know if my hip would be able to stand sitting in a saddle for too long.”
He was still shaking his head slowly as he listened to her. “Well, lucky for you, you know one of the best physiotherapists in the world, if I do say so myself. I can give you some exercises and we can see if it’ll help you get through some of that. And as for being afraid to get back in the saddle, I also happen to be quite capable at horseback riding. I grew up spending a lot of time at my Grams and Gramps’s ranch, and if you didn’t know how to ride, you were left behind a lot.”
“Your grandparents have a ranch with horses? I
’d love to go out there sometime. I was going to see about helping at the boarding stables outside of town so I could at least be around horses, even if I wasn’t riding them.”
“You can still do that if you want, but I know my cousin Rhodes who runs the ranch now would be fine with you going out there anytime if you wanted. I can take you there this weekend and let you have a chance to be around the horses a bit if you’d like. Then if you feel up to it, we can go for a ride. If not, we can try another day.”
She stared at this man who was offering to give her back something she’d been missing in her life for so long. He wasn’t making her feel guilty for wanting to go riding and he wasn’t pushing her to do more than she felt ready for.
She had to swallow against the emotion that threatened to spill into her throat. “I’d really like that, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Bentley must have decided it was time to remind everyone that he was there, so he jumped across into Travis’s lap and stretched up to rub his nose on the man’s chin. Caroline pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing at the expression on Travis’s face.
“Honestly, Bentley, this is getting out of hand. I mean, you’re a nice cat and all, but people are going to start talking.” He was smiling down at the cat as he scratched him behind the ears.
Caroline had to admit it was a nice feeling to be sitting next to someone who wasn’t grumbling about her cat. Something so small, yet it made her heart feel so much joy.
For so long, she’d been made to feel like she had to choose between her cat and Lawrence all the time. She’d known it was ridiculous, but he’d always made her feel like all her attention needed to be on him only. And Bentley took that attention away from him sometimes.
“Come on, Bentley. Stop bothering Travis.” She reached out to take the cat, but Travis shook his head.
“It’s fine. I’ll carry him up the stairs for you, so he doesn’t try getting away again.” The cat pushed his nose into Travis’s face again, the purring so loud, it almost echoed in the quiet of the car as he opened the door to get out. “Besides, I’m not sure he’s entirely forgiven you for allowing Joel to put that thermometer where he wasn’t expecting it to go.”
She laughed as she followed him up to her door. Bentley had been quite offended, but she knew he’d get over it.
As she watched the man ahead of her carrying her cat so gently, she realized how nice it was to be around someone who didn’t make her afraid to be herself. Something so small as not hating her cat was huge in her mind.
And by the look on Bentley’s face as he snuggled into Travis’s shoulder, he was feeling the exact same way.
Chapter Six
“Now, like we always do, we will draw names for the teams. And since Caroline is here today, it’s evened out our numbers so that whoever has Travis on their team won’t be getting an extra player.”
Travis rolled his eyes at his mother. “You know, Mom, it’s lucky I’m not easily offended.”
“Well, we all know it’s the truth, even if we don’t always speak it out loud.”
He snorted loudly. “Don’t speak it out loud? You guys literally always speak it out loud.” He turned to look at Caroline who was covering her mouth and trying not to laugh. “I’m honestly not that bad. They all just like to make it seem worse than it is.”
His sister Robyn grimaced and shook her head. “No, Travis. You really are that bad. We all cross our fingers until the teams are picked, hoping you won’t be on our team. We know we’ll be on the losing team if you’re with us.”
Caroline held her hand up and crossed her fingers too, smiling at him apologetically. “Sorry, Travis. But I like to win.”
He huffed and pretended to be offended, even though he knew it was true. And he was enjoying seeing Caroline already feeling comfortable enough around everyone to join in with teasing him. He had thick skin, so he could take it.
One of these days, though, he was going to win something and make them all eat their words.
His mom reached into the hat and pulled out five names. “Team one is Brooke, Vicki, Ben, Hayley, and Travis.” He ignored all the groans from everyone who had been chosen for his team and went to stand beside their group. “The rest of you are on team two. Your father and I will be the referees to make sure no one is cheating, and we’ll keep score. There are five different Minute to Win It activities and you each have to do one. So choose wisely who will be doing each event. Whoever has the fastest combined scores at the end will win.”
“Ha, we already know who will win.” Joel was high-fiving everyone on his team as they all laughed among themselves.
Travis smiled to himself as he watched Caroline getting so excited. Ever since he’d met her, there was something about her she held back. He knew there was more to her story about why she came out here to live, and he suspected it had something to do with her ex she’d briefly talked about.
But he wasn’t going to push her to tell him until she was ready. Besides, he needed to remind himself that just because he’d spent some time with her, it wasn’t like they were starting a relationship or anything.
He was attracted to her and would love to ask her out on a real date, but he also knew she might not be ready for anything like that yet. For now, he was happy to just get to know her and be around her.
So seeing her having so much fun, made him happy. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too mad at him if today was the day his team finally won.
Before he’d even had a chance to vote, he was chosen to go for the last event. They all hoped that if they could do really well before his turn, they might be in a better position to actually win.
Over the next half hour, everyone laughed as they watched the teams competing. First, they had to unroll two rolls of toilet paper, one on each hand, without using the other hand to touch it. Brooke won for their team, so they were already off to a good start. They held their lead by winning a couple more of the individual challenges, so by the time Travis was up, they actually had a good chance to beat the other team.
This was so unexpected for them, and they were talking excitedly as they helped him tie the belt that held the Kleenex box filled with cotton balls around his waist. “Okay, now Travis. Don’t blow this! I know you’ve done this one before and you’re actually not too bad at it, so today is your day to finally win.” Vicki was looking in his eyes and giving him a pep talk as though he were about to go out for an Olympic event. Normally, he didn’t notice how crazy his family was when it came to playing games, but today he wondered if maybe they weren’t all a bit over-the-top.
He grinned across at Caroline who was getting her box of cotton balls tied on by Robyn. She was getting a little pep talk too, and the smile on her face told him she fully intended to beat him.
They stood in the middle of the yard where the events took place and faced each other. Her cheeks were red from laughing, and she squinted her eyes to try look threatening. “Sorry, but you’re going down.”
His team was only ahead by a few seconds, but at least it was a lead. He shook his head and grinned at her. “Not today.”
When his dad yelled go, they both started shaking their hips as fast as they could, trying to get all the cotton balls out. He bounced, jumped and wiggled his hips, doing everything he could until his team could tell him it was empty.
He was sure he had to be getting close and he quickly glanced over at Caroline to see how she was doing. Immediately, he could tell something was wrong. She had slowed right down and even with everyone cheering her on, she was having trouble moving her hips back and forth. Her eyebrows were pulled together and he knew by the way her mouth was held tight that she was in pain.
But he knew instinctively she didn’t want anyone to know. Or be the reason her team lost when everyone was having so much fun.
He could see she’d already gotten most of the cotton balls out. Joel was yelling that she only had two more to go. His team was telling him the same thing, and he knew
with one or two more shakes of his hips, his team would easily win.
Instead, he lurched a bit sideways and pretended to struggle. She was watching him as she intently tried to keep her hips moving enough to get the last two out.
Finally, when he was sure he was about to put his back out by bouncing around so horribly, her team yelled that she’d won. He still had to get his out so they could add the times up, so he made sure he took just a little bit longer than was really needed.
This was the one time he could have carried his team to victory. But knowing how embarrassed Caroline would have been that she was the reason Travis’s team finally won, would have stolen any of the excitement he might have had.
There was always next time.
As he drove her home, he glanced over and noticed her rubbing at her leg. After the games were over, they’d barbecued supper and visited, but he’d noticed she’d grown quieter and spent most of the evening sitting down. When she had stood up to walk, she was visibly limping, although she tried hard to hide it.
“I’ve got some exercises printed out for you to try for your leg, if you’d like them. You could come in one day next week, and we could work on strengthening the muscles a bit more.”
She looked over at him sheepishly. “Was it that noticeable?”
He shrugged. “Not really. But I’m trained to fix problems like this, so I see things a lot of other people might not notice. Besides, you were the one who told me about your riding accident and how you still have some pain from it.”
“It was fine until I tried doing that challenge. I guess I got a bit too carried away. I didn’t want your mom or anyone to feel bad that I’d hurt myself, so I was hoping no one would notice.” She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at him for a moment. “Did you let me win?”
He quickly looked back at the road and shook his head emphatically. “Absolutely not. Don’t you think if I had the chance to finally win something, I would have taken it? This could have been my moment to shine.”
Calico Cupid Page 3