The next message left Kellen with no choice but to reply.
You don’t have a date for the reveal party on Saturday. Can I pretty please invite Mindy to the party?
There were several annoying emojis Caytie liked to use, but it didn’t stop Kellen from typing in a single word in all caps. NO.
Then he did something crazy and told Caytie he’d met someone and would bring her to the party.
The subsequent messages came in at rapid fire.
What!
Who?
Why didn’t you tell me?
I want a pic!
Kellen couldn’t believe what he’d just done. He should send something like “JK” or “LOL”. Instead, he simply told Caytie she’d have to wait for Saturday.
The next message came from Jace.
My wife wants details, but lucky for you it’s our turn.
Tossing the phone on his bed, Kellen tugged off his sweatshirt and opened his closet. He yanked another new shirt Caytie had given him off of the hanger and put it on. Then he sprayed on some of the cologne and ran his fingers through his damp hair to style it the way Caytie had showed him when he wasn’t wearing a hat.
He was on a mission to get a date for Saturday, and he wanted that date to be Ivy. So he was going to the library to finish his paper with hopes a certain librarian would be there today. If not, he might have to see about making good on collecting his rain check for homemade chicken potpie by making a stop at Tillie Cooper’s.
Grabbing his laptop, he quietly made his way downstairs. His plan to sneak out quietly vanished when Grandma Ilene came into the kitchen. Both of her eyebrows lifted when she caught sight of him.
“Don’t you look handsome.” She leaned in and sniffed. “You smell pretty good too. Do you have a date?”
“Nope. I just took a shower.” Kellen lifted up his computer. “I’ve got a paper due in English, so I thought I’d head over to the library to get it done.”
“The library?”
“Yeah, it’s too noisy here, and I need somewhere quiet to work.”
A knowing smile crossed his grandmother’s face. “And you figure the library will be quieter.”
“Aren’t all libraries?”
“Of course,” she said with a light laugh.
Pastor John’s wife was coming toward them, and Kellen didn’t want to stick around for further interrogation. If Ivy shot him down, then it would be one less person to give an explanation to.
“I shouldn’t be long,” Kellen said, waving goodbye.
“Take your time, sweetie,” his grandma called after him a little too gleefully.
The muscles in Kellen’s shoulders knotted, and he gripped the steering wheel tight. His grandma was all too happy to jump on the let’s-find-Kellen-a-girlfriend train that Caytie was on. And Kellen had basically given both women an invitation to get on board for free.
During the entire drive, Kellen tried to think of how to approach Ivy, but came up short. As he entered the city limits, he couldn’t believe how nervous he was to see her again. He cracked his window to let in some fresh air and rolled his shoulders back. A few minutes later he pulled up in front of the city building, but was unable to find a parking space. He hoped the cars parked out front weren’t there to use the library. Nothing like having an audience when trying to flirt with a pretty girl.
Finally, he found a vacant spot around the corner. His hopes that the library wasn’t busy crashed when he opened the doors to the lobby and noticed several strollers parked inside.
The library was anything but quiet. Kellen counted at least a dozen children sitting on the carpet. Well, not exactly sitting. It was more like squirming. As if on a secret military op, his eyes zeroed in on his target. Ivy sat in front of the children with a big book opened on her lap.
Kellen hovered in the doorway, listening to her read the story in an animated way. She was pretty cute as she tried to keep the attention of her lively audience. She hadn’t noticed him yet, but several of the young mothers had. He felt silly for showing up at the library in the middle of the day. There wasn’t another man in the room.
It would be better to come back after story time. He started to back out, but was nearly knocked over by Gabe Wesson.
“Sorry.” Kellen stepped out of the way as Gabe’s daughter let go of her father’s hand and ran to sit down by another little girl.
“Hey, Kellen,” Gabe whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“I, uh, came to study.” He and Gabe were friends, but there was no way he was confessing his real purpose for being here.
Gabe looked confused. “Really?”
“I didn’t know there’d be so many kids here.” Kellen’s gaze briefly flickered over to Ivy. “I think I’ll come back later.”
Understanding lit Gabe’s eyes, and he grinned. “Are you checking out the new librarian?”
Kellen played it cool and shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Me too,” Gabe said so casually that Kellen almost missed it. “I usually can’t make it to story hour with Lindsey, but several of the mom’s convinced me I needed to come and meet the hot librarian.”
Kellen’s gut tightened with a rush of jealousy. Gabe’s wife had skipped out of town with another man shortly after giving birth to a baby that wasn’t Gabe’s. She divorced the poor guy, leaving him to raise their two kids alone. Many of the women in Snow Valley had made it their personal mission to find him another wife.
Fighting the urge to wipe that irritating smile from Gabe’s face, Kellen curled his fingers into his palms. “The hot librarian’s name is Ivy, and she’s already invited me to have lunch with her.”
Technically, Mrs. Cooper had done the inviting, but Ivy hadn’t disagreed.
Gabe’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he leaned in close to Kellen. “Dude, settle down. I took one look at her and knew she was too young for the likes of me.”
The tension between the two men faded, and Kellen felt stupid for acting so territorial. Gabe wasn’t that old, probably only ten to twelve years older than Kellen.
“Does that happen a lot?” Kellen asked, nodding toward the group of mothers inside the library. “Are they constantly trying to set you up?”
“You have no idea.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Since I’m both mother and father, I end up hanging out with the other mom’s at different events. I swear everyone has someone they know who will be just perfect for me.”
“Sorry, man.”
Gabe lifted one shoulder up and looked away. “It’s a waste of everyone’s time. I’m never getting married again.”
Kellen didn’t know what else to say without making the guy more uncomfortable. He decided changing the subject was the best option. “Hey, are you going to help Jace coach little league again this year?”
“Probably.” Gabe looked relieved to be talking about something else. “How about you? Didn’t you used to help Jace coach before…”
Gabe’s voice trailed off, and he looked uncomfortable again. A year ago Kellen would’ve been ticked off and ready to punch the first person to look at him wrong.
“If I have time, I want to help him out. I guess it all depends on what I decide about school.”
Nodding his head, Gabe glanced toward his daughter. “I better get my daughter.”
Story time was over. Lindsey and the other kids jumped up and down in front of Ivy, begging her to read another book.
“That’s all for today,” she said with a laugh. “But I’ll have a new story on Monday.”
The kids were too little to understand that wouldn’t be for five more days. Ivy was good with the crowd, encouraging the children to choose some books to check out and take home.
Kellen watched Gabe retrieve his daughter without trying to talk to the librarian. The poor guy was surrounded by a couple of fierce looking mothers who obviously were not happy with him. Kellen suspected they were trying to get him to talk to Ivy, but Gabe won and left with his daughter. He slippe
d past Kellen and patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Resuming his position, Kellen debated about whether or not to hang around or go back to his truck until the crowd dissipated.
Before he did anything, Ivy glanced up and saw him. Several seconds went by as she held his gaze. Then slowly her lips curved up on the ends.
Maybe his mission wasn’t as futile as he’d thought.
Chapter Five
Ivy’s breath caught as she stared across the room. For the past few days, she’d secretly hoped to see Kellen Thomas again. A couple of times, she’d even been tempted to drop a hint to Aunt Tillie to invite the cowboy over for dinner.
He looked good. Even better than she’d remembered. Unable to help herself, she gave him a small smile and felt her stomach dip when he returned the smile.
A warm tingly sensation started low in her belly and spread through her, making her feel unbalanced. It was a feeling she’d read about many times in her romance books, but never experienced first hand.
Everything inside her urged her to cross the room and talk to him, but she had a passel of preschoolers and their moms waiting to check out books. Besides, she couldn’t give in to these feelings. She’d Skyped with her brothers the night before and asked about the ranch. A sense of doom had settled over her when Morgan said they’d lost two newborn calves and one of the mother’s to the wolves that always threatened their livestock.
They didn’t say it, but she knew it added to their financial stress. She wanted to ease their burdens, and the only way she knew how was to marry Corbin.
A little girl tugged on Ivy’s hand, so she stopped checking out the cute cowboy and focused on checking out books. It took over an hour to clear out the library—all except one.
Kellen had settled into a chair in the back corner of the small library. He’d opened up a laptop and had been working on it continually. Now they were the only two left in the library.
With her notebook opened in front of her, she covertly watched Kellen. He was still typing away, and she wondered what he was working on. Not wanting to disturb him, she picked up her pen and finished writing the grocery list. Aunt Tillie had come down with a cold, and Ivy had promised to make homemade chicken noodle soup.
She added a few more things that would carry them through the week, including the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. She tried not to look at the lone library patron, but her eyes continued to drift over to Kellen. Whatever he was working on held all of his attention. It shouldn’t bother her that he was ignoring her. That was exactly what she should be doing—ignoring him and the crazy way he made her feel.
She started to close her notebook but instead turned the page and stared at her bucket list of ways she wished she could be kissed. It was silly to not only keep the list, but to keep updating it. Yet just last night, she’d added getting kissed while being stuck on a ski lift.
It had been so romantic because Poppy, the heroine in her book, was a poor college student and never did anything fun. She’d given in to her friends cajoling and gone skiing with them because they said it was a great place to meet men.
It hadn’t taken long before all of her friends had paired up with someone, leaving Poppy alone. On her first run, she spotted Alexander, a guy she’d been crushing on all semester.
He didn’t notice her. He never did. There were times when she thought he was checking her out, but he never acted on it. Since she’d spent the money to ski, she hadn’t let that stop her, and she’d found herself riding on the ski lift with one strange person after another. On her last run, she climbed into the lift, waiting to see whom the operator would pair her up with.
That’s when a guy wearing a ski patrol jacket cut in the line, saying he needed to check out one of the runs for a potential avalanche. He climbed in next to Poppy, briefly acknowledging her. Not long after the lift started, he took off his goggles and turned toward her. It was Alexander. They started talking, and he admitted that he’d borrowed his buddy’s ski patrol jacket so he could cut in line to ride with Poppy. They ended up stuck on the lift for nearly an hour. Then against the backdrop of a stunning sunset, Alexander had kissed Poppy.
Ivy was so lost in her daydream, she nearly screamed when Kellen said her name.
“You scared me,” she said, holding a hand over her thumping heart.
“I’m sorry.” He wore a smirk that said he wasn’t all that sorry. “I said your name a couple of times.”
“You did? Why?” She gently cleared her throat. “I mean, do you need any help?”
His blue eyes glittered with amusement. “I noticed the time and wanted to know if you were going to kick me out soon.”
Ivy glanced at the big clock on the wall. The library’s hours weren’t conventional since it was all run voluntarily, and on Wednesday’s. it closed at four. She had ten minutes to go before quitting time.
“Oh,” she said, looking back at Kellen. “I guess it is getting close to that time.” She motioned toward his laptop. “Are you finished with whatever it is you’re working on?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He sat on the edge of the desk and gave her that sexy smirk of his. Like he had a secret she wanted to know but he wasn’t sharing. “Hey listen, Caytie—my sort of sister-in-law—is finding out what the baby is today. She and Jace are having a bunch of people over to their new house on Saturday to announce if it’s a boy or a girl.” The confident smirk slipped a little, and he swallowed hard. “I thought if you aren’t busy you might like to come with me?”
Ivy’s heartbeat tripled in time. He was asking her out, and she desperately wanted to say yes. One date wouldn’t hurt, but it wasn’t that easy. What if this one date turned into more?
“Your Aunt Tillie can come too,” he said, as if that were her only dilemma.
She drew in a calming breath, which was a mistake. He smelled incredibly good, and having him so near jumbled her thoughts. Since he wasn’t wearing a hat, Ivy had the intense desire to run her fingers through his wavy hair.
The attraction she felt for him scared her. She couldn’t give in to her feelings. What would happen if her family lost the ranch? She already had enough guilt for not being a boy. Just before her grandmother had passed away, she’d come home from school and overheard a heated argument between her father and grandma. Her father was changing the name of the ranch from Baker’s Ranch to Baker Brother’s Ranch. Grandma had insisted that he not do it because it would make Ivy feel even more isolated.
The next words her father spoke had hurt, slicing into her heart like the sharp knife she’d cut her finger with while helping her grandma make dinner.
“A girl has no value on a ranch. Besides, she’ll get married one day and leave home. Once I’m gone, it’s the boys who will be building their houses here for their future wives and children.”
Ivy’s grandmother had argued back, but she didn’t stick around to hear what she had to say. She’d wanted to run away, but had nowhere else to go. So she poured her hurt and anger into working the ranch as hard as she could. It had paid off too, because not long after her grandmother had passed away, her father gave her a compliment. At least coming from him it was a compliment. “Good job, Ivy. I guess having a girl isn’t as useless as I’d thought.”
Her brothers were nothing like their father and didn’t like the way he talked to Ivy. Morgan and her dad almost came to blows one day. So from then on, her father only made belittling remarks when her brothers weren’t around. She loved them fiercely, and while her brothers would never require her to sacrifice herself for the ranch, it was exactly what she planned to do.
Remembering her duty, Ivy decided to tell Kellen about Corbin.
“I think you should know I’m practically engaged.”
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Practically?”
“Yes, that means nearly or almost.”
“Right, the definition wasn’t in question.” He winked at her. “I’m just wondering why a guy
would postpone asking you.”
She bit back a smile. That was pretty sweet. He needed to stop this before he weakened her resolve. “He’s waiting until he can find the right diamond.” There was no way she’d reveal the real reason—Corbin liked one-upping her brother Morgan by holding the water rights over his head.
“You have a special diamond in mind?”
Ivy felt her cheeks heat. “I’m not the picky one. I don’t really care what size, color or clarity the diamond is, but Corbin insists on only the best.”
“Does this Corbin have a last name?”
“Spencer. He owns a successful dude ranch neighboring our property.”
Kellen studied her for a few seconds. Then with a nod of his head, moved from his perch on her desk. “Do you need any help closing up?”
Ivy shook her head no, but inside, she was having a panic attack. She didn’t want him to leave—well she did, but not really. It was completely selfish, but she wanted to have her cake and eat it too.
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you around.” He turned and started to walk away.
“I’ll go with you to the party,” she said, springing up out of her seat.
Kellen stopped and angled back to face her. “You will?”
“As your friend.” She moistened her lips. “You know, since…”
“You’re practically engaged?” he said when her voice trailed off.
“Yeah, that.”
A slow smile spread across his handsome face. “Okay. It starts at six, so I’ll come pick you up at five-forty.”
“You don’t need to do that. I can drive out to meet you.” His eyes narrowed slightly, and she knew her hot and cold signals probably had his head spinning. But she had no experience when it came to dating. Not that she was dating him. They were only friends. “Um, in case Aunt Tillie wants to come too.”
“Okay.” He pulled out his phone. “But I should probably get your cell, in case the time changes or something.”
Or so he can call and cancel since I’m such a lunatic. Her stomach tightened at the thought. “Sure.” She gave him her number and was so tempted to ask him for his, but didn’t dare. If he called or texted her, then she’d have his number.
Spring in Snow Valley: A Snow Valley Anthology Page 4
