Evan shook his head. Fuck. He and Marcie Brown had eaten strawberries together at the strawberry festival last June. And yeah, he’d taken some home. He’d also taken Marcie home. But it hadn’t been nearly as…inventive…as it had been with Jill. Damn, small towns sometimes. And damn his inability to just say no to things that were a bad idea…
So… Mom knows. Jill sent. So her sister knows. So my grandma knows. So my grandpa knows. So…
So Evan’s grandfather knew. Fabulous.
Ring size? He knew that Jill wouldn’t take that seriously. She was as adamant about them being only friends as he was. And she was the one with the dream job out of state. She would never give that up for him. For one, she wasn’t in love with him. For another, she knew him. Very well. She knew that he took fantasy football more seriously than he did anything else in his life, that he thought five-day work weeks were the worst invention ever, and that he was the state’s best mediator—because he was a lawyer who didn’t like paperwork or judges or going to court or, really, the law. And she knew that he was not good long-term boyfriend material. Because he’d been a short-term boyfriend, and an even shorter-term fling, to most of her friends at one time or another over the years.
Ha ha, she answered a few seconds later.
We just deal with it until you go to Omaha?
Well…
Evan felt his heart thud at that vague answer. No. She had to go to Omaha. Not to save him from a shotgun wedding, but because he could not be responsible for someone giving up a dream. It wouldn’t take long for the regret to sink in and he couldn’t live with that. He was the good-time guy. The guy everyone liked. The guy everyone invited everywhere. He wasn’t a guy people gave up important things for, or trusted with huge life-altering decisions. And he couldn’t be a guy someone regretted being involved with.
You are going, he told her. It’s an amazing opportunity. You can’t pass it up.
Of course not, she responded a moment later.
Evan breathed a sigh of relief.
But I don’t want to deal with all of this, she added.
What’s that mean?
We pretend to date. Them=happy, off our backs. Then big fight=I leave.
I can do that, he told her. He didn’t love that plan, but he owed her. Putting Calamine lotion in some of the places she needed; it couldn’t be pleasant.
OR, she sent a second later. I explain I’m a grownup=sex with whoever I want. NOT wedding.
Evan nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. Very adult.
Yeah.
He started to respond with I’ve got your back, but he saw the three dots jumping, indicating she was typing.
But, that’s a lot more energy and time than I really want to give.
He nodded again. He understood that.
She sent another message a moment later. I don’t really want to pretend. Or have you over for family dinners. Or have you along with me and my friends.
Evan felt a prick of annoyance. He was a great guy. People loved having him around. He made sure of it. She didn’t need to be quite so adamant about not wanting him around.
Yeah, yeah, he told her.
Sorry. She sent a big, grinning emoji. I adore you. And…the other night…totally worth a few hives. After the words, she added a flame, a heart, a firework, and a smiley face with its tongue hanging out.
He grinned. She had to say that. But Evan appreciated it anyway. He sent her an eggplant emoji to which she replied with a honeypot.
He snorted. Yeah, their friendship was fine.
Just need to pack and spend time with my friends—and even my crazy family—before I leave. Nothing personal.
Of course not. He knew she was a little nervous about the big move, and he didn’t want to do anything to make the days leading up to it more stressful.
But I also don’t want to have this big talk with them.
What do you want? What can I do? There, that was a good-guy thing to say. Evan was proud of himself as he pressed send.
Glad you asked.
Evan felt a niggle of trepidation, but he waited for her answer. The woman had hives because of him. He’d do whatever she wanted him to do.
You need to break my heart. She sent a broken heart emoji and a grinning devil.
Evan blinked at the words. What? He had typed the w and the h when Jill’s dots started dancing again. For a long time. This was going to be a long one.
Or they need to think you did anyway. Then I’m not disappointing anyone. And me getting out of town will make sense.
As soon as she sent that, he saw the dots again.
Plus, if I cry, my grandfather won’t want to talk about it at all. Can’t deal with tears. He’ll avoid the whole topic completely.
Evan read Jill’s explanation twice. And had to admit, it was pretty good.
I’ll do it, he told her. But this makes ME the bad guy.
Right.
And I’m stuck here with them all hating me.
Good point. Will only have to put on the act for a few days! Whoo hoo! I could leave early. Since it’ll be so painful to be around you.
Evan sighed. But I WILL STILL HAVE TO BE HERE.
Yeah. But you owe me. Lasagna. Hives.
Dammit. Fine. He sent her the broken-hearted emoji back. How?
There was a long stretch where there were no dancing dots. Then a message popped up that said simply, Just be you, I guess.
Evan frowned at that. What?
Don’t be so sensitive. Do your usual. Don’t call. Don’t ask me out. Go fishing for the weekend instead. Take another girl home and do the strawberry thing with her. Without the risk of anaphylaxis of course.
Evan’s frown turned into a scowl. That makes me seem like an ass.
There was no response to that for nearly a minute after that. Finally, Jill sent Sorry. What part of that is NOT your usual?
He scowled even harder as he typed. You liked my USUAL. Twice.
Yes, he had casual relationships. But they were mutually casual. None of the women in Bliss expected him to make any commitments beyond breakfast the next morning. And he’d given Jill coffee and English muffins. And orgasms. He’d held up his end of this bargain. But he didn’t love the idea that people—okay, his mother and Jill’s mom and their grandmothers—would think he’d treated Jill like all the other girls. Even if she was completely fine with it. They wouldn’t know she was fine with it. They would think she was brokenhearted over it.
Yes. YES! she responded. I did. Of course. There was a pause and then she sent, The coffee was delicious.
Brat.
She sent a big grinning emoji again. Then, These hives are REALLY itchy.
At least he was a good enough guy to feel guilty about that. Exactly as she’d intended.
He was stuck. He had to do this Jill’s way. It was his fault she was itching in very unpleasant places and that their families knew about it. And she was right, any attempt to rationally explain this to their families would take a lot of time and energy.
But Jill was Jill. He couldn’t treat her like she was just some girl he’d spent the night with. Of course, he also didn’t want to marry her. How could he break her heart without coming across as…his usual self?
He blew out a breath. Rudy had thought he was capable of being more than his usual self. And this seemed as good a time as any to start really trying. And a thought hit him.
He typed in I have an idea.
She sent a broken heart emoji with a question mark after it.
Yes. He typed as the idea formed fully. I was really sad about you leaving. Figured I should take a shot…find out if there could be anything between us. And we had a great night. And we both thought that MAYBE it could get more serious. But then—
He stopped typing as a message from her popped up. They know it was after the funeral.
Great. You being there for me then showed me I love having you in my life—true, btw—and I realized I should have taken a chance
on you a long time ago.
Go on…
But then I had to come to New York for Rudy’s trust. And I met someone.
So what if it was Cori Carmichael that popped into his head? She had definitely made him take notice. He’d always known that attraction between two people could be instantaneous, and now she’d proven that he could become fascinated within only a few minutes over caramel macchiatos and talk of Nutella.
There was a long pause before Jill’s dot danced and then the dots bounced for several seconds.
Pretend girlfriend in NYC? Brilliant! They won’t have to actually see you with anyone. Long distance=mostly texts and phone calls. Let it go for a while and then fake breakup. Nice!
Evan read her response and realized that would work. And would be a hell of a lot easier than what he was thinking about.
BUT then no dating anyone HERE for a while. No cheating on your long-distance girlfriend, Jill added.
Well, there was that. But something had been nagging at him ever since Rudy had showed him his “wish list” for his daughters. Cori wasn’t supposed to date because she used dating and sex and partying as a way of keeping things light. Just like Evan did. As he’d told her, if all you promised was a good time, then no one had expectations of you during the bad times. But she was going to be taking time off from all of that. To work on commitment. To focus on more important things. To maybe figure out that she had more to offer her relationships.
And he couldn’t shake the idea that maybe he should do that too.
He was really good at a few things—mediating conflicts, making people happy, and romancing women. Maybe he could use his talents for something actually…altruistic. Use what he was good at to help someone else. Like Jill. And Rudy. And the Carmichael triplets.
He’d admit that he wanted to date Cori Carmichael. Absolutely. But Cori didn’t need what Evan had to offer. No one needed to show Cori a good time. She handled that all on her own.
It was Ava that needed a guy like Evan. He’d been thinking about setting her up with Brian Callahan. Brian was a great guy who owned a contracting business and played slow-pitch softball and poker with Evan and his friends. Brian was from Bliss and was genuinely a nice guy who knew how to kick back.
But now…
Ava was every bit the uptight, driven, cool business woman Rudy had told him about. Getting her to let her hair down might be a bigger job than Brian could handle. It would take someone who was really dedicated to the project. Someone who knew the whole situation. And someone who had something to gain from it as well.
Evan wasn’t a complete fuckup, but he didn’t take himself very seriously either. He didn’t forget to pay his bills or anything, but he probably relied too heavily on verbal contracts versus written ones, considering he had a law degree and all. But if a guy couldn’t make a promise over a beer with a handshake and then stick to it, then he wasn’t someone who Evan wanted to do business with anyway. And maybe schedules were more like suggestions than hard and fast rules in Evan’s life. And maybe he preferred conducting business meetings while sitting on the river bank with a fishing pole in hand. And maybe he didn’t mind being paid in handyman services or with pot roast. That was all just fine with him.
And would make a woman like Ava crazy.
Evan frowned, irritated by those thoughts. He could be good for Ava. And helping others was part of being a better man after all. The girl was going to have an ulcer if she didn’t already.
And she could be good for him too. She would make him toe the line and show up on time and tell him when he was failing. It wouldn’t be all about partying and casual sex. It would be an actual relationship. Ish. There were bound to be some ups and downs with her relocating her life, taking on the pie shop, living with her sisters, and navigating the things Rudy wanted her to learn. Evan would have to be there for her through all of that. For six months. Exclusively. Monogamously.
That would be…new.
And maybe when that time was up, he would have changed too and would be ready to be more responsible and committed.
Or I could not pretend. Someone everyone would actually meet. And be wow-ed by.
Wait, Jill replied, there’s a real girl?
There could be. He paused. How much did he want to share with Jill? Well, he was breaking up with her, kind-of. It stood to reason that he’d tell her about the new woman in his life. Met her today. She’s…something. Once she moves to Bliss it might be hard to stay away from her.
Yes, he was thinking of Cori again. Dammit. But he would get his head on straight about the sisters. He was doing Ava a favor. And Jill a favor. And hell, himself a favor. It wasn’t about Cori at all. It couldn’t be.
Great!!!! A second message came almost immediately on the heels of that one. Wait, is it one of Rudy’s daughters?????
Everyone knew that he’d come to New York to meet with the Carmichael triplets. Yes. Ava.
You ALREADY have a crush on one of Rudy’s daughters???????
Evan read the question three times before replying with a completely truthful answer. After hearing everything about her from Rudy for so long, I might have had a crush on her before I even got here. And yeah, fuck, it was still Cori he was talking about.
But Bliss didn’t know that. Jill didn’t even need to know that.
I love this, Jill replied. Then it’s not lying when I tell everyone that you took one look at this woman you’ve been hearing about all these years and fell for her.
Not really lying. Yeah, right. But Evan still responded with, Spread that around, okay? While you’re blubbering into your carton of ice cream over losing me, be sure you drop Ava’s name.
Jill sent him an ice cream emoji, then, Will do. Happy for you! Though now I do wish I was sticking around…seeing you finally fall in love would be entertaining.
Evan felt a kick in his chest. He wasn’t falling in love. With any of Rudy’s daughters. Dammit. Get your ass to Omaha!
She sent him a heart emoji, a car emoji, and a penguin emoji. Evan chuckled and tossed his phone onto the bed beside him.
Then he ran his hand over his face again. That was taken care of. Now he just had to convince Ava that this was a great plan. But he could do that. Probably. Ava wasn’t the type of woman he’d be able to sweet-talk or charm, but she was a business woman. He’d just have to offer her something more appealing than sweet talk.
He’d make her a deal.
3
“I can’t believe it. I seriously can’t believe it.”
Cori rolled her eyes and handed Ava another martini. It was her third, but she still hadn’t shut up about how her attorney’s advice had been to simply go to Bliss and do what Rudy wanted.
“All he said was that it was the easiest thing,” Brynn commented, her words soft and a little slurry. She was definitely mellowed out from her one martini. But then Brynn was a lightweight.
It would take another couple of rounds for Ava to start to relax. The woman was so tightly wound that Cori was seriously concerned. Ava had always been driven and worked nearly nonstop, but this whole trust and Bliss, Kansas thing might just be the final straw.
Brynn waited until Ava had taken a huge drink, then said, “I think this could be a good thing.”
Ava lifted one perfectly waxed brow, her glass poised before her shiny Coral Crush lips. She was in loose cotton pants and a tank top just as Cori and Brynn were, but where Brynn never wore makeup and Cori had already taken hers off—shoes, bra, makeup were the first things to come off when she got home, in that order—Ava still looked like she could pose for a magazine cover.
“You think us moving to Kansas for a year could be a good thing?” Ava asked.
Brynn lifted a shoulder. “Why not?”
Ava lowered her glass. “Why not? Why not?” she asked, her voice rising. Again. They’d already done this ranting and raving bit. “I have a company to run.”
“Yes. A pie shop, I believe,” Cori said dryly.
“Oh
sure,” Ava scoffed. “A pie shop. Because that makes tons of sense.”
“You know.” Cori shifted on her sister’s custom-made sofa upholstered in the softest leather Cori had ever rubbed her body against. And she intended to do more of that before she left. “Maybe it does make sense.”
Ava shook her head. “No. It doesn’t.”
“Listen, if Rudy wanted to give us each a new experience, something to expand our horizons, then coming up with something that is almost exactly opposite of what we’re doing now makes sense,” Cori said. She’d been thinking about everything a lot while she made dinner, and dessert of course, for her sisters. And she was on board.
She couldn’t believe it, really. It irked her a little to be going along with Rudy’s decree, honestly. But she couldn’t deny that she was curious about Bliss. And her father’s life there. She didn’t know why she would take Evan Stone’s word for it, but he said Rudy had changed, that he was a different guy than the one Cori knew. Cori wanted to see what that was about.
It was like every dare she’d ever taken—which would be any and all ever issued to her. Heading into a house they claimed was haunted? She had to see the apparitions for herself. Taking a bite of a pepper people claimed made grown men cry? She had to feel the fiery burn for herself. Visiting a town that claimed to have changed Rudy Carmichael into a decent human being? Yeah, she was going to have to live there herself.
And she was always up for an adventure. Living in a small town in the same house with her sisters for a year and running a pie shop might be the biggest one yet.
“So, I’m in,” she said.
“For Bliss?” Ava asked, her eyes wide.
Cori nodded. “Yep.” She looked at Brynn. “I think it could be good for us.”
“You? World traveler, never-settle-down Cori? Seriously?” Ava asked.
Cori frowned at her. “Yes. Seriously.”
“But you…you’re…you.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do.” Ava seemed totally exasperated. “I’m not saying it’s not a good idea in some ways. Lord knows of all of us you could use the most downtime.”
Diamonds and Dirt Roads Page 5
