Opposites Attract (Nerds of Paradise Book 1)

by Merry Farmer

  With a sigh, she dragged herself off her bed and went to plug her phone into its charger. It was still too early to go to bed, even though she hadn’t been lying when she told Scott she was exhausted from the day’s work on the ranch. So she opened her bedroom door and slumped her way down to the kitchen instead.

  Ted was already there, sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal, when she crossed through the wide doorway from the hall. He took one look at her and said, “Who broke all your favorite toys?”

  Casey didn’t have the energy to tease him back. She sat at the table opposite him and heaved a sigh. “Am I a complete screw up?”

  Ted stopped chewing and blinked at her. He had a deer-in-the-headlights look, as though his response would decide the future course of the world. At last, he swallowed and put his bowl down. “Did something happen between the time I saw you head upstairs after dinner and now?”

  Casey leaned her elbows on the table and propped her chin in her hands. “I just got off the phone with Scott.”

  “And do you need me to go into town and kick his butt?” Ted asked slowly.

  “No,” Casey muttered. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He was actually really great to me. Too great.”

  Ted leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “How can a guy be too great for my sister?”

  Casey straightened and sent him a weak, grateful smile. “He was nice to me when he should have broken up with me after the way I’ve been acting this week.”

  “Okay, first of all—” Ted held up a finger. “—I’m glad he didn’t break up with you, because I kinda like the guy. But second of all, yeah, about the way you’ve been acting this week. What gives?”

  Casey leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the empty chair diagonally across from her where her mom used to sit. “I don’t know what’s been wrong with me lately. I should be happy. The ranch is doing okay, even though the vet bill will set us back, my friends are all happy, I suddenly and without warning have a great boyfriend, but….” She let the sentence drop and bit her lip.

  “But your great boyfriend is trying to build a house on land that me and dad sold to him without your approval?” Ted asked, more like he was trying to get all the ducks in a row in his mind instead of interrogating her.

  “Why does that bother me so much?” she demanded, more of herself than Ted.

  Ted shrugged. “It’s like you said the other day when we were at the cemetery. Everything is changing so fast. Nobody likes when stuff changes.”

  Casey humphed and crossed her arms. “Mom would be so mad at me right now.”

  “Why?” Ted shook his head.

  “Because I’m being unreasonable. She’d say that I was deliberately trying to wreck things between me and Scott over something stupid.

  “Huh.” Ted relaxed into his chair, looping one arm around the back.

  “What, ‘huh?’” Casey frowned at him.

  “I don’t think Mom would say that, but the fact that you’re saying it is interesting.”

  “It is not,” Casey grumbled, but a whisper inside of her thought her brother might have a point.

  “Why are you deliberately trying to wreck things with Scott?” Ted asked.

  “I’m not,” Casey answered, utterly unconvincing.

  Ted arched an annoying, brotherly brow at her.

  “I’m not,” she repeated. Then she blew out a breath, lowering her head. “It doesn’t seem right to be happy and to fall in love without Mom here.”

  Ted was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “I think Mom would want you to be happy, whether she was here or not.”

  The truth of Ted’s statement made her feel about ten years old and in need of a nap. “Would she want me to be happy with the guy who was breaking up the ranch?”

  “Scott isn’t breaking up the ranch,” Ted insisted, leaning forward. “To be blunt about it, he’s helping the ranch out of a tight spot.”

  Casey still didn’t want to admit things had gotten so dire that selling land was the only way out.

  “And Mom would want you to be happy no matter what or with who.”

  “Then why does it feel so wrong to be happy when she’s not here?” Casey blurted.

  For whatever reason, speaking those words aloud plucked some chord of understanding in her heart and mind. It felt terrible to be happy now. It felt like she was being dishonest, or at least forgetful. Her mom had been her world. Everything good in Casey’s life had involved her mom in some way. How could she go and betray the most important person in her life by…by…living.

  “Okay, think of it this way,” Ted went on, completely missing the cataclysmic shift in Casey’s thoughts. “How would Mom have felt if you’d suddenly started dating Ronny Bonny?”

  In spite of the tears stinging behind her eyes, Casey laughed out loud. “Well, she’d take me into town to Rita’s psychotherapy practice for a start.”

  “True,” Ted laughed with her. It actually felt pretty good to share a laugh with her brother.

  “I suppose any guy looks like a saint compared to Ronny,” Casey went on. And her mom would have found a way to accept it, even if she had announced Ronny was the love of her life. She’d have found a way to accept Scott too. Not that it was hard to fall for Scott. The fact that it’d been so easy was part of what scared Casey so much.

  “Hey, do you think Ronny and his dad are the ones buying all the old ranches?” she asked suddenly, eager to change the subject. “Scott seems to think they are, based on something Linus Pettigrew told him.”

  “It would make sense.” Ted went along with the subject change, picking up his cereal bowl again. “What did Linus say?”

  “That his Aunt Patty has been privy to some real estate transactions that Richard Bonneville has been involved in.”

  “Hmm.” Ted chewed on, then swallowed. “Well, he’s not getting our ranch, that’s for sure.”

  It was surprisingly reassuring to hear Ted say that.

  “We’ll be fine for the next few years at least, after the sale to Scott,” he went on

  Instantly, all of Casey’s reassurance was gone. The way Ted put it, the context of the conversation, sparked a worry in her that she hadn’t considered before. “Is the sale final?” she asked.

  Ted paused after lifting his spoon from the bowl. “Final? Why would you ask that?” Soggy cereal dripped back into the bowl, splashing milk.

  Casey shrugged, which turned into rolling her shoulders uneasily. “I just…this city council meeting coming up has me spooked.”

  “You mean with whatever laws Bonneville is threatening to pass?”

  Casey nodded. “If Scott can’t build his house, what’s the point of him owning that land?”

  Ted narrowed his eyes. “I thought you didn’t want him to build the house.”

  “I don’t.” She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “At least, I don’t think I do. But I don’t want the ranch to be in trouble if he has to sell back the land.”

  “Geez, sis, make up your mind,” Ted snorted, half joking. But only half joking. He got up and took his bowl to the sink. “He builds the house or we risk losing the ranch. You can’t have it both ways.”

  “I know,” Casey nearly shouted in frustration, pushing herself out of her chair to pace across the kitchen. “That’s why I’m a horrible person.”

  “You’re not a horrible person.” Ted rinsed his bowl, turned off the water, then leaned against the counter. “You’re just weird and emotional.”

  He was more right than he knew. “So what am I supposed to do with all that?” she asked, arms spread wide. “I want to be with Scott, but I don’t want to be happy because it would be unfair to Mom. I don’t want him to build his house, but I don’t want the ranch to be in trouble either.”

  She started pacing again, but as soon as she came near Ted, he caught her and clamped his hands around her biceps, turning her to face him and holding her still. “You can’t have it all, Casey. Especially since the thing
s you want contradict each other.”

  “Tell me about it,” she grumbled, staring down at their feet, toe-to-toe on the old linoleum.

  “At some point, you’re going to have to choose what you want most, and you’re going to have to let go of the other stuff,” Ted went on.

  “Yeah, I figured that one out,” she continued to grumble.

  “I know it’s been hard to make sense of things since Mom died,” he went on in a softer voice. Casey peeked up and met his eyes. “But it’s not honoring her memory to refuse to let yourself be happy. She would want you to embrace life and love and to fight for what’s right.”

  “But I don’t know what’s right,” she pleaded with him. “I don’t know if I should be fighting to preserve the ranch or to help a guy I really like make his dreams come true.”

  “And that’s why you’ve been such a beast to him?” Ted arched a brow.

  Casey grimaced, not really wanting to concede the truth. “Yes,” she admitted at last.

  “Okay, well here’s my brotherly advice.” He thumped one of her arms as he let her go and leaned back. “Stop being a jerk to Scott.”

  She frowned and crossed her arms.

  “Just treat him nice. You like him, you’re dating him, so just focus on dating him. Go out to dinner, go see movies, have a good time, but—” He raised his voice and held up a hand, half turning away. “—do not tell me how good of a time you’re having. Because you’re my little sister, and I do not want to know.”

  Casey couldn’t help but laugh. The simple reaction loosened her shoulders and made her feel better. “I’m as pure as the driven snow, as far as you’re concerned.”

  “Good.” Ted nodded. He smiled. “Focus on having fun for now. I don’t think you’ve had any fun for way too long. And along those lines,” he quickly added, “quitting the rodeo was a bad idea.”

  “What does me quitting rodeo have anything to do with anything?”

  “You liked it,” Ted said, pointing a finger at her. “It made you happy. And you stopped because being happy makes you feel guilty. Sound familiar?”

  “I did not—” But Casey snapped her mouth shut before she could finish the lie. Maybe she had given up racing because it made her forget about how much she missed her mom. It felt wrong to forget. But now everything felt wrong anyhow. “I’ll concentrate on being Scott’s girlfriend,” she told Ted. “That’s all I can promise for now.”

  “That’s more than enough for me, and I’m sure Scott will appreciate it too.” Ted grinned, then stepped over to give her a hug. “Now go to bed. You earned a good night’s sleep today. And we’ve got just as much work to do tomorrow.”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me.” She hugged him back, glad that he was able to find a way to end their intense conversation on a normal, family note. “I just hope we’re done administering antibiotics,” she said as the two of them headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to their bedrooms.

  She hoped she was done tying herself up in knots that didn’t make any sense too. But something told her she had a lot more work ahead of her before she could make things completely right between her and Scott again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  For four beautiful days, things seemed to smooth out. Casey was still busy with work on the ranch during the day, but she and Scott managed to see each other every night for what they called “normal dating stuff.” They had dinner together, went to a movie, even went bowling one night. And every night, Scott drove her home and left her at the door with nothing more than a chaste goodbye kiss.

  “It’s driving me insane,” Casey confided in Sandy and Rita as they walked up Main Street to the town hall for the city council meeting. All three were bundled in thick coats against a biting February wind, but Casey felt as though a furnace were raging inside of her. “All I want to do is jump his bones, but every time I try to work up the courage to do it, this huge swarm of fear forms inside of me, and I can’t.”

  “Hmm.” Rita nodded, her psychologist face on. “Sounds like fear that could be from any number of sources.”

  “No kidding,” Sandy teased her.

  “Hey, I always start with the obvious, in case it’s something my clients hadn’t stopped to consider,” Rita defended herself with a smirk.

  “And I’ve definitely considered it,” Casey went on. “Trouble is, I’m afraid that I’m afraid of too many things, and that terrifies me.” She managed to laugh and shake her head at the end of her loopy statement.

  Rita swayed closer to her as they walked and circled an arm around her back. “You’ll be okay, sweetie. You’ve got me, Chuckles here—” She gestured with her thumb to Sandy. “Melody and Calliope, and just about anyone else in town to pick you up when you’re down.”

  “Thanks.” Casey hugged her as they reached the intersection of Main and Elizabeth streets. Her heart quivered in her chest, as she stared across the street to the town hall just as Scott was walking over from the Cattleman Hotel next door. He glanced up, spotted her, and waved. His smile alone could have lit up the night. She waved and smiled back, wishing she felt as confident with herself as he did.

  “How does Scott feel about it all?” Rita asked softly as the light changed and they started across the street.

  Casey sighed. “He’s so understanding, at least on the outside. I don’t know what he must think of me.”

  “I’m not the psychologist here,” Sandy said as they hopped up onto the opposite curb, “but it sounds to me like you’re being way too hard on yourself. Hey, Scott!” She waved a greeting as Scott approached them.

  Casey didn’t have time to reply to Sandy’s statement. Scott glided right over to her and slid his arm around her back, bending to kiss her forehead. It was the sweetest, warmest gesture, and yet it caused a war in her gut.

  “Hi guys,” Scott greeted them all. “You ready for the meeting?”

  “We should be asking you if you’re ready,” Rita answered.

  Scott shrugged and let out a breath that formed an icy cloud in front of him. “To tell you the truth, I have no idea what to expect. I’m new at this whole ‘dealing with the Bonnevilles’ thing.”

  Sandy and Rita both laughed and rolled their eyes. “Well, don’t expect logic and reason for one,” Rita told him as the four of them continued on up the steps and into the town hall’s lobby.

  “Yeah, and be ready to be enraged about half of the stuff they say,” Sandy added.

  “All right, then.” Scott smirked and started to laugh before seeing that the Templesmith sisters were serious.

  “At least we’ll finally get a chance to see what that whole lot is up to,” Casey said. And surprisingly, that was a comfort to her. She always did better when she had something concrete to fight against. Maybe that was why she’d been feeling so adrift where Scott was concerned—she didn’t have him and his house to do battle with anymore, so there was nowhere for her anger to go.

  They headed down the hall into the new section of the building, to the same auditorium where Scott’s first presentation had been held. Already the room was more crowded than it had been all those weeks ago. Word must have gotten around that something important was on the agenda that night. Either that or Haskellians were tired of being cooped up for the winter. Casey spotted Ted and their dad toward the back on the other side of the room from the door she, Scott, Sandy, and Rita entered through. Melody and Calliope were there as well, standing up front with a group of people that Casey recognized as Scott’s coworkers.

  “Do you want to sit with your family or up front with us?” Sandy asked heading up the aisle a few steps.

  “Uh…” Casey glanced from Melody—who was waving at her—to her dad and Ted.

  “You know what?” Scott interrupted her thoughts. “Let me just have a word in private here and we’ll decide later.” He sent a significant look to Sandy and Rita.

  “Gotcha.” Sandy nodded, and she and Rita headed down to the front of the room.

  Scott took Casey�
��s hand and walked her a few steps over to a quiet space out of the traffic of people coming into the room. “How are you?” he asked, brushing a hand over her cheek.

  Casey swallowed and looked around. “I’m nervous,” she admitted, hugging herself. “But I don’t know why.” In truth, everything made her nervous these days. She was so ready for that feeling to stop.

  Scott smiled and rubbed her upper arms. “I’m sure this will be nothing.”

  “You still haven’t caught on to the unique horror of the Bonnevilles yet, have you?” she teased him in return.

  He let out a loose laugh. “Maybe not. But either way, by tomorrow I’m sure you can go back to railing at me for daring to build a house on property that once belonged to your ranch.”

  Casey lowered her head with a sheepish smile. But another thought piled on all of the worries she already had. She glanced up at him, brow knitting together. “If the council does something that stops you from building, are you going to ask Dad to undo the sale and give you your money back?”

  She’d hoped for a quick answer of “No, never,” but instead Scott let out a breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “I might need that money to find a different spot to build on.”

  And that’s what she wanted, right? For him to build somewhere else?

  Casey let out a breath. The whole thing had turned way more complicated than she was equipped to handle. She drew in another breath and shook her head to clear it. “Okay, well—”

  “Mr. Martin?” Jessica Chapman, one of the city council members, interrupted them. She was a hawk-faced older woman who seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood, and her interruption felt like Casey and Scott had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, even though she went on to say, “We’re ready for you.”

  Scott blinked. “I’m sorry…ready for me?”

  “Yes.” Jessica looked at him as though he were dense. “To defend your position about the new zoning law.”

  Scott’s mouth dropped open. He recovered quickly, turned fully to Jessica, and said, “I didn’t realize I would be asked to speak.”