Finding His Heart (Cottonwood Ranch Book 4)

by Jaclyn Hardy

  By the time they all had their orders, it was time to get ready for the debates. They ate as they walked, even though Thomas wished he could sit and enjoy. This was amazing and rushing it felt like he was doing it an injustice.

  Thomas and Mandy took a spot at the back while Eric and the rest of his team went up to the front to prep.

  “So, did you take a debate class, or did you really just want ice cream?”

  “I did debate. It was completely out of the norm for my group of friends, but I love to argue, and this was the perfect place to do it. I thought of going into law when I finished college, but decided against it.” Mandy took Thomas’s empty cup from him and threw it away with hers. When she sat back down, she rested her legs on the chair in front of her. “What about you? Did you do debate?”

  He shook his head. “This is totally out of my league. I can win them pretty easily, but I was more of the joker. I did my best to make the others laugh while they were trying to be serious. Which is exactly why I’m all the way in the back.”

  “Sounds about right.” Mandy pulled out her phone. “Laura says hi and wants to know how in the world you got me to come to one of these things.”

  Thomas took her phone.

  I have my ways.

  You must. I never thought she’d be caught dead at one of those.

  Mandy leaned over Thomas’s arm to read the message, her hair brushing against his face. The smell of pear intoxicated him. Mandy huffed. “Hey, I’m not that bad.”

  Thomas pulled the phone away from her trying to snatch it back.

  She says she’s not that bad. Not sure I believe her.

  You shouldn’t. This is the girl who skipped science when we had to dissect frogs because she didn’t want to accidentally get anything on her designer blouse.

  Thomas busted up laughing and Mandy lunged to grab her phone out of his hands. “Is she telling the truth?”

  “Hey, that shirt wasn’t cheap. Besides, the sight of those guts made me sick to my stomach.” Her face was red as she typed something to her best friend.

  “I guess you don’t want to go to the competition where they have to determine what disease the animals have? Because it’s pretty exciting.”

  Mandy covered her mouth. “Please tell me that’s not a thing.”

  He shrugged. “Probably. Thankfully none of my group is in that one.”

  “How’d you get so lucky?” Mandy held her stomach.

  “Mr. Hunter doesn't trust me with more than these four. Probably because they're the best behaved of the group.”

  Mandy smirked.

  “What?”

  Her smirk turned to a mischievous grin. “You don't think he gave you these kids so they'd help keep you in line, do you?”

  “That was hurtful.” Thomas held his heart. “Most likely true, but hurtful.”

  Mandy settled into her seat as the lights went down. She leaned close to him, her lips almost brushing his ear as she whispered. “The truth hurts.”

  Thomas chuckled. As the debate got started, Thomas had a hard time concentrating on the team, when Mandy sat so close. This convention was turning out to be much better than he'd expected when he agreed to come.

  The sun had almost set by the time Mandy finally left the convention center. The chill air was welcome after the heat from all the people inside. As much as she’d wanted to stick around with Thomas, she knew she had to get going if she was going to see any of the things on her list.

  Mandy pulled the card out of her wallet and called the taxi driver. “Hi, I’d like a ride back to my hotel, please.”

  “I’ll be there soon.” The call ended, and Mandy stared at her phone. Hopefully that meant he knew where she was . . .

  She debated going back to the restaurant she’d eaten at the night before, but she really just wanted to get some sleep. They’d walked what felt like miles that day and she was exhausted. A few minutes later, a cab pulled up in front of the convention center and the passenger side window opened.

  “Ah, I thought it was you who called.” The man smiled.

  “It was.” She gave him the address to her hotel and leaned her head back.

  A few minutes later they pulled into her hotel. “Have anything exciting planned for tomorrow?”

  She paid him for the ride. “We’ll see. I want to see a few of the gardens and I’m hoping they’re not sold out this time.”

  “Usually the first day is busy with everyone getting into the groove of what they’re supposed to be doing. Tomorrow you should be able to get into a few places. And if you need a ride, shoot me a text.” He saluted and pulled out of the hotel parking lot. The restaurant inside seemed like the perfect place to grab some food before heading upstairs.

  She took a menu off the counter and waited to be seated. Families and business people were scattered throughout the hotel, chatting about whatever they’d been doing that day. The fact that she was alone again weighed heavily as she was seated by herself. She wished for the thousandth time that she hadn’t come here alone. What had she been thinking?

  The waiter took her order and disappeared. Mandy checked her email and went through work messages to make sure she hadn’t missed something while she was gone. A few of them required immediate replies, so she took care of them.

  By the time her food arrived, everything was taken care of and Mandy was ready to go back and hang out with the high schoolers. Her steak and fries were cooked to perfection and almost helped her forget that she was here alone. Almost.

  Mandy’s phone rang as she was getting ready to leave the restaurant. Her heart leapt as she thought that maybe it could be Thomas. They would have been done with the hypnotist show by that time. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and frowned.

  Freddy.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Mandy handed the waiter her card and waited as he ran it.

  “I stopped by your place to go to dinner and you weren’t there. Did I get the date wrong?”

  Mandy frowned what was he talking about—oh. The play. They’d broke it off, but had decided that since she already had the tickets to the Broadway show, they’d just go together anyway. The point of this trip was to avoid going with him, but apparently she’d forgotten to tell him she couldn’t make it.

  “Sorry, I’m actually on vacation. I had to meet an old friend.” She grimaced. Thomas had been brought up before, but she didn’t want to bring him up if possible.

  “Ah. Someone I know?”

  Mandy rolled her eyes. This was why she broke it off. He was way too clingy. “Nope. The tickets are on my counter. Why don’t you take them and find a date?”

  “I had reservations for dinner tonight. I really wish you would have told me.” His pout was evident over the phone.

  “I’m sorry. Listen, I’m about to go in an elevator so I might drop the—” She hung up and leaned against the wall of the elevator.

  It wasn’t that he was a bad guy. He was actually pretty sweet. But the clinginess and the big city snobbery was more than she could handle. Yes, she loved the city life, but just because she got an apartment overlooking Central Park didn’t mean that she had the right to look down on other people.

  Mandy searched her purse for her key and finally pulled it out. She got inside the room and dropped her purse and bags on the bed. She went straight for the balcony and opened the door. The cool breeze helped erase the annoyance, and the city down below was breathtaking.

  Somewhere down in that craziness was an FFA leader who had somehow captured a piece of her heart. Going to the convention that day was completely spontaneous. She’d shown up at the convention center just to see if she could see him and the next thing she knew, a ticket was in her hand. One day, her spur of the moment decisions were going to get her into trouble. And if she wasn’t careful, this one would end up in heartbreak. That wasn’t something she wanted for either of them.

  She shivered and went back inside to snuggle up in her blankets. Her feet thanked her as she pulled off
her shoes. She’d need more comfortable shoes for the next day if she was going to survive all the walking she planned to do. She changed into pajamas and slid under the covers, then found all of the papers she’d collected that day.

  The maps she had from the convention were more helpful than the other ones she’d had because they only pointed out the main attraction to visit. It wasn’t that she wanted to go to those places that were marked. These were the places she planned to avoid because they’d most likely be packed.

  She turned on the TV to distract herself, but nothing looked good. She set it to a home improvement show. During one of the commercials, her eyes wandered over to the outfit she’d bought that day. While the outfit was cute, it wasn’t her style—even if it was comfortable. But maybe she could take the material and make something that was her style. She had to come up with the next season’s line and this seemed perfect.

  If she could get enough of the pattern set up tonight, she could send them in and have her friend start working on sewing a prototype to take to their boss when Mandy got back. The tiny hotel notebook wouldn’t do, so she did her best on the computer designing program. It wasn’t her favorite, but she needed to get used to it sometime.

  It took a while to get the sleeves and the waist cut just right, but when it was done, Mandy knew it was a keeper. She grinned and moved over to her email to send it off. The TV had gone to informercials hours before Mandy finally shut her laptop and rolled over to sleep. Maybe the museums could wait a while for her tomorrow. She had some shopping to do.

  It had taken three different stores and a few different catalogs before Mandy was able to find exactly what she was looking for. She smiled down at the bag of material as she stood in the elevator of her hotel. When she found out there was a possibility to rent a sewing machine, she was tempted, but finally decided against it. This was her vacation. And besides, Emily was the better seamstress and she’d throw a fit if Mandy tried to do it herself.

  Once she was in her room, Mandy opened the curtains and turned on every possible light so she could do the colors justice when she sent pictures. She hit send on the email and then called Emily.

  “Hey, I just sent you pictures of the material.”

  “Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?” Emily’s laughter filled the room. They’d met on Mandy’s first day of work and had become good friends over the last couple of years. “Where’d you come up with these ideas? They’re different than your usual style.”

  Mandy grinned. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me.”

  “Well, I went to the FFA convention to meet up with this guy—”

  “Guy?” Emily asked.

  Mandy rolled her eyes. “Focus.”

  Emily chuckled. “Fine. But once you tell me about the clothes, you’re going to tell me about this guy.”

  “Fine.” Mandy explained what had happened and what she changed while Emily stopped her here and there with questions to make sure she had it right. “I think I found the right material, but we’ll have to decide when I get back.”

  “And when is that again?”

  Mandy sighed. As lonely as it was walking around here alone, she couldn’t help dreading the fact that she had to leave Thomas. “This weekend. I have to be back to work on Monday.”

  “Right. You have that meeting with the boss. Really think he’ll give you a raise?”

  Mandy scrolled through the patterns on her laptop. “I sure hope so.”

  “Me too.” Emily lowered her voice. “Okay, this guy. He has to be pretty dang hot for you to crash a high school convention. FFA? Seriously?”

  “First of all, he’s hot, but I already knew him. We just ran into each other. And second of all, how do you know what the FFA is?” Mandy frowned at one of the skirts. It wasn’t quite right . . . Too long? Maybe.

  “Hey, I was a city girl, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have it. I always thought it was strange that we had a chapter, but it also kept a few of my friends out of trouble.”

  Mandy pulled the skirt up just a little on one side in a slit. There. She saved and continued scrolling through the designs. “Crazy. We never had anything like that in our school. At least not that I knew of. Okay, sending you a new version. I fixed one of the skirts.”

  “Was it the skirt? Because I already—oh hey, I like yours better.”

  “Awesome. I better get going or I won’t have time to hit the gardens or the museum I wanted to see.”

  Emily snorted. “You’re not getting away that easy. Tell me about this guy.”

  Mandy grabbed her purse and keys and turned off the lights. “It’s Thomas.”

  There was a pause. “Thomas? Who’s Thomas?”

  “You know . . . Thomas. Idaho Thomas.”

  Emily gasped. “How? You’re halfway across the country.”

  “I know. I’m as surprised as you are.” Mandy closed the door behind her and took the stairs. “He’s here for the convention and we just happened to run into each other. Well, technically he pulled me out of the way of a bus, but that’s a whole different story.”

  “That’s just . . . wow. How in the world does that happen?”

  Mandy shrugged even though Emily couldn’t see her. “Coincidence I guess.”

  “No, this isn’t coincidence. It’s more than that. It’s fate.”

  “It’s not fate.” Mandy cringed at the pain in her feet. She would need to grab a new pair of shoes before she went much farther. “That would mean we’re supposed to end up together or something and we both know that’s not going to happen.”

  And it made her heart ache just thinking about it. But right now, she was on the phone with one of her best friends who was going to help make sure they became icons in the fashion industry. She couldn’t just take off to a sagebrush covered plot of land. That wasn’t who she was. That’s who Laura was.

  “You should find out. It’s more than just coincidence that got you into that convention. I haven’t ever known you to even own a goldfish. How do you explain suddenly going there?”

  “I was bored?” Mandy pushed the button to cross the street. She was pretty sure she’d seen a shoe place just around the corner. She could grab some tennis shoes there. “Look, it’s been two years since we hung out, a year since we took care of the wedding. I barely saw him then. He’s a good friend. Seeing him was a shock and it was nice to have someone around to hang out with. That’s it.”

  “If that’s what you want to believe. I say snag him before the universe has to throw him at you again later. Anyway, I’d better get going. You’d better keep me informed.”

  Mandy stopped outside the shoe place. “Sure. Not that there will be much to talk about. See ya, Emily. Let me know if there’s anything else you think I should change.”

  “Got it. See ya.”

  A small bell rang to announce Mandy’s arrival at the store. She went straight to her size, hoping there would be something she liked. Most of them were dress shoes, but she found a few sneakers. She tried a couple on before finding a nice pair of purple running shoes that supported her feet. These would work perfectly. Mandy paid and then slipped on the shoes right after that.

  She glanced at the map before heading in the direction of the gardens. It was only a few blocks away and she didn’t feel like trying to flag down a cab.

  A bus sat in the parking lot of the gardens when Mandy arrived. That was one more bus than she would have liked, but it could have been worse. She paid for her ticket inside and grabbed a small map so she’d know what she was looking at while she toured.

  It was peaceful inside, and it was easy to forget she was in the city. Every once in a while she’d catch bursts of laughter from other people there, but otherwise, it was perfect. She sat down near a stream and leaned back to enjoy the sun warming her face.

  Another burst of laughter pulled her out of her thoughts. She sighed and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. Movement caught her attention and
she gasped when she saw a large goldfish swim by. She’d had no idea that anything like that was in there. Other fish came into view, and it was mesmerizing to watch them.

  With a sigh, Mandy stood. There wasn’t a lot of time to catch a museum, but the art one she wanted to visit was nearby. She left the tranquility of the gardens and went out into the city. Two other buses had just pulled up, but she didn’t recognize the adults or the students. It was almost a relief that Thomas wasn’t here. She needed time to digest what she was feeling. And after just showing up at the convention the day before, she was more confused than ever.

  Mandy stared down at her phone, unsure what to think of the message from her boss. Apparently Emily had been working on the designs when a supervisor walked past. They’d loved it so much that they wanted to move immediately on it.

  That wasn’t the bad part. It was the fact that her vacation was going to be cut short so she could be in New York to work on the project together. She was supposed to be ecstatic. And really, she was. But leaving early? She’d hoped to see Thomas at least one more time before the weekend.

  Finally, she closed the email and pulled up her texts. She hesitated for a moment before typing a quick message.

  Hey, the boss wants me to head home. Thanks for the awesome time together.

  Mandy wrinkled her nose. It was so impersonal. So blah. But she didn’t want to add more to it in case Thomas didn’t feel the same way she did. She hit send and walked to the next exhibit in the museum.

  Her phone buzzed.

  I thought you had until the weekend. I’d hoped to have dinner with you again.

  Mandy’s heart lifted. He’d wanted to see her again.

  My project took off faster than expected. I have to be there to talk to our board so we can get it rolling.

  When Thomas didn’t answer immediately, Mandy picked up her brochure and went through a few of the paintings. She was pretty sure she was supposed to get some deep meaning out of it, but all she could think of was how great the bright colors would look on her new line.