The Cowgirl’s Chosen Love: The Colemans of Heart Falls: Book 3

by Vivian Arend

  “If it’s enough for them, great. What’s wrong with having a trained friend who’s a little smarter in a particular area point out a smoother path?”

  He threw the two full trays in the oven and set the timer.

  When he stood, she was looking at him as if he’d grown a third eye.

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “You want tomatoes in your salad?”

  “Yes. Now, don’t bullshit me, Jules. There a problem?”

  Under her fingers, the knife moved swiftly through the tender flesh of the salad fixings. She hesitated twice before letting out a long, hard sigh. “You’re saying all the right things, Zach. Like, don’t worry, this year will be a breeze. Don’t worry about your job or the fact we have to live together. And now you don’t sound like the people who think having a therapist means I'm broken.”

  It was wrong, but he couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping. “It won’t be a breeze, but we can have fun. Worrying doesn’t change things, actions do. Therapy is a tool to use when we need it—all things my mother has said many times over the years, by the way. If that makes me right, thanks. Glad you noticed.”

  He finally got a laugh out of her. “That’s one healthy ego you’ve got there, Beau.”

  Zach shuddered. “Hey, I thought we agreed to use the far less offensive nickname baby.”

  A smile danced over her lips as she scooped salad into two bowls. “That’s going to be fun in front of Karen and Finn.”

  “Have a ball,” he encouraged.

  A minute later they were seated at the table, digging into the salad while the pizza finished warming.

  Julia did a slow, considered pause again, fork lifted in the air as if gathering her thoughts before pushing the words out. “Tony reminded me to warn you about my nightmares. Although you kind of already know.”

  Zach nodded, his mouth too full to respond otherwise.

  She forged ahead. “I don’t get them often anymore, honestly. They’re just sort of once in a while, a lingering pain in the ass to deal with and an annoyance. The best thing to do is talk to me. You can turn on the lights or just tell me to wake up.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Sorry in advance for being a difficult roommate.” Her nose wrinkled.

  “Stop apologizing.” Zach grabbed a deck of cards off the side counter. “The only real question now is how badly I can beat you at rummy.”

  “Gin or regular?” Stress slipped off her at the change in topic.

  “I guess we have to try both. Or multiple variations thereof.”

  Cards were dealt, pizza devoured. By the time they’d washed the dishes, wrote up their schedules for the week, and posted the agenda on the fridge, Zach’s cheeks were good-tired from his constant grin.

  The contrast between his list and hers was night and day.

  His—simple line by line in his happy-go-lucky scrawl, although he had managed to make it decipherable. Julia’s perfect script was embellished with small stars and moons at the edge of the page, and she’d included two side sections, one with a space for meals and one for a grocery list.

  As she finished rearranging the fridge magnets, Zach grabbed another blank page and took his best shot at creating a fancy-dancy formal title.

  “What’s that?” she asked, peering over his shoulder.

  He held it out. “Fun Stuff Schedule. You know, the things to make time fly.”

  Between her shifts and the commitments on his calendar, it took a bit of juggling, but they finally nailed it down.

  Julia’s approval was clear as she pinned it beside the others. “Wednesday night riding, Thursday morning yoga, Saturday dancing, Sunday dinner.”

  “At least this week. Your shifts change constantly, right?”

  “For the next couple of months, I’m on two days, two nights, four days off.”

  He nodded. Her job situation beyond the end of next month was on his to-do list for the next day. Not that he was telling her that.

  A yawn escaped her, then she shook it off. “Sorry. It’s been a big day.”

  “Big days,” he agreed as she slid toward her room.

  He paused to put away the dry dishes, surprised to see her reflection in the window as he worked. Instead of vanishing, she lingered in the doorway. She stared at him, gaze drifting up and down as he moved. Assessing? Worried? Was being under one roof going to be too much?

  Then her tongue slipped out, moisture painting her lips. His body hardened even as her expression turned hungry. He was one second away from turning and asking what else she wanted to add to their to-do list—he’d like to start with tasting that sweet mouth of hers all over again—when she shook her head and escaped into her room.

  Damn it. Two steps forward, one step back. Zach debated grabbing a shower and dealing with his issue…

  No debate. Lying in the room next to hers with a hard-on was his idea of torture.

  One dirty shower, coming up.

  Morning dawned clear and bright as sunshine streaked across her bed and past the curtain Julia had failed to close the night before. The sunshine was a gift, but an even greater joy was the sense of peace stealing over her.

  No thumping footsteps in the hall, no listening anxiously for someone to try her door.

  She’d slept like a rock—which was a miracle in itself considering how tangled her brain had been the previous night when she hit the pillow. Every step in the process had been logical by itself, but looking back, it was all so impossible.

  She was married and staying that way, for a year.

  Nope. Still not possible.

  Moving around her room continued to make both those emotions grow stronger. Gratefulness washed in at having a clean, great-smelling, and safe place to hang her hat. Incredulous disbelief flooded in equally hard that she was here, and this was real.

  No matter how easy the time had been with Zach the night before, discovering she had an empty kitchen to herself this morning let her relax once again as she dug in the fridge for breakfast. A quick glance at the schedule showed he’d been out of the cabin for a couple hours already. She hadn’t heard a peep when he left. Considerate man—just like she’d told Tony the day before.

  Julia caught herself growling. Damn him, anyway.

  Tony, not Zach, because the current number one source of her whirling emotions was her therapist. Good man, total hard-ass when it came to making Julia admit difficult truths.

  Falling asleep, Tony’s voice had kept ringing in her head.

  He’d asked how much she trusted Zach, and that question had been easier to answer than expected. They’d spent enough time together over the past months that he was comfortable to be around. With her sisters' added good opinions and the knowledge Finn would never let anything bad happen, Zach was safe.

  It had been a great revelation, but then Tony had to go and push it one step further. His suggestions regarding sex and Zach…

  Nope. Not even going to repeat those ideas to herself, considering that thinking about thinking about them made her cheeks heat.

  And thinking about them in the night had made for some very interesting dreams.

  Nope. Roommates. Focus on that, Blushing, and stick to friends.

  Besides, Zach was the least of her worries for today. Back to work meant facing the firing squad. By the time she pulled her car to a stop outside the fire hall, Julia still didn’t have her story set.

  Time to fake it.

  Of course, this would be one of the days the entire building seemed full to the brim with every damn volunteer in town. Which maybe was a good thing. She’d only have to do this once.

  The cheering and laughter started the instant her feet hit the second floor of the hall. That’s where the large kitchen was, and a table big enough to seat twenty spanned the length of the room.

  There was no warm-up, just straight to the point.

  “Vegas wedding? Really?” Alex, a local cowboy and one of the shift supervisors, stepped in front
of her.

  “You never heard of someone winning the jackpot in sin city?” Julia asked cheerfully, stepping around him and deciding to do this the biggest way possible.

  She climbed on the nearest table and gave a sharp whistle.

  Only once all eyes were on her did she continue. “I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, but yes, it’s true. Zach and I have been seeing each other on the sly for a bit, and it appears that while under the influence of Jose Cuervo, we accidentally tied the knot. Being as we were already planning on moving in together, we’ve decided to just let it ride. I’ll take questions from the peanut gallery now—”

  A few hands shot into the air as some people called out dirty suggestions.

  Julia eyed the rude ones with disapproval then pointed at the other volunteer supervisor, Ryan Zhao, who stood with fingers raised.

  His dark eyes twinkled. “Jumping in with two feet—that’s one way to do it. You want us to take up a divorce fund? Or start a baby pool?”

  The nearest volunteer smacked him on the arm before raising her voice. “Congrats, Jules. Zach’s a hottie.”

  “Agreed, Crystal. Also makes him an appropriate match for me, working at the fire hall and all.” Julia’s cheeks had to be beet red.

  Because Zach was a hottie, and damn if Tony's suggestions didn’t flood into her mind again, detailed and dirty.

  “Blushing?”

  Julia shook herself from her naughty daydream. “Yes?”

  Alex again, with a snicker this time. “We noticed.”

  She rolled her eyes then folded her arms over her chest as she offered a mock glare. “Comedian. So, anyway, just to get the dirty truth out there. Yup, I’m married, yup, he’s a hottie, and nope, you can’t get any more details.” Laughter rolled around the room, and suddenly a brilliant idea struck. She raised a hand one final time. “We’ll be out at Rough Cut on Saturday night if any of you want to help us celebrate. No presents, but bring something for the food bank. We’ll top up the collection as a reverse wedding gift to the community.”

  More cheers rang out. Julia crawled off the table as the crowd dissipated into groups for training and rest shifts.

  Alex and Ryan waved farewell before heading out with their crews, which meant in a shockingly short time, she was alone in the room with her shift mates.

  Which included Brad.

  She’d avoided eye contact during her little impromptu speech, but there was no escaping the next few minutes.

  Oscar winning acting engage now…

  She marched forward and once again went for the bold approach. “Didn’t see that one coming, did you?”

  Brad didn’t move from where he’d leaned against the kitchen counter, big arms folded over his chest. He didn’t speak for a moment either, just looked her over with that assessing big-brother gaze she’d come to know so well over the past couple years.

  The others in the room were busy at the table a few feet away, making this a totally public discussion. Yet his answer when it came was quiet enough to not be overheard.

  “Didn’t see the wedding part coming, nope.” Brad’s gaze stayed steady on her. She was about to make a smart-ass quip back when he spoke again. “Glad to know it happened, though.”

  It was Julia’s turn to stay silent. Thoughts whirled as she struggled to keep her smile from twisting with shock. “Really?”

  Brad nodded. “He’s a good guy. You deserve someone who thinks the world of you—and he does.”

  This was getting interesting and weird. “Um, thank you?”

  He laughed. “You thought you were going to shock me with this? I mean, the wedding was obviously an accident, but the two of you? I’ve had my suspicions for a while.”

  Another dose of weird, but at this moment, Julia would take it. “Can’t get anything past you, I guess.”

  He grinned harder then lowered his voice more. “I’m happy for you. Both Hanna and I are. If we can ever help with anything, you just have to ask.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  He straightened and headed to the table, leaving her slightly bemused at how simple it had been.

  Except for the bit where he’d read more into her and Zach’s pre-liquor Vegas relationship, it seemed she had the blessing of the one guy whose good opinion she needed the most.

  She pulled out her phone and sent a quick update to Zach before heading into alert mode for her shift.

  Julia: the crew has been informed, and other than a few raunchy suggestions, they fell for it. Brad as well, so we’re good.

  * * *

  Julia: also, I might have told them we're hosting a party on Saturday night at Rough Cut. Oops.

  Zach got back to her almost instantly: party is a great idea. And hell, oops is how we’re running this show. Will discuss details at supper. I’m cooking.

  That was it. There were enough whispers and sneaky glances over the remainder of the day to make it clear stories were flying, hard and fast, but they were all about her and Zach. Not a word about her and Brad.

  Julia couldn’t have been happier as she strode through her day, dealing with callouts to various seniors in the community and a kindergarten class where a boy had decided nap time was a great opportunity to shove a marble up his nose.

  And if she happened to drift into remembering Tony's suggestions regarding Zach far too often, she’d blame it on the nonstop sexual teasing that went hand in hand with the successful deception.

  She wasn’t going to act on the ideas. No sir.

  No matter how much the devil on her shoulder insisted she should at least consider it.

  11

  Zach wasn’t even sure why he noticed, but he did. The toilet paper roll was on backwards.

  Okay, he probably noticed because he wasn’t an animal. He’d been well-trained by his sisters and mother that leaving an empty or even nearly empty roll was a punishable-by-death level of crime.

  He’d used the last of the previous roll, so he’d replaced it. Simple.

  Only it was now facing the opposite way to how it should, and instead of the tissue rolling out with ease at his first tug, he had to slap the roll a number of times to get the end to show up. And then when he did give it a tug, it broke off after only four squares.

  Pain in the ass, no pun intended.

  He hauled the holder off the wall, reversed the tissue, and replaced.

  Satisfied by a job well done, he washed up then finished putting the final touches on dinner as he waited for Julia to get home.

  Day three of being roommates, and so far, so good. He’d kept their interactions lighthearted and simple, and she’d done the same.

  One truth was already clear—Julia was a neat freak. His haphazard approach to tossing his things over every surface as he entered the cabin had already been noted and eyed with disapproval.

  Tough habit to break, though.

  In fact, he spotted his discarded jean jacket draped over the arm of the couch, and the sweatshirt he wore in the afternoon on the knob of a kitchen chair. Guilt moved his feet, and a moment later, he’d hung them both on the hooks beside the door that had magically shown up the previous night while he’d been doing chores.

  A firm knock echoed through the building.

  “Come in.”

  An instant later, Finn was in the doorway, his expression the unreadable stone face he wore when he had evil plans.

  Zach knew the warning signs far too well. Still, he didn’t let it show, just let his friend pace past him into the cabin. “What’s up?”

  Finn paused by the table, eyeing the collection of packages scattered everywhere. “Running away from home?”

  “Hardly. Picnic supper.”

  “With Julia?”

  “No, with Dandelion Fluff. I figured Karen's cat would like to explore the trail system in style.”

  Finn held back all but a split second of amusement. “Update me. How’s it going?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine at this point,” Zach admitted. “It�
�s too soon for a breakthrough. I didn’t expect Julia to fall into my bed the instant we got home.”

  His friend’s grin flashed. “Too bad.”

  “I will hurt you,” Zach warned. “Lucky bastard.”

  Finn winked then grew serious again. “Heads-up. Karen said there’s something brewing in terms of a gathering next week.”

  “As long as it’s not the weekend. I’ll need Julia to come to Nelson with me.”

  “The gathering is for family.” Finn paused for emphasis. “Extended family.”

  “Okay.” The way Finn kept staring meant Zach was missing something important, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of—

  Oh.

  Oh, damn.

  “Family, as in Julia’s dad will be here?”

  “Correct.”

  Well, then. Nothing like an old-fashioned panic attack to get a man’s heart pumping. “Did George Coleman mention he was bringing a shotgun? I figure Karen learned to shoot from someone, but I was hoping to avoid being a target again for a good long time.”

  Finn grinned. “You’ll be fine. Just wanted to warn you so you can be prepared when Julia springs the news on you.”

  “You’re the best.” Zach held up a fist, and Finn bumped it firmly.

  The door swung open, and Julia rushed in, talking as she moved. “Zach, you here? Sorry I’m—”

  She full-on collided with his body.

  He wrapped his arms around Julia to catch her before she bounced to the floor. “Steady there, gorgeous.”

  The weight of her in his arms was perfect in so many ways, but the instant she wiggled for freedom, he let her go.

  “Sorry, again. Didn’t mean to rush in like a pinball. Hey, Finn. You sticking around?”

  “Hey, Julia. And nope. Karen and I have plans.” Finn tilted his chin at Zach. “See you tomorrow.”

  The whirlwind continued. Julia's excitement had her nearly bouncing as she rushed off to change. “We eating before or after we ride?” she called over her shoulder.