The Cowboy's Marriage Mistake

by Jessie Gussman

  The problem came when he thought about Rosalin. He wasn’t nearly as worried about her. But he told himself it was because he believed she could take care of herself. Rosalin was tough. She knew what she wanted, and she went after it. She knew the kind of moves to make, knew she was attractive to men, and wasn’t afraid to take advantage of it.

  Rosie, on the other hand...she walked around with her nose in a book and had no idea how bad the world really was. Or how to take care of herself in it. She was the kind of girl who made a great friend.

  At least, that was the way he felt before he’d kissed her. Kissing her had changed everything for him.

  Because it had clearly shown him that maybe the feelings that he had been calling “friend” feelings were more.

  He hadn’t figured out what to do about it yet, though.

  His heart wanted him to call the whole fiasco off with Rosalin. After all, he loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her. He’d never told her he was, and she’d never indicated she felt that way toward him. He assumed she didn’t.

  They’d just agreed they were a good match, and both of them were looking to settle down. Rosalin was having a hard time disengaging from Chicago, but she claimed she was, anyway.

  But his head...his head told him he had it all wrong. That the kiss was a fluke and look what it had already done to his relationship with Rosie. She’d been distant and seemed almost annoyed with him. All because of that dumb kiss. If he could take it back and make everything go back to the way it was, he would. Because he valued Rosie’s friendship far and above anything else.

  The thought, of course, made him pause. Everything? Wasn’t Rosie right? Shouldn’t Rosalin come first? Even if he didn’t really want a marriage that was all gushy and lovey, and he was pretty sure Rosalin didn’t either.

  Well, he’d talk to her about it. Tonight.

  He pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant they’d agreed to meet at. The wind swirled around, blowing snow and ice, but he could see Rosalin standing on the sidewalk. Obviously, she’d recognized his truck and decided to wait for him.

  He should be looking forward to eating dinner with her rather than thinking about Rosie.

  A scarf covered her hair, and her coat was long and stylish. She wore pants and shiny boots. She even smiled as the snow and wind whipped around her. He didn’t remember her loving the weather that much, but both Rosie and Rosalin were even-tempered.

  He parked quickly and hurried over, hating to keep her out in the cold.

  He supposed since they were now engaged, he should greet her with a kiss, but he didn’t really feel comfortable with that, and she smiled at him, then put her head down as a big gust of wind blew.

  “Come on. Let’s get inside. You shouldn’t have waited for me out here.”

  He put a hand on her back as she hurried along beside him, opening the door for her.

  They stood in the foyer for a moment and shook the snow off. “It’s winter in North Dakota,” he said, feeling a little ill at ease. “Is it much colder here than Chicago?”

  She froze, like the question surprised her and she really had to think about it. “Um. Yes. It’s colder here.”

  Her voice sounded odd. A little strangled, maybe.

  “Don’t you get weird on me, too,” he said lightly, opening the second set of doors and allowing her to move through first.

  “Weird?” she asked as she moved by him.

  “Yeah. Rosie was weird, now you sound like you have no idea what the weather in Chicago might be and shocked that I might ask about it. It’s the weather. A safe topic for everyone.”

  “Rosie was weird?”

  But the hostess interrupted them.

  He waited until they’d been seated and had their menus open before continuing. “She was. I told you about that accidental kiss and how it didn’t mean anything. But Rosie must be overthinking it or something—”

  “Maybe you’re underthinking it,” Rosalin snapped.

  “Huh?” He felt dumb with his mouth hanging open, but what else was he supposed to say? “I thought you said you understood? That it could happen to anyone under those circumstances.”

  “Maybe I’ve thought about it and changed my mind,” Rosalin said without looking up from her menu.

  His eyelids wavered.

  She set her menu down. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been awful. It’s so nice of you to drive the whole way here to meet me, and you don’t deserve that bad attitude.” She smiled at him, the flirty, Rosalin smile. “I said it was okay. And that’s what I meant. If Rosie’s being weird, maybe that’s because she just has a lot on her mind.”

  “What in the world could she have on her mind?” She had the library and him—his horses and Joseph. Rosie wasn’t a complicated person.

  “You’ve been friends with her for a long time...” Rosalin’s voice trailed off. “Do we have to spend our time talking about my sister?”

  “No. Of course not.” He set his menu down. “We can talk about our wedding.”

  A shadow passed over Rosalin’s face, replaced quickly by what seemed like a forced smile. A man couldn’t help but feel that his fiancée didn’t really want to marry him when she gave him looks like that.

  The waiter came, and they placed their orders.

  It had always been harder for Cord to talk to Rosalin than Rosie. Rosie was just easy to laugh with, while Rosalin seemed more sensual. He supposed he spent more time looking at her, despite the fact that they pretty much looked the same.

  “You know, the last couple times I’ve been with you, you’ve reminded me more of Rosie.”

  Her eyes widened. It almost looked like fear hitting her face. He’d expected her to laugh.

  The look disappeared, replaced by a sultry smile and a slow wink. “We are twins. I guess we should remind you of each other. Just so long as you know which one you’re with.”

  “As long as I stand in front of the preacher with the right one.”

  Rosalin sighed. “You know, I do want to be my own person. I already share my face, I don’t want to have to share my fiancé with my sister.”

  “I know. Rosie has said things like that before.”

  Rosalin bit her lip. She looked down at her hands.

  “What’s wrong?” Cord asked, watching her fingers twist. “You seem distracted today.”

  Rosalin gave him a smile. The kind he knew was fake. He returned it and made a banal comment about the weather. The conversation flowed a little less awkwardly after that, but the whole time, in the back of his mind, he fiddled with the thought: was he making a mistake?

  Part of him wanted to kiss her and compare, now that he’d kissed Rosie. But the more lucid part of his brain dismissed that for the ridiculous idea it was. Because he’d figured something out. Something that he probably should have known from the beginning.

  The kissing didn’t matter.

  What good did it do him to spend the rest of his life married to someone who was a great kisser and had all the sultry looks down, if he couldn’t think of anything to talk to her about? If he felt like a stranger when they sat across from each other and if she never had time for him?

  Not to mention he didn’t want to have to beg her to come live with him.

  But he wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to break up with her. Did he?

  Rosalin had just finished reciting a detailed report on Chicago weather that sounded like it could have been memorized off a weather site on the internet, and he’d responded with an equally boring rendition of the weather in Sweet Water for the last week along with predictions of the weather for the first half of January.

  He wanted to spend his life talking about more than the weather.

  But he’d never noticed that Rosalin and he didn’t have much on their own to talk about. Thinking back, it was obvious now that Rosie had facilitated their conversations. She was their connector, interested in both of them. Knowing what was going on in his life and in Rosalin’s life and able to
find middle ground for everyone.

  Would it be a horrible thing to be married to his best friend?

  Neither of them had ordered dessert, and the bill lay on the table. Maybe he shouldn’t break up with her as they were both leaving to go separate ways, but maybe it wouldn’t be a breakup as much as it would be a mutual decision that what he’d hoped would work wasn’t.

  He pulled the black bill toward himself and tapped a finger on it. “Rosalin?”

  Her eyes were on the table. Her fingers twisted her napkin. She straightened it out and looked up at him.

  It wasn’t like Rosalin to be nervous, either. Usually she was confident to the point of arrogance, almost.

  Something seemed off. But he ignored the feeling. “Are we still on for ice skating?”

  The skating rink seemed like a better place to discuss calling off their marriage than across a table in a busy restaurant.

  He wasn’t afraid Rosalin would get angry and storm out. That wasn’t something either of the twins would ever do. He doubted she’d be any more heartbroken than he was, either. But he didn’t want to be disrespectful or impolite. And he didn’t want to bruise her pride.

  Still, one of them had to face the fact: neither of them really wanted to get married, and if they couldn’t even talk on a date, their marriage was bound to be a disaster.

  Chapter 9

  ROSIE DESERVED TO BE smacked up alongside the head.

  Her sister had trusted her to pretend to be her and make sure Cord had a great time on this date, and what had she done? Sat like a mouse in her chair, barely able to say three words at a time.

  She needed to do better. Just because she resented having to take her sister’s place and was jealous, yes, jealous, that her sister had Cord didn’t mean that she shouldn’t be doing her very best at whatever task had been set in front of her.

  “Yes. I’ve been looking forward to ice skating.” She loved to ice skate. Rosalin wasn’t as fond, but hey.

  Rosie put her hand on his arm and smiled up at him. Pushing all thoughts of her sister out of her head, she determined she would just make sure that Cord had a great time with her. Rosalin could thank her later.

  He glanced down at her with his brows just a little wrinkled. Which made her feel guilty since, obviously, he wasn’t sure what to make of her.

  She squeezed his arm, enjoying the feel of the hardness under her hand. “I dressed to skate.”

  His eyes flicked down over her sweater and jeans.

  Then he put his hand over hers.

  She smiled, the friction of his callouses against her skin making her shiver.

  He noticed, and his own lips turned up in a grin.

  They shared a smile she wished was real before they walked out of the restaurant.

  Her hand dropped as they hit the cold outside on the sidewalk, and he took it in his, wrapping his fingers around hers and sliding their clasped hands into his pocket.

  “I thought you weren’t very happy with us.” His words were low but still carried over the wind.

  “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind. But that’s not fair to us, because there’s no place I’d rather be than right here with you.” At least she was speaking the truth.

  “I know ice skating isn’t your favorite. It’s Rosie who likes to skate.”

  “I do too.” Rosalin really didn’t like to skate, but if Rosie had to go on a fake date, the very least she could do was expect to have a good time.

  “Thanks.” Cord looked down on her with consideration.

  They walked down the sidewalk together, her hand tucked in his pocket, the wind blowing.

  “Maybe we could go to Chicago next time,” Cord said.

  Rosie’s insides shifted. But she smiled. “I’d love to show you around the Windy City. You’d love it there.”

  She had no idea what she was talking about, but it sounded like something Rosalin would say. At least she thought it did.

  They were almost to her car where her skates were when she realized Cord would wonder why she was driving Rosie’s car.

  “Why don’t you run over and get your skates while I grab mine?” she said.

  “I can wait.” Cord’s smile made her heart hurt.

  Her stomach shifted, and she tugged at her hand. She couldn’t let him see her car.

  “We’ll have more time to skate,” she said. “Please.”

  He gave her a look that said he didn’t agree with her, but he didn’t want to argue about it.

  “Okay,” he said.

  He allowed her hand to slip out of his. The swirl in her stomach subsided, but she didn’t feel relief until he turned away and started walking toward his truck.

  She hurried to her car, unlocked it, and grabbed her skates. Somehow when they were done skating, she would have to find a way for him not to walk her the whole way here. And in the future if Rosalin wanted her to pretend to be her, Rosalin was going to have to provide a car.

  Although, Rosie swore to herself she wasn’t doing this again.

  Punching the lock on her key fob, she walked across the parking lot to Cord’s truck. He had his skates and was just closing the door.

  His happy look became a little confused when he glanced at her skates. “I thought Rosie had the blue and pink skates?”

  Her heart sank. Why hadn’t she considered that she was bringing her own skates? She’d never even thought about getting Rosalin’s rather distinctive red skates.

  Several beats of silence passed before she said, “The last time Rosie and I skated together, we got our skates mixed up, and I ended up with hers.”

  She had taken just a tad too long to answer him, and she knew it. The skeptical look faded from his face, but it had sounded like a lie even to her.

  “Come on,” he said, putting his arm around her.

  They walked the rest of the way to the ice-skating rink side by side without saying anything more. Rosie berated herself over the rookie mistake. She and Rosalin had traded places often enough that she shouldn’t be making errors like this. The problem was they’d never tried to fool Cord. It didn’t sit well with her. Plus, goofing off was one thing. This felt way too much like lying.

  They found an empty bench at the end of the skating rink and sat to put their skates on. There was a friendly hockey game going on at one end, but thankfully the rink was large and there were couples skating on the other side.

  Rosie and Cord had played a lot of hockey in their time, but Rosie knew that Rosalin hated playing. Cord would definitely think it odd if she suggested they join.

  “Feels like it might be warming up,” Cord said.

  Lights strung between the poles around the rink twinkled against the dark night. Laughter floated on the breeze. Cord’s body felt warm beside her.

  Although she’d always rather be home, home somehow being Cord’s ranch, the night was just about perfect. Even if she would have to skate demurely with the older couples on the side of the rink rather than playing hockey like she would prefer.

  Cord stood and held out a hand. “You ready?”

  She put her hand in his and stood. The words came out of her mouth before she realized she was saying them. “Let’s play hockey.”

  She shouldn’t have done it. It wasn’t something Rosalin would say. And of course, Cord’s eyes got big.

  “Really?” he asked. “You might sweat.”

  She laughed. She already said it; she might as well go with it. “It doesn’t always have to be about me. I know you want to play.”

  Cord looked over at the group of people dividing into teams. Rosie’s eyes followed his gaze. There were couples and kids and individuals. It was definitely a pickup game.

  They were in luck because as they skated over a couple with clasped hands waved goodbye and skated away from the just forming teams.

  “We can take their place,” Cord said.

  They were welcomed enthusiastically.

  It’d been years since Cord and she had played together for an
y length of time. But they did spend enough time on the ice with each other in high school that they still played well together, and they were able to help their team score a goal in the hour that they played.

  The game broke up shortly afterward, and they skated away holding hands and laughing. They spent some time at the other end of the rink, gliding in lazy circles and laughing with each other.

  Rosie thought she was probably out of the woods until, just before they skated to the bench to remove their skates, she heard someone calling Rosalin’s name.

  At first it didn’t register, but she’d been answering to Rosalin’s name all her life. So she looked up. A man she didn’t know in a nice beige jacket was skating toward them with a big smile on his face.

  Dread sucked Rosie’s stomach in.

  “Rosalin Bloom. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Chicago?”

  Rosie swallowed. She had no idea who this man was.

  He turned and looked behind him. “Justin, come meet Rosalin!”

  The man turned back to them. “My buddy and I are here on a business trip.” For the first time, his eyes went to Cord. He got a little smirk on his face. “Is this your date?” He did air quotes around date and gave it a little twist with his voice.

  Rosie’s eyes widened. What in the world did he mean?

  Whatever he was trying to say, she should stop it right now even if she didn’t know his name. “No, this is my fiancé, Cord.”

  Cord’s brows had drawn down with the man’s question. He gave Rosie a glance before he looked back at the man.

  The man held his hand out to Cord. This was where Rosie should introduce them, except she had no idea who it was.

  Thankfully, the man didn’t seem to notice. He grabbed Cord’s hand and said, “Cord, is it? Never thought I’d see the day when Rosalin settled down. She likes things exciting if you know what I mean.” The guy gave a grin that Rosie would consider leering, except it couldn’t be leering, right? Because it was almost like he was insinuating that Rosalin was...loose.