A cold sweat broke out across his back. Being worried for Cordy wasn’t the same as being in love with her.
He looked at Quint. “I’d know right away, wouldn’t I? It’d hit like… like lightning. Or an earthquake.”
Quint shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. When I knew about Ruby, it was more… deep. And quiet. Like she opened up my chest, climbed inside, and shut my ribs behind her. But all without a sound.”
Chance rubbed his chest. Okay, it was a little achy, but again, that could be from the worry. Same kind of worry he’d have over any of his friends facing a major medical event.
“I don’t think it’s like that.”
“Well,” Rye said in his quiet way, “it can be a thunderclap too.”
Chance frowned at him. “Who are you in love with?”
Rye’s cheeks colored. Chance wondered if it had something to do with Rye’s sudden interest in wild rice and mushroom soup.
“Let him alone,” Quint said gruffly. “We’re talking about you.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not in love,” Chance said. “But I’m not so sure about Rye. He’s awful red. And how does he know about the thunderclap?”
Chance studied Rye’s face as if his brother’s expression alone might tell him. There was definitely something going on, but Chance couldn’t pin it down.
As far as Chance knew, Rye hadn’t dated much since he’d left high school. So, who was Rye going out with? Or who did hewantto go out with?
“Wait,” Quint said, “how doyouknow about the thunderclap?”
“Yeah,” Rye said.
Both his brothers stared at Chance accusingly. Chance suspected Rye was joining to get the heat off himself.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Chance said. “I was just repeating what Rye said.”
Holden cleared his throat. He’d been so quiet, Chance had almost forgotten he was there.
“When I met your mother,” he said, “I didn’t like her.”
“You were both ten,” Quint said. “If I’d met Ruby when I was ten, I would have been too dumb and young to realize what she was to me, too.”
“My point was,” Holden said, “was that sometimes it takes time. It can be a thunderbolt, it can be quiet, it can be right away, and it can take time. But when it happens, you’ll know.”
Chance rubbed his chest as he pondered that. Yeah, he missed Cordy when she wasn’t with him, worried about her too—it seemed like he never stopped worrying these days—but it didn’t feel likeknowing.
He wasn’t going to howl at the moon with love for her or build a second porch or buy a zebra. Chance was only going to help Cordy have a baby.
“I’m fine,” he said confidently. “I’m definitely not in love with her.”
And everything would be just fine when she eventually left. She certainly wouldn’t be taking his heart with her.
Cordy wasn’t used to being this bored.
She’d had her last official shift at the Swing Inn four days ago. Without a job, she had nothing to do. Chance had put together the crib, so she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t babyproof, since she wouldn’t be here that long. And when she tried to look for another apartment, she just… lost interest. It felt like homework, and she’d never been good at school.
Chance told her to rest every morning when he left, but that was impossible. Cordy wasn’t a resting kind of girl.
She needed something to do. She’d already walked Iggy this morning, and when she went to grab the leash for another outing, the poor dog had groaned and hid under her bed. Iggy wasdone.
Cordy supposed she could go for a walk on her own, organize the nursery again, read a book, or even visit Holden—actually, she wouldn’t do that because it would upset Chance—but she didn’t want to do any of those things.
She wanted some human contact, which was exactly what her job had used to provide.
