“How are you doing?” she asked him quietly.
“Great,” he said with the hint of a smile. “The cows are really cute. Even the big ones.”
“Those eyes, right?” Bella said, smiling back at him.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re having fun,” she told him.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Me?” she asked, a little surprised.
Was he really only hanging back to check on her?
“You said you were nervous,” he reminded her.
“Right,” she said.
“But you were hanging out with Cash,” he said. “So you’re all right.”
She wondered for a second what he meant by that. Had he somehow read the interest she was trying so hard not to show?
“Your dad is great,” she said, hoping that was what he expected to hear.
“Yeah,” he said. “You guys are funny together. It’s cute.”
“Cute, huh?” she asked him, wanting to tell him he was wrong, but unable to keep the smile from her face.
He probably didn’t mean that they liked each other or anything, just that their friendship was cute.
“Opposites attract, right?” Cody said, removing all doubt.
She knew she should probably be insulted, but what he said was true. Cash was outgoing, flashy, popular with everyone. And she was still plain Bella—steady, hardworking, the last person anyone would put together with a rock star.
“Sometimes,” she said. “But I’m not who he’s here for. I’m glad you guys are hitting it off. He’s probably wondering where you are.”
Cody nodded and headed back to the kitchen, leaving Bella to catch her breath after their strange conversation.
Had Cash’s words been right somehow?
He might like to see someone make you happy…
But Cody was just a kid. He hadn’t stopped to really think things through. She obviously couldn’t date his dad. What if they broke up? What would that do to Cody, who had already been through so much?
Maybe dating was just too casual. But if things were more serious than that…
Unexpected images were suddenly flashing through her mind, and she couldn’t help picturing herself and Cash with rings on their fingers, eating dinners with Cody, going for walks, reading, sitting out on the porch of that purple house watching the fireflies.
Surely, something like that would be good for Cody, good for all of them, right?
Stop that. You’re not a silly girl anymore. You’re a woman, a guardian.
But she couldn’t help the good mood that was making her feel light as air as she headed back to the kitchen to join the others.
“There she is,” Cash’s deep voice sang out happily. “Come on, I saved you a seat by me.”
He was at the end of the table with Cody on his right. And he was wiggling the empty chair on his left. She hurried in and sat, trying to ignore the butterflies that fluttered in her chest as he smiled at her.
