“Rowd?” I asked, frustrated by this barndominium on wheels in front of me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kit Baker loose,” he finally said. “Like, ever.”
He was adorable,I thought wistfully.But I kept that to myself.
“Was it a good kiss?” he pressed.
“So good. Like, better than my LA Daddy.”
“Wait. Better than an actual movie star?”
“Yeah, like, a thousand times better.”
Rowdy let out a low whistle. “How did you react?”
“I may have let it go on for a few more seconds than I should’ve, but I eventually pulled away,” I answered, resigning myself to following this big rig for the next seven thousand miles. “Cracked a few jokes. Tried to diffuse the awkward.”
“Did that work?”
“Not really,” I answered,slowlypassing Emery and Woody’s house. “But then I saw him at Stevie’s birthday party, and we kind of worked it out. Agreed there was no reason things had to be weird between us, and it was fine.”
Rowdy hummed on the line. “But then something changed, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, and it might’ve been my fault.”
“How so?”
“So, you know how I’ve got my first appointment today?”
“Of course.”
“And you remember the magnet I ordered for Betsy the other day?”
“Sure.”
“Well, I got it in this morning, and it was so perfect. I wanted to show him, tell him about my first appointment. So, I drove over.”
“Instead of just sending him a text with a picture of the magnet?”
Fuck Rowdy and his good questions.
Thank Christ, the rig turned off toward Wimberley. I stepped on the gas.
“Yeah. And before you ask, I wanted to get his approval because of how much he’s helped me start this business.”
“Okay. So, you drove over there to tell him about your appointment and show him the magnet and . . .”
“. . . And when I got there, I could tell he was happy to see me. Like we hadn’t seen each other in like a month because I’ve been busy and he’s been busy, and you know we text about the business a lot, but?—”
“He was happy to see you.”
“Yeah. But he also was super unfocused. Well, he was staring at me but not following the conversation, if you get my drift.”
“I’ve seen you,” Rowdy cracked. “I understand how a mere mortal would have a hard time focusing.”
“Hah.” I sighed. “Considering the fact that he had to take his hat off and cover himself at one point, I kinda had a clue about what was distracting him.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Kit took his hat off to cover anerection?”
