I shook my head and clamped my jaw. “You don’t know the hold he has on her.”
“Give her a little credit, man.” He sounded annoyed. “Lemon is tougher than you think. She destroyed his ride.”
I set my cowboy hat on the desk. “Temporary insanity.”
“She’s tougher than she used to be. You don’t know her anymore.”
I went rigid. “What does that mean?” Was he accusing me of abandoning her? Had Sophie put this in his head? She’d ripped into me more than once for not keeping up my friendship with Clem.
“Exactly what I said. You haven’t been around her in years. She’s been through stuff.” Holden didn’t know when to give up. “Si, I didn’t call to argue with you. Just hear me out. You give things a little more time with Clem. Get settled in. Make her dinner all summer. Make friends with Miss Lisa. Bale her hay.” The longer he went on, the more animated he became. “Compared to Billy, you’ll look like Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Women love that stuff. She will fall into your arms.”
I scratched my jaw. “You done yet?” I could’ve bickered with him. Could’ve brought up Christy. But I didn’t have to convince Holden.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want Clem to fall in love with me. That’s all I’d ever wanted. I’d waited years for that. But loving Clem and not being loved back was soul-sucking. I was finally in a good place. A safe place. In the past couple of years, I’d finally hit a point where I wasn’t so anxious that I couldn’t eat.
I was happy too. And not the happy you fake for other people. The real kind. I’d be sitting with some buddies from my college days, talking about life, and suddenly I was belly-laughing. Shaking because I couldn’t hold it in. There were years after Clem where I never laughed at all. The ache was so intense. I’d finally pulled myself out of that hole. And I would not go back to that dark place. If I entertained a future with her, and she chose Billy, it would break me all over again. And this time it wouldn’t just be my heart she decimated. It would be Anna’s too.
Holden didn’t get it. He never would.
“Dad’s here. See you in a few minutes.” He paused and then said, “Don’t outright dismiss it. Just promise me you’llthink about applying. You know they struggle to get people to move here.”
That was true. They hadn’t been able to hire a Spanish teacher this school year. So even though Anna went to Spanish class every day, she was taught by a teacher from another school over Zoom.
I grunted a goodbye. Then I got back up and pulled the dewormer from the fridge.
But my mind was racing. It baffled me that people existed who only cared about themselves. People who would steal money from their co-workers and probably their friends. Without even thinking, I pulled the Seddledowne School District careers page up. There was nothing posted for the positions yet, but the teachers’ salaries were listed and it wasn’t anything to shake a stick at. Better than in Laramie. And they had decent insurance, retirement, and loan forgiveness—which would come in handy with the student debt left over from my master’s degree program.
My brain jolted, like a wake up call.
Had I just thought the wordswould come in handy? Like I was actually contemplating this? I swore at myself. What a waste of time. I already had a job. And a girl.
Holden needed to get out of my head.
eleven
CLEMENTINE
By the time I made it to the studio, I knew I wasn’t teaching anything. I had a stomach bug. I swiped open the app that clients used to sign up for classes and checked to see if any of my instructors were coming to barre. I tried Peyton first.
Me: Any chance you can teach the 9 a.m. class? Not feeling great. Sorry for the late notice.
Peyton: Sure thing. Pulling in now.
I glanced out the glass door to see her parking and quickly grabbed a mask from under the counter.
When she came through the door, bouncy little Peyton crossed her pointer fingers, aiming them at me. “Stay away.” She giggled.
Peyton was a brunette with the body of a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and the face of a makeup model. I didn’t know how she’d made it twenty-four years without getting married. She was so gorgeous. Three years ago she’d been crowned MissSeddledowne and I couldn’t think of another person in this town more fitting.
She dropped her hands and smiled. “Just kidding, you okay?”
“I think it’s a stomach bug. I’m going home to rest. If you can cover barre, I can probably get Crystal and Blair to cover the others.”
“Yeah. No problem.” Then her right brow cocked mischievously. "If you’ll do me a favor?”
I didn’t feel well enough to do anything but I really needed her to teach. “Okay?”
She slapped her hands on top of the counter and leaned toward me, not caring that I would probably give her the pukes. “Tell me who the delicious Adonis was, that was in here cleaning carpets this morning?” Her eyes sparkled like she hadn’t been dating Braxton seriously for the last six months.
