She smiled at him and noted the two large brown paper bags of food in his hands. “I totally forgot that you were bringing dinner.”
“I expected you to be holding that baby.” He smiled back at her.
“I just put him down.” She stepped back to make room for Colt to enter. “Come in. You can just put everything on the counter. Clara Jean’s asleep.” She pressed herself against the wall so he could go by her and into the kitchen.
He lifted everything onto the counter and came back toward her. “It’s everything you put in the order,” he said. “Though one of the salads doesn’t have the pumpkin seeds.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, Colt.” Elaine smiled at him. “Do you want something to drink? They’ve got sweet tea and lemonade. I can make us Arnold Palmer’s, and we can sit on the front porch.”
She glanced over to where Zuke slept. “I can bring him outside with us.” She didn’t want him to wake and then disturb Clara Jean’s rest.
“Sure,” Colt said. “I’ve got a few minutes.”
Elaine nodded and hurried into the kitchen to make their drinks. She handed them to him in mason jars, with the instruction to take them out to the porch and she’d be right there. He did that, and Elaine strapped baby Zuke into the bouncy seat, then picked the whole thing up and took it outside with her.
Colt had already settled at the table just to the left of the front door and in front of the big picture window that looked into the living room. Elaine slid little Zuke into the shade under the table and reached for the mason jar Colt extended toward her.
“Here you go, honey,” he said, and a zing of attraction moved through Elaine that she didn’t understand. She’d known Colt for years, and he was one of Conrad’s very best friends.
You’re just letting what Glory Rose said infect your mind, she told herself as she took the Arnold Palmer and then the second seat at the table.
He took a drink and sighed. “That isgood,” he said. “That lemonade is extra sour.”
“That’s how Tate likes it.” Elaine smiled over to him and took a sip of her drink. Her taste buds puckered up, and she said, “Whoo-hoo. That is a little more sour than I’m used to.”
“It’s delicious,” Colt said. “But I love sour things.”
Elaine smiled at him and looked out at the front yard. JJ had been by to mow it yesterday, and everything sat clipped and neat in the Texas heat. Not even a breeze blew, and Elaine hadn’t heard a silence like this in a long time.
She set down her jar on the glass tabletop with a couple of clinks. “I heard you broke up with your girlfriend,” she said.
“Yeah.” Colt nodded a couple of times. “Yep, I did.”
Elaine wanted to ask him why, but she wasn’t sure they were good enough friends to get the real story, or if she even deserved the story at all. “Conrad said you really liked her,” she said anyway.
Colt looked over to her, his cream-colored cowboy hat acting as a reflector and pushing sunlight into his eyes. They glinted with brown and green, all mixed together into a pretty hazel, and he sure didn’t look happy. “I did like her,” he said.
“Then why’d you break up with her?” Elaine asked.
“It felt like we were on two different paths,” Colt said, his voice a touch cooler than before. “And I didn’t exactly tell her about Jonas before her sister did, so I already had one strike against me.”
“How could she not know about Jonas?” Elaine asked.
“She was new to town,” Colt said. “And, you know, people don’t know things unless other people tell them.” He raised one eyebrow and then looked out into the yard. “Have you told anyone yet?”
“No,” Elaine said, practically biting out the word.
He sighed in a way that told her he was highly disappointed in her. “Why not?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because, Elaine,” he said. “Your secret is my secret too, and I’m best friends with your brother.” The weight of his gaze on the side of her face only caused another slip of irritation to fly through her.
“And I really think it would do you a lot of good if you could talk about what happened.”
“I don’t need to talk about what happened,” Elaine said. “Because nothing happened.” She hugged herself and ran one hand up to her shoulder and back down.
“And yet you won’t go out at night,” Colt said. “You haven’t been out to eat once, and don’t think you’re fooling me by saying you went grocery shopping andforgotto get toothpaste.” He took a quick breath. “You didn’t. You haven’t set foot inside a store, or a restaurant, or anywhere since it happened.” He looked at her fully again, and, oh, Elaine did like the way he challenged her. Not many men did that, and she really wanted someone who she could talk to and who would talk back.
