“Wow. You didn’t realize who he was?”
“No, or I wouldn’t have slept with him. Neither of us knew I would be interviewing for their ranch manager position a few days later. We kind of didn’t get around to last names.”
“It must have been—”
“Oh, it was amazing. Which is part of the problem. The whole thing was out of character for me. I’ve never had a one-night stand before that. But…I can’t regret it.”
“What happened when you went to interview?”
“I was supposed to talk to Damaris but Chase was there instead.”
“Bet that was a surprise.”
“To put it mildly.”
“So you what? Decided to ignore it?”
“Pretty much. Chase said we should interview as if that night had never happened. When they hired me we made a pact to forget about it.”
“How’s that working for you?”
“Not well. We’ve both dated other people but…I can’t stop thinking about that night. And he says he can’t either.”
“Maybe you should just go with it.”
“And what happens if we do and then we break up? Besides, I did my time with a rodeo guy. Not doing that again.”
“They’re not all the same, Ella,” Hazel repeated.
“Maybe not, but enough of them are to make me not want to risk it.”
“I hear rodeo gossip, you know,” Hazel said after a moment.
“What does the gossip say?” she asked, but wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“That Chase is a flirt but choosy about who he sleeps with.”
“Oh, like he sleeps with one out of every ten?”
“You’re just looking for reasons not to go for it. I don’t think Chase is like that. Do you? Really?”
“No. But that could be wishful thinking.”
“Ever heard of trusting your instincts?”
“My instincts have let me down before.” But had they? At first she and Phil had been good together. But she’d been uneasy about Phil for a long time before she discovered he’d cheated on her. Then, like an idiot, she’d allowed him to convince her to take him back. Small consolation that she’d only done that once. But it didn’t give her a great deal of confidence in her own judgment.
