Tara shrugged. “She must be doing fine, considering that Beau wants to take her to the carnival. If she wasn’t ready to go out and have a fun time, he wouldn’t haveconsideredit.”
Rebecca peeked over at the phone and moaned at the one picture of Beau, shirtless and by a creek, about to jump in. By the other people in the water, it must have been from a time when he and a bunch of his friends decided to cool off during the summer. He sure was sexy in his navy blue swim trunks that hung low onhiships.
“Isn’t that yummy,” Rebecca remarked. “If you can snag him up, I’d do it. Kind of a real life Cinderella story,isn’tit?”
Tara bit her lip and thought about the book again. She wasn’t even a quarter of the way through. There was plenty more left to this story, but how much more? She still wasn’t convinced that she was the girl on the horse in the background of the cover. If she was, this was going to be some whirlwind romance. Closing time couldn’t come soonenough.
* * *
“Are you cold, baby?”Beau asked Dixie, looking down to her as she aimlessly wandered in circles across the patch of grass next to the carnival entrance. Behind them, colorful lights flickered in the darkness and the squeals of giddy children echoed in theeveningair.
“For the tenth time, I’m fine,” Dixie retorted after she groaned. “And before you ask again, no I’m not thirsty. But I am hungry. How much longer do we havetowait?”
Beau had to admit that they had arrived pretty early. He was perhaps a little too eager to see Tara again, for which he chided himself. He shouldn’t have been so drawn to her like this. Not after spending yearsapart.
The moment he saw her in the coffee shop, Beau immediately recognized her from high school. His disappointment equaled his surprise when she didn’t seem to recognize him in return. He couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t all that impressive in high school. It wasn’t until the summer after his senior year when he went to engineering school that he started to bulk up. The minute that happened, girls were falling at his feet. But none werelikeTara.
He had never forgotten her or her beautiful hazel eyes. In school, he was afflicted with an enormous crush on the dark-haired girl that sat in the second row of their chemistry class. If he had any guts back then, he would have asked her out. It was too bad he didn’t, otherwise things could have been different for them now. She was still beautiful, but he was sorely unavailable forromance.
He had to remind himself that he didn’t invite Tara to come to the carnival so he could personally spend time with her or catch up on old memories. Well, maybe that had a little to do with it. But the impatient eight-year-old had a heavier influence in his decision to extend the invitation. Her dad who was too busy with business tonight to come along. Instead of arguing with his brother, Beau let Daniel further distance himself from Dixie onemoretime.
He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Not much longer. We’ll grab some food as soon as shegetshere.”
Dixie kicked at a loose leaf. “Where did you meet heragain?”
Beau saw the top button of her jacket was undone and squatted down to fasten it. “At the coffee shop across the street from thedentist.”
The little girl held still, though she rolled her eyes. Dixie might have hated wearing so many layers, but Beau wasn’t going to risk her catching a cold. The weather station said the temperature would drop again that evening, not too unusual for early Februaryweather.
“Are you going to marry her?” she asked a little too loudly as a family of four rushed by to stand in line at the ticketbooth.
“Nope,” Beau replied with utter confidence. If everything went well, he wouldn’t be the one getting married, but he wouldn’t mind being the best man for his brother again. He’d be losing Tara to a worthy guy, even if he was always the one to land the girl insteadofBeau.
“Then why are we waiting on her?” she whined and stampedherfoot.
Beau snapped his fingers and pointed at her nose. Immediately, she straightened up and looked rather sheepish. Daniel had let her get away with far too much, but Beau was going to help change all that. He loved his niece like any other uncle would, but he wasn’t going to spoil her. Not likeDanieldid.
He stood up and kept her still with his hand on her shoulder. “Because I want you tomeether.”
Dixie went quiet, even though he knew she was constantly looking toward the big rides and brightly lit gamebooths.
Beau took a deep breath to soothe out the jitters he felt deep in his stomach. Yeah, Tara had really messed him up with those hazel eyes and the way she flipped back her long brown hair when she sat up straight after cleaning the tea off the floor. Her clumsiness didn’t bother him. It was the way she had stolen the very breath from his lungs when she smiled. That same smile he drooled over as a junior in highschool.
He hadn’t been so star-struck by a girl like that in such a long time that he forgot what it was like to be totally taken by someone before he even knew their name. Worst part was that he had to keep his heart on a tight leash or this plan wouldneverwork.
He finally spotted Tara as she walked out of the parking lot and right up to them with a big grin. He loved the way her jeans hugged her long legs and how the knitted shawl hung around her elegant shoulders. Even in the fading light of the evening, she was gorgeous. He felt a little over dressed in his black button-down shirt and gray scarf. His boots – now clean and free of the muck and mud from the horse stables – kept his outfit a little lessformal.
“Hey,” Tara greeted in a voice that denoted her nervousness, though her face didn’t betray a bit of thatanxiety.
Dixie perked up. “You work at the dentist,don’tyou?”
Beau squeezed her shoulder. “No, Dixie. I said I met heratthe–“
“I know what you said, but she works at the dentist.Don’tyou?”
Tara’s grin broadened. “Yes, I do. You and your dad come in sometimes. How’s that fillingdoing?”
Dixie, being the goof that she was, stuck her finger in her mouth and reach back as if she were checking that her tooth was still there. Then, she shrugged and smiled. “It’s all right,” she said. She looked up to her uncle, waiting for him to saysomethingtoo.
