Page 43 of Love Me Again

“Man, you are deeply in love with her,” Molly said, as if that was some kind of surprise.

Boone shoved his hands into his pockets, hunched in his coat. The knee-jerk reaction was to deny it, but that was dumb. He didn’t want to deny it to anyone. “No shit,” he muttered.

“I will never understand the male mind,” she said, punctuating it with an irritated grunt and stomping off to where Lindsay, Cal and Cal’s sister Sarah were chatting excitedly with Lou and Gavin. Boone followed her, because that’s where Josie was headed.

Josie was smiling, but it died when he came to stand next to her.

“I am not here for you,” she muttered, so only he could hear.

“That’s all right. I’d rather you be here for you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said under her breath. Then plastered on a smile. “I got to ask your brother all sorts of things about your past.”

When Boone looked at Shane, Shane shrugged. “I had to bribe her. Seemed the right kind of bribe.”

“You don’t strike me as the blankie type,” Josie said seriously. But her eyes were dancing with humor.

“I did not have a blankie,” he returned gruffly. “It was a blanket I happened to like more than others.”

“Named blankie,” Shane muttered.

Which made Josie hoot out a laugh. And Boone smiled in spite of himself because damn if it wasn’t good to hear her laugh.

“Where is Boone’s wife?” Lindsay demanded, stopped short in front of Josie. “There you are.” She grinned from ear to ear. “You are nothing like I pictured.”

Josie clearly didn’t know what to say to that, but Cal moved forward, held out a hand and introduced himself. “Molly mentioned you’re a vet,” Cal said.

“In Montana.”

“That’s too bad. I’ve got a cattle operation along with the Christmas trees and we sure could use another large animal vet around here. Karl keeps cutting his hours back because of his arthritis.”

“I’m not staying in Colorado,” Josie said firmly. At him, no doubt.

“Where are you going?” Lindsay asked.

“I don’t…know yet.”

“Well, then you should consider Colorado. And Gracely. It’s the best.”

“You’re just saying that because you’ve got a hot boyfriend who worships you and his sister makes meals for you,” Molly said, apparently in a grumpy mood today.

“Maybe, but every one of us who left came back,” Lindsay said with a shrug. “Can’t be that bad. All right. Let’s go find the Tyler Family Christmas tree!”

Boone glanced over at Josie.

Her polite smile had completely died.

CHAPTER 13

It wasn’t that bad.

Okay, it was amazing. Even if all the Tyler family togetherness made Josie uncomfortable because no matter what her last name was these days, she did not belong.

But they were just such a fun group of people. And funny. The addition of the gregarious Lindsay and her taciturn boyfriend added another layer, another dimension.

And they all loved each other. In a different way than she’d ever witnessed. Her father’s love had been quiet, stable. A lot like Shane, really. The north star everyone gravitated toward, the letter of the law everyone followed. But then there were all these pieces around him. Gravitating toward, bouncing off. Bending and breaking minor laws.

Josie tried to stay on the fringes, but no one ever let her fully stay apart. She wasn’t used to being folded so completely into anything.