The Duet(61)

“Well, I guarantee, if you even say the word ‘Doric’ again while in my presence, I will fall asleep instantly.”

Cammie smiled. “Perfect.”

“Are you all done with your projects?”

She nodded and let her head fall back on the headrest. “I presented two days ago, cleared out my studio yesterday, and now I’m here. I’m finally done!”

“So the only thing left is your graduation next weekend?” I asked, trying to get my schedule worked out in my brain.

“Yes, and then I have to start job hunting.”

I opened my mouth to ask her about Grayson, but then stopped myself. I’d done enough with that situation. If she didn’t want to call him and he didn’t want to call her, there was nothing more I could do. Cammie would find her own career path.

The rest of the car ride back to Big Timber, we planned out everything we’d do over the weekend. Most of it involved stuffing our faces and wearing pajamas, but I knew we’d find some kind of trouble to get into before the weekend was done.

…



We arrived at Jason’s ranch right around lunchtime, but LuAnne was the only person who greeted us at the door.

“Oh my gosh! You two could be twins if not for the hair and the eyes. Like delicate little snowflakes from the same cloud, you two are,” she said with her hands clasped in front of her mouth. Oh, LuAnne. Her gaze darted back and forth between the two us for nearly a minute before she realized she was blocking our path into the house. “Oh! Come in, come in. I just set out some sandwich stuff on the kitchen table.”

She ushered us inside and I watched Cammie take in the ranch.

“This is really cool. I think I was expecting more of a cabin in the woods or something,” she said, probably admiring the architecture much more than I had.

The two of us made our way into the kitchen and sat down at the table with LuAnne. As we devoured her chicken-salad sandwiches, she explained that the boys had run into town to grab some lumber to repair the side of the barn. Just thinking about Jason and lumber made me cross and re-cross my legs. Why was it so hot imaging a man around wood?

“Did you hear me, Brook?” Cammie asked pinching the back of my arm.

I flinched back and yelped.

“Jeez, that hurts!”

“Sorry, LuAnne was asking if you wanted to show me the stables and you were staring off into lala land.”

I wasn’t in lala land. I was in Jason Land.

“Sure, let me finish this sandwich and we’ll go.”

In reality, I needed to cool my jets and stop imagining Jason in compromising positions or my knees would give out when I stood up.





The air was warming up when we finally stepped out to inspect the barn and stables. I smiled down at my red boots and the matching pair that I’d gifted Cammie after lunch. I knew she wouldn’t have any footwear that was appropriate for tromping around a barn, so I’d picked her up a pair from Paulo earlier in the week.

“I feel like a northwestern version of Dorothy,” she said, tapping the heels of her boots together as if she were wearing ruby slippers.

I shook my head and tugged her toward the path that led around the side of the house. Since I wasn’t sure where the guys were doing repairs on the barn, I decided to skip over it and show her the stable first. Dotty would be eager to sniff out the sugar cubes in our pockets anyway.

“How many horses do they have here?” Cammie asked as I bent forward to pull open the heavy door.

“Five. Two mares and three geldings. Dotty is the first one on the right,” I said, pointing her out once we stepped inside. She’d been lying on the hay, but the moment she saw us step inside, she pressed up onto her hooves and came over to greet us with a soft rumble from her nostrils.

“She’s so pretty! I want to give her all the sugar cubes,” Cammie said, unfolding her hand toward the horse. In three seconds flat, all of her sugar cubes were gone.

“Cammie, you can’t just let her take them all at once,” I laughed, patting Dotty’s cheek.

“Maybe she wouldn’t scarf them down so fast if you guys weren’t so stingy with them,” Cammie protested. “Don’t worry, Dotty, I’ve got your back.”

“Hey. Are you in the stable?” a deep voice called from a few yards away. When Cammie and I turned toward the door, a sweaty Derek stepped through the threshold with a warm smile on his face. By the looks of his raised brows, he was pleasantly surprised by Cammie. Yeah, yeah, cowboy, she’s quite a looker.

“Hey,” he said, cleaning his hands on a towel he had stuffed in his back pocket. “I’m Derek.”

Cammie took the hand he had outstretched towards her and smiled. “Nice to meet you. I’m Cameron Heart.”