Confessing to the Cowboy - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,28

school and finally the two men began to challenge each other to skating contests.

“I hear a lot of big macho talk, but I don’t see any action happening,” Mary said teasingly. That’s all it took for the party to move outside to the pond.

As she followed behind the two men toward the gleaming icy water, she realized at some point in the last half an hour, she’d relaxed. Cameron was so good with Matt, teasing him and yet maintaining the boundaries of adult and child.

He’d make an amazing father. He should be a father already. He should be married with children to fill the house that felt as if it were holding its breath, just waiting for a family to appear.

Cameron had obviously planned ahead. Three lawn chairs were situated around a fire pit where wood was already laid for a fire. “We have to keep the cheerleader warm,” he said. He put a lighter to the wood and instantly got flames.

“Thanks.” She sat in the chair closest to the fire and tried not to imagine what it would be like to be with Cameron every day and every night, to be the family that filled his house, the woman who shared his bed.

Impossible dreams for a practical woman. She knew that any relationship with any man was impossible for her. She could never be open and vulnerable enough with another human being to feel the intimacy that made a happy marriage. She would always be guarded, mindful of sharing pieces of herself and her past.

As Cameron and Matt finished lacing up their skates, she leaned back in the chair, warmed by the fire and simply enjoyed the show of the boy she loved and the man she might have loved gliding and spinning across the ice.

Cameron was surprisingly graceful on the ice, gliding in a way that showed he had spent many hours skating in his past. She could easily imagine him and his brother, Bobby, spending wintry days here challenging each other in spins and figure eights. Matt began a bit wobbly, but soon found his rhythm and the two glided side by side as if they belonged together, as if they were father and son.

The vision ached in Mary’s heart for a moment and then she shoved it away, determined that the day be filled with laughter and happiness rather than regrets.

* * *

It was just after five when the three of them walked into the Dragon Wok in Evanston. The scent of exotic spices and soy sauce made Mary’s stomach gurgle with hunger. She’d been too nervous about the day to eat either breakfast or lunch.

Her nerves had vanished, cast out by the laughter that had accompanied the afternoon and now she felt ravenous enough to eat the massive colorful papier-mâché dragon that hung across the length of the ceiling of the restaurant.

They were led to a booth in the back of the busy establishment. Matt slid in next to Cameron and Mary sat alone on the opposite side, with their coats in a pile next to her.

“I’m starving,” Matt announced and grabbed one of the three menus the hostess had left when she’d seated them. “Sometimes I wish Mom and Rusty would make Chinese food.”

“Then we wouldn’t have an opportunity to have special outings here,” Mary replied.

“True,” Matt agreed. “But I also want to order a bunch of things when we come here to eat.”

“Just make sure you save room for the birthday cake I’ve got back at my place,” Cameron said.

“You baked me a cake?” Matt asked in surprise.

Cameron laughed. “No, I didn’t bake you a cake, but I got you one from the store. It’s half chocolate and half white because I wasn’t sure what you liked.”

“White,” Matt replied.

“Chocolate,” Mary said at the same time and once again they all laughed.

That set the tone for the meal. As they enjoyed the soup starter, Cameron told them how he and his brother used to tell people that their grandparents were the founders of Evanston.

“Grandpa Emmett and Grandma Ida Evans made us small-town celebrities with the other kids in Grady Gulch, who actually believed our stories,” he said. “Unfortunately it all ended when one of our friends found out that Evanston was named after Charlie Evanston who set up a cattle business in the early 1900s that became the town.”

“Bummer,” Matt said. “But that’s what you get for telling a lie.”

Cameron grinned. “That’s right and you’d better remember that as you grow up, that nothing