place. A box of cheesy garlic knots from Mindie’s rested beside her, and she scanned the dirt lane leading up to the house constantly.
Spur had said Blaine would be back in time for work on Monday morning. Cayden had confirmed it. When Tam had showed up at the house, Trey had said they expected to see Blaine any time now.
That had been an hour ago.
The garlic knots were cold, and Tam’s patience and willpower were wearing thin. “Where are you?” she asked, clenching her fingers into fists inside the front pocket of the hoodie she wore.
It was almost October, and a cool wind had arrived in Kentucky. The sun went down, and the door behind her opened. “Still out here?” Cayden asked. He came to sit beside her on the steps, and he sighed as he let his hands hang between his knees.
“Maybe I should just go,” Tam said. If he confirmed it for her, she’d take it as permission and get the heck out of there. She had nothing prepared to say to Blaine, though she’d had plenty of time.
She’d finished four more saddles this week, a piece of her heart etched into each one. Part of Blaine was too, and she wanted to tell him. She needed to apologize for saying she hated him. She needed him to know she wanted him, and then he could decide if he didn’t want her.
“Maybe give him a few more minutes,” Cayden said.
Tam nodded, her jaw clenching.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asked.
Tam took her eyes from the empty road and looked at Cayden. He seemed unsure and pretty nervous. “Sure.”
“If you sent a text to a man that said you were just so busy right now, but you’d like to get to know him in the future, what does that mean?”
Tam wanted to know who the woman was, because context was important. She’d seen Cayden circling Virginia Winters at Spur’s wedding, but that was months ago. Blaine hadn’t said anything about him dating, but they didn’t spend their time together gossiping about his brothers.
“I don’t know,” Tam said, her brain misfiring. “Probably that I was really busy right now, and when things at my job or in my family slow down and life feels easier for me, I’ll go out with you. But right now, it just makes me more stressed, and I don’t want to be stressed when I meet up with you.” She sucked in a breath and met his eyes, which had widened during her monologue.
“I’d want to feel relaxed and ready to have a good time. I’d want to feel sexy and flirty, and make sure you knew that all of my attention was on you, not whatever project or assignment I’d left at work, unfinished.” She shrugged and looked back out to the road, though she’d have heard Blaine’s truck if he’d arrived. “That would be what I would mean.”
“Okay,” Cayden said.
“Why?” Tam asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “Who said that to you?”
“Ginny Winters,” he said, sighing afterward. “We met at the wedding, and I’ve seen her over at Olli’s and Spur’s a couple of times. I asked her to dinner, but she sent me that text instead.”
Tam smiled at Cayden and laid her head against his shoulder. “Ginny Winters doesn’t play games, Cayden. Whatever she says, she means.” She straightened, the sound of a truck’s engine getting closer. “Also, you shouldn’t ask her out via text. She is far more sophisticated than that.”
She stood as Blaine’s truck crested the hill. “Dear Lord, here we go.”
“Sophisticated?” Cayden stood too, but Tam didn’t have enough mental energy to focus on him and the man driving toward her. “We’ll talk later.” Cayden turned and left her standing on the top stair.
“Mm,” she said, not even sure what he’d said to her. Her feet took her down to the sidewalk, where she remembered the garlic knots. She hurried back up the steps to retrieve the box of Blaine’s favorite food.
She felt like a dunce carrying it toward him. A blast of loud music filled the air for only a moment, and then a truck door slammed.
Keep going, Tam coached herself. A few more steps. Don’t stop.
She made it around the trucks parked in front of the house, and Blaine and his truck came into view. She stopped, her fingers tightening on the box of food.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice low and his cowboy hat pushed all the