And Then You Dance (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 2) Read Free

see. I’m not talking about forever here Renie. I only want to have some fun. I mean, God, just the thought of him…” Blythe swooned, and rolled her eyes back in her head and made a noise that sounded like an elk during mating season. Renie thought she might be sick to her stomach.
    “I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”
    “Let’s hang out at your house tonight.”
    “I told you not to get your hopes up. And, it isn’t my house anymore.”
    “He won’t care if you invite me to the house.”
    Renie told Blythe that she had a midterm she had to study for that night, which was the truth. Not the whole truth, but enough of it.
    “What about Sunday? I’ll come over for breakfast.”
    If Blythe Cochran didn’t let this go, Renie would kill her.
    ***
    Billy hadn’t texted Renie all morning. Before yesterday, he hadn’t thought about how often they texted each other. But now that he thought about it, he sent her texts all the time. He told her everything; important stuff, trivial stuff, jokes. He even said good morning and good night to her almost every day. Except today. He hadn’t said good morning to her today, he realized as he scrolled back through his texts to her.
    Hey, he texted.
    Hey, she answered.
    What r u doin?
    With Blythe.
    When will u b back?
    Why?
    Typical Renie. He wanted to tell her to just answer the damn question.
    Because I’m asking.
    Planning on bringing a girl home tonight?
    He’d never known anyone better at answering a question with a question than Renie Fairchild. Maybe he wouldn’t answer her, let her stew for a bit. Or he’d answer yes. But, if he did that, she wouldn’t come back to the house, she’d stay at Blythe’s or go back up to school. He didn’t want that. More than anything he wanted to hang out with her as though everything was normal between them.
    Just answer the question.
    An hour.
    Wanna have dinner with me?
    Who’s cooking?
    You are.
    Sure.
    ***
    It was one of those relationships. You see them all the time. The girl in love with the hot guy who didn’t realize she was alive. She’d do anything to be with him, and he took her for granted. The girl would never tell the guy she was interested in him because then he’d be uncomfortable and stop hanging out with her. That described her and Billy perfectly.
    She parked near the barn, and went in to see Pooh before she went in the house. She had things she needed to talk over with her horse before she saw Billy again.

Chapter 2
     
    Liv wished she had the power to turn back the clock, to the time before Billy Patterson broke her daughter’s heart. She had important news for Renie, and she wasn’t sure how her daughter would react.
    Eight months ago Renie showed up unannounced on their doorstep with tear-stained cheeks and a broken heart.
    She’d stayed with her and Ben from January to May, and then she left for the summer. Renie was back now, and had been for two weeks, she seemed better than before she left, but she still wasn’t herself.
    With places gearing up for ski season in Crested Butte, Renie asked Ben if they had any openings at the Goat, the Rice family’s bar on Elk Avenue, the main drag in the historic downtown. He was quick to say yes. He wanted her to stay busy, hang out with people her own age, and not slip back into the funk she’d been in last spring.
    “I hope you’re okay with it,” he said to Liv after he’d already agreed to it.
    “It’s something anyway,” Liv answered that day. Renie would turn twenty-four in three months. The girl who was once happy-go-lucky, and on her way to becoming a large animal vet, now had no direction in her life.
    If Liv hadn’t sold Billy her ranch, or come to live with Ben on his ranch in the East River Valley, maybe Renie’s life wouldn’t have fallen apart.
    — • —
    Billy didn’t remember the last time he was this nervous. Or if he’d ever been this nervous. And it was because of Renie, the person he felt more comfortable around than anyone