Page 10 of The Spice Is Nice

“She rolls her eyes at everything I say or do.”

“Maybe less aftershave and she wouldn’t.”

He stared hard at me for a moment, then cursed and went back into the bathroom. As I passed through the hall, I saw him through the open door scrubbing his neck with a washcloth. Good. Maybe now I could breathe in the truck on the way to the saloon.

New string lightsacross the ceiling, and a banner over the stage that read COWBOY NIGHT in hand-painted letters, greeted us when we walked into the saloon. A DJ played all the latest country hits. I’d say it was a little more crowded than the typical saloon Friday night in town. But not packed.

Would Ivy be satisfied with the turnout? She’d actuallypulled it off, though. I spotted her near the stage talking to Daisy and Sage, her blonde hair down her back, and a black dress that showed off her curves.

My eyes did a quick tour of her, as usual, trying not to linger in any one particular place, but I couldn’t help noticing the thigh-high boots that were less ranch wear and more something I might have seen women wear back home in New York.

She was stunning. No matter our friendship status, I was a man with eyes who could see Ivy’s beauty—inside and out.

I was proud of her. The thought landed before I could stop it, simple and clear and completely unhelpful. She’d made a plan and set out to accomplish it because Ivy Wylde had decided it would be. I was proud of a woman who was not mine and of whom I had no business being proud. And I needed a beer immediately.

Knox and I claimed our spots at the end of the bar. Jake and some of the other ranch hands joined us. Amidst the loud music and the energy in the room, we all checked out the women here. Some were young, college age maybe, and too young for my tastes. Besides, I wasn’t walking out of here with any hope for a new relationship status. Not if I were heading home for the holidays and likely not coming back.

I took a long pull of my beer, thinking over the past year here at the ranch. Had it fixed me? I didn’t know. Some days the answer was yes. Some days it was Caleb’s face and a sound like the world cracking open during the accident, and I was right back on that deck with salt spray on my lips and blood that wasn’t mine on my hands.

“What’s eating you?” Knox asked, jolting me out of the past.

“Nothing.”

“You look like you’re somewhere else.”

I took another drink. “Just thinking about what comes next. Whether I should head home sooner rather than later. My sisters are on me about it.”

Knox was quiet for a beat, which was unusual for him. Then Ivy and Daisy passed behind us on their way toward a group of tables, laughing about something, and the sound of Ivy’s laugh cut through the bar noise. We both turned and watched them. Couldn’t help it. Daisy’s auburn hair was down for once, and she’d traded her farrier boots for something with a heel that made Knox’s jaw visibly tighten. Ivy was beside her, gesturing with both hands the way she did when she was excited.

“Women,” Knox said, turning back to his beer. “They’ll make you think about the future, whether you want to or not .”

He wasn’t wrong. That was the problem. If I stayed in Montana much longer, I was going to find a reason not to leave, and that reason was about five foot seven with a mole above her lip, long legs, and a laugh that made me forget I had plans.

Ivy was building a life in this town, brick by careful brick, and I was a man passing through on his way somewhere else. Starting something with her would be selfish at best and cruel at worst, and I was trying very hard to be neither of those things.

A few minutes later, Ivy and Daisy appeared at our end of the bar with three women in tow. They were laughing atsomething Ivy had just said and wearing coordinated cowgirl outfits that screamed sorority road trip. One was a brunette with big earrings and an even bigger smile. Another was a redhead who kept touching her hair. And the third, I thought I’d seen around town.

“Boys,” Ivy said, her voice sweet as syrup and twice as deliberate. “This is Britney and Lisa. They drove all the way from Bozeman for Cowboy Night, and I promised them Forest Grove had the best cowboys in the state.” She gestured as if she were presenting livestock at auction. “Don’t make me a liar.”

Daisy piped up. “And Jake, this is Tina. Her dad runs the bank here.” They shared a shy hello.

Ivy and Daisy exchanged a look that contained an entire conversation, then walked away with their shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter. They knew exactly what they’d done.

Knox recovered first, playing their game. He swiveled on his stool and gave Britney his full-wattage grin, the one that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Great name. Great earrings. You want a drink, or do you want to dance? Fair warning, I’m not the best dancer.”

Britney laughed, loud and obnoxious. “I’ll take the drink to start, then.” I caught Daisy watching us from a high-top table where she’d settled with Ivy. Her arms were crossed and her jaw was set, and she was glaring at the back of Knox’s head with enough heat to set his collar on fire. She looked away the second she realized I’d noticed.

If she didn’t want Knox flirting with other women, why put these two in front of us? I shook my head, not liking this one bit.

“How about you, cowboy?” Lisa’s question was directed at me. She was pretty. Nice smile. And the polite thing to do was to be present, so I asked about her classes, and nodded in the right places, and none of it registered because over her shoulder, Ivy was watching me from across the bar with an expression I couldn’t quite read.

Eventually, the DJ switched to something with a beat, and Knox pulled Britney onto the dance floor without waiting for the question to form. Lisa looked at me with hopeful eyes, and I thought,Why not? This is what tonight is for. This is what Ivy built.So I set my beer down and walked out onto the floor.

It wasn’t a close dance. I kept a respectful distance, moving to the beat without touching. She was a decent dancer and laughed too easily. And I felt absolutely nothing for her, except awareness of where Ivy was standing at every moment.

She was with Daisy. Arms crossed. Watching. Barely smiling. When I caught her eye mid-turn, she looked away fast, and something hot and electric pulsed through my ribs. Was she jealous? She couldn’t be. We were friends. Plus, she’d literally delivered this girl to me like a pizza to the doorstep.

Ivy had no right to look the way she was looking, and the fact that my entire body had tuned itself to her frequency like a radio finding a signal was nobody’s problem but mine.