The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen: Do You Take This Rebel?

3

The door to Cole’s home office burst open, and his father charged in as if he were on a mission. Normally Cole would have protested the intrusion into his private sanctuary, but he was too exhausted. He’d been up all night putting the finishing touches on a program that would revolutionize the way businesses interconnected on the internet. His gut told him it was going to be the most lucrative bit of technology he’d ever created.

“What?” he asked as his father loomed over him, a frown on his face as he studied the computer screen.

“Is that supposed to make sense?” Frank asked, leaning down for a closer look.

“Not to you, but to another computer it’s magic,” Cole said.

“Guess I’ll have to take your word on that.”

“I’m sure you didn’t barge in here to talk about computers,” Cole said dryly. “What’s on your mind? You’re usually in town at Stella’s at this hour swapping lies with all your buddies.”

“Been there. Now I’m back.”

“I see,” Cole said. “And you’re what? Reporting in with the latest Winding River gossip?”

“Don’t sass me, son. I did happen to pick up a little bit of news I thought might interest you.”

“Unless it’s a way to squeeze eight hours of sleep into the two hours I have before I meet with Don Rollins about that bull you want, I doubt it.”

Undaunted, his father announced, “Cassie and her friends will be at Stella’s at noon today. Stella’s about to bust a gusset at the thought that a famous movie star is going to be dining in her establishment. That’s what she said, ‘dining in my establishment.’ Talk about putting on airs. She’s talking about little Lauren Winters. We’ve known the girl since she was in diapers. I can’t see what all the ruckus is about.”

He shook his head. “Well, never mind about that. The point is that Cassie will be there.”

Cole’s pulse did a little hop, skip and jump, which he resolutely blamed on exhaustion. “So?”

“Just thought you’d want to know.”

“And now I do.” He stared evenly at his father. “Are you waiting for some sort of reaction?”

“As a matter of fact, I am. Any hot-blooded son of mine would take a shower, shave, splash on a little of that fancy aftershave women like and haul his butt into town. Now’s your chance, son. Don’t waste it.”

“I’m confused about something. When did you become such a big fan of Cassie’s?”

Guilt flickered in his father’s eyes for an instant before he shrugged. “The point is you cared about her once.”

“A long time ago. You saw to it that it came to nothing.”

“Well, maybe I regret that.”

“Do you really?” Cole asked doubtfully, then shook his head. “Look, forget it. I have an appointment, anyway.”

“I can buy my own blasted bull,” his father retorted. “Seems to me like you ought to have better fish to fry.”

Cole raked a hand through his hair, spared one last glance at the computer screen before shutting it down, then stood up.

“A shower sounds good,” he conceded. “As for the rest, if I were you, I’d be real careful about telling me how capable you are of managing without me. I might get the idea that I could leave this ranch and Winding River and you wouldn’t even miss me.”

His father began to sputter a lot of nonsense about not saying any such thing, but Cole ignored the protest and headed upstairs for a long, hot shower to work out the kinks in his neck and shoulders. Given the state of his thoughts about Cassie Collins, he probably should have let the water run cold.

An hour later, feeling moderately more alive, he left the house and headed into town. Not to satisfy his father, he assured himself. Not even to catch a glimpse of Cassie. Just to grab a decent meal that he didn’t have to cook himself, maybe pick up a few things at the feed and grain store. If Cassie happened to be around, well, that was pure coincidence, the kind of thing that happened in small towns. People bumped into people all the time, exchanged a few words, then went on about their business. It didn’t have to mean a thing.

Yeah, right. He sneezed as he caught a whiff of that aftershave he’d splashed on at the last minute. He yanked a handkerchief out of his pocket and rubbed at his cheeks, but the scent stayed with him, mocking his avowed intentions about this trip into town.

He glanced in the rearview mirror of his truck, assured himself that no one was behind him, then slammed on the brakes right there in the middle of the highway. He could quit lying to himself right now, turn around, go back to the ranch and take that nap he’d been craving before his father had shown up. And if he wanted to salvage a lick of pride, that was exactly what he ought to do.

“Do it,” he muttered. “Be sensible for once in your miserable life.”

But the lure of seeing Cassie again was too much to ignore. It had been a long time since he’d let temptation get the better of him. Surely he could be forgiven a single lapse.

With a sigh he took his foot off the brake and kept going, heading straight for trouble.

* * *

“Oh, my word, I never thought I’d see all of you back together again,” Stella Partlow said, hands on her ample hips as her gaze circled the table at the back of her diner. “These class reunions always take me right back. Not a one of you has changed a lick.”

“Not even Lauren?” Cassie asked the woman who had given her her first job as a waitress back in high school. Stella had ignored the gossip and patiently gone about the business of turning Cassie into a responsible employee.

At Cassie’s question, Stella peered intently at Lauren, then shook her head. “Nope. She was always a beauty. Back then she just didn’t make the most of the looks God gave her. I’ve always said a good haircut and a few beauty products can turn the plainest woman into something a man can’t resist.”

“You still selling Avon?” Emma teased.

“Well, of course I am,” Stella retorted. “But right this second I’m pushing hamburgers. How about five with the works, just the way you used to like ’em?”

“And fries,” Karen said with a gleam of anticipation in her eyes.

“And chocolate milk shakes,” Cassie added, all but licking her lips. Nobody anywhere made shakes as thick and rich as Stella’s. Not even Earlene had the knack.

“Except for me,” Lauren corrected.

“I imagine you’ll be having a cherry cola, same as always,” Stella said, giving her a wink. “Coming right up. You all try to keep the noise level down back here. I’ve got tourists, and they like a little peace and quiet while they eat.”

“I’ll bet if you point out that they’re in the presence of a gen-u-ine movie star, they won’t care how much racket we make,” Gina told her.

Lauren frowned. “Stop it, you guys. Acting’s a job. It’s not who I am. If anybody ought to know that, you should,” she reminded them.

Cassie thought she detected an edge in her friend’s voice, but Lauren laughed just as hard as the rest of them at the teasing comments that followed. And when they plagued her with questions about her leading men, her responses were as ribald as the discussions they’d had about boys in high school.

When their drinks came, Cassie raised her glass. “A toast. To the Calamity Janes—may all our troubles be behind us.”

Just as the others joined in, Cassie’s glance strayed to the window looking onto Main Street. Cole Davis was standing on the sidewalk staring right back at her, his hands jammed in the pockets of his faded denims, his jaw set and an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“Uh-oh,” Karen murmured. “Looks as if that toast came too late. Trouble is about to come calling.”

All of the women followed Cole’s progress as he strode to the door and entered the diner.

Cassie swallowed hard and prayed that she wouldn’t make a complete fool of herself. It was just a chance meeting with an old flame. Nothing more. Nothing to cause this churning in the pit of her stomach. There was no reason for her heart to slam against her ribs or her pulse to ricochet wildly. Jake was safely at home with her mother, so there was no reason for this little lick of fear that was sliding up the back of her throat.

Get a grip, she told herself mentally as she lifted her gaze to meet his. Those unflinching blue eyes were just as devastating as ever. Her stomach flipped over. Her heart pounded. Her pulse ricocheted. Reason apparently had nothing to do with anything where Cole was concerned, not even after ten long years.

Tension swirled as she felt four gazes pinned on her, waiting to see what she would do. She drew in a deep breath and reminded herself she was a grown-up woman—a mother, in fact. She could handle a simple little exchange with a man, even if he did happen to be the father of the child she’d kept from him...even if she’d spent years nurturing her hatred of him.

“Cole,” she acknowledged with a slight nod.

“Cassie.”

His voice was as low and sexy as she’d remembered, his face more mature, his lips in that same straight line that had always dared her to try to coax a smile from him. His blue eyes were as cold as a wintry sky, though why they were eluded her. He was the one who’d walked out on her. If anyone had a right to be fuming mad, it was she. He ought to be on his knees apologizing, which was about as likely as the sun starting to rise in the west.

When it looked as if the conversation had run into a dead end before getting off the ground, Karen, ever the peacemaker, jumped in.

“How’s Frank?” she asked, as if the tension weren’t already thick enough without bringing up Cole’s father.

“Same as ever. Cantankerous,” he said, bestowing the smile on her that he’d refused Cassie.

“Still grumbling about getting you married off?” Karen teased. Cassie poked an elbow sharply in her ribs.

“The topic does come up now and again,” Cole said, amusement tilting the corners of his mouth.

“Your father always gets his way in the end,” Gina chimed in. “I don’t see why you don’t just get it over with. The way I hear it from my folks, every female in ten counties is after you.”

Cole grinned at her, a full-fledged smile, capable of breaking hearts. “Including you? How about it, Gina? Are you available?”

Cassie scowled as she waited for her friend’s reply.

“If you’d asked a week ago, I’d have turned you down flat,” Gina said. “Now, who knows?”

The flip remark drew stares from the others. Something wasn’t right with Gina, either. Cassie had sensed it from the moment they’d sat down, but there hadn’t been time to get into it. Whatever it was, it had to be serious for her to even joke about a willingness to leave her beloved New York and stay in Wyoming.

Cassie couldn’t give the matter any more thought just then, though, because she glanced up and spotted Jake and his grandmother coming across the street. After their talk yesterday, Cassie had thought there was no way her mother would bring the boy into town, but she’d clearly underestimated Jake’s powers of persuasion. He’d been pestering them for ice cream ever since Cassie had reneged on her promise of it the day before.

A sense of dread filled her as she watched their progress. She did not want Cole meeting her son—not today, not ever—though that was likely to be tricky if she decided she was back home to stay. After the awkwardness of the past few minutes, she was beginning to see that staying in Winding River might not be feasible. She couldn’t live with the kind of panic that had streaked through her when she’d seen Jake unwittingly heading straight toward his daddy.

“You guys, I have to run,” she said, dropping some money on the table and slipping out of the booth. “I have to get home.”

“But our food...” Lauren began, then glanced outside and fell silent.

Cassie circled around behind Cole, giving him a wide berth, hoping that her friends would keep him occupied just long enough for her to catch Jake and her mother and detour them away from the restaurant.

“I’ll call you,” Karen said.

“And we’ll see you tomorrow night,” Lauren added.

“Absolutely. I can’t wait,” she said before dashing off to intercept her son.

She was dismayed when she realized Cole had fallen into step beside her. Just outside the door, he gazed down into her eyes, his expression vaguely troubled.

“Why the sudden rush, Cassie? I didn’t scare you off, did I?”

His tone mocked her, but there was that contradictory flicker of concern in his eyes. She didn’t know what to make of either, and right now she didn’t have time to grapple with it. Disaster was less than half a block away.

“Of course not,” she said a little too sharply. “I just have to get home, that’s all. I promised my mother I wouldn’t be gone long.”

His expression softened. “How’s your mother doing?” he asked with apparent sincerity.

Cassie thought back to the special bond Cole and her mom had shared. It, too, had died when Cole abandoned Cassie. If she were a more generous person, Cassie mused, she might regret that. Cole, who’d lost his own mother at an early age, had basked in the attention Edna had given him.

Cassie glanced down the street and saw that her mother was disappearing through a door down the street. Apparently she’d caught a glimpse of Cole and wisely hurried Jake toward the trendy new restaurant and coffee bar Cassie had noticed earlier. Cassie breathed a sigh of relief and turned her gaze back to Cole.

“Fine,” she said. “My mother’s just fine.”

He seemed startled by that. “Really?”

Something in his voice told Cassie he knew something she didn’t. She stared at him intently. “Why did you say that like that?”

He evaded her gaze, his expression suddenly uneasy. “Like what?”

“Stop it, Cole. Don’t play games with me. Is there something going on with my mother that I don’t know about? Is she keeping something from me?”

“You’ll have to ask her that.”

All thoughts of Cole’s near-miss encounter with his son fled as she stared at him and tried to read his deliberately enigmatic expression. He was hiding something. It was plain as day. “Dammit, Cole. Tell me.”

“I just inquired after your mother, Cassie. I was being polite,” he insisted mildly. “Don’t read anything more into it.”

“Nothing with you is ever that simple.”

“You’re a fine one to talk.”

Her temper flared, and her gaze clashed with his. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Never mind. There’s no point in dredging up old news.” He bit back a curse, then shook his head. “I knew coming into town today was a mistake.”

Cassie was startled by the note of betrayal in his voice. “Have you been rewriting history, Cole? You left me. It wasn’t the other way around.”

“Wasn’t it?” he asked with unmistakable resentment.

Her own bitter memories, always just beneath the surface, bubbled up. “How can you ask that? One night you were making love to me, telling me how incredible I was, the next day you were gone.”

“I explained that.”

“Explained it?” she repeated incredulously. “When was that? Until you walked through the door at Stella’s a few minutes ago, I hadn’t seen or heard from you since the night you stole my virginity.”

He winced. “Dammit, Cassie, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t steal anything. We made love. It was a mutual decision. Besides, I left you a note. I know you got it, because you sent me an answer. Do I have to remind you what was in it? You said you wanted nothing more to do with me, that I should go back to college and forget all about you. You said you intended to get on with your life and that I was no longer a part of it.”

Disbelief washed over her. This was ridiculous. Why would he make up such an absurd lie? No doubt to soothe his own conscience.

“I never wrote such a note and you know it.”

“Really?” he said scathingly. “Remind me to show it to you sometime. I’ve kept it all these years as a reminder not to trust a woman’s pretty words of love, especially when she says them in my bed.”

Before she could recover, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Cassie staring after him, wide-eyed with shock. Not one single word he’d said made a lick of sense. She’d never gotten any letter from him. Nor had she sent a reply. But it was clear that Cole believed otherwise.

She felt a blast of cool air as the door to Stella’s opened behind her. “You okay?” Gina asked, draping an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m...” She thought about what had just happened. “Confused, I guess.”

“About what? Your feelings for Cole?”

“No. He said some things. Things that didn’t make any sense.”

Gina’s gaze narrowed. “What things? If he upset you, I’ll get the others and we’ll beat him up for you.”

The comment drew a weak smile. They would do it, too. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Cassie said. “But I love you for offering.”

“Come back inside and eat your burger.”

“I can’t. I need to find Jake and my mother. I want to make sure that Cole didn’t catch a glimpse of them.” She thought then of his odd reaction to her claim that her mother was fine. “I need to talk to Mom about something else, too.”

“But you’ll be at the party tomorrow, right?”

“I’ll be there,” Cassie promised. She met Gina’s gaze evenly. “You and I need to have a long talk.”

“About?”

“Whatever’s going on with you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Gina said, giving her a hug.

“Then what was that remark to Cole all about? You sounded as if you might actually consider hanging around Winding River instead of going back to New York. I can’t believe you would ever walk away from your restaurant.”

“I was joking,” Gina insisted. “Surely you didn’t think I would seriously consider marrying your guy?”

“Cole’s not my guy, and that wasn’t the point. You might have been joking about that, but you sounded serious about the rest, about staying here.”

“So?” Gina said, her expression defiant. “It’s home. Are you telling me that the thought of staying here hasn’t crossed your mind since you’ve been back?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“It just is,” Cassie said. She looked up and saw Jake and her mother emerge from the restaurant down the block carrying ice cream cones. They caught sight of her and headed in her direction.

“We’ll finish this conversation tomorrow,” she warned Gina. “I’m not buying a word you’ve said so far.”

“And I’m not buying for a second that you’re over Cole Davis,” Gina retorted. She waved at Cassie’s mother, then retreated inside Stella’s.

Cassie sighed. Gina was right. If she’d learned nothing else in the past half hour, it was that she was a long, long way from being over Cole Davis.

4

“Mom!”

Grappling with the discovery that her feelings for Cole were as powerful as ever, Cassie barely registered Jake’s cry. Then she felt an impatient tug on her arm and gazed down into her son’s eyes, eyes the same shade of blue as those of the man who’d just dropped a bombshell, then strolled away.

“What, Jake?” she asked, still distracted by her realization that not even years of bitterness had dimmed what she’d once felt for Cole Davis. Add to that Cole’s charge that she’d been at fault, that he hadn’t abandoned her at all, but rather she had turned her back on him, and it was little wonder that she was confused. How could he have gotten it so wrong?

“Mom!” Jake said impatiently. “You’re not listening.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, turning her attention to him.

“Do you know who that was?” Jake demanded, his cheeks flushed with excitement, his eyes sparkling.

Her heart seemed to slam to a stop. “Who?” she asked cautiously, fighting panic.

Had Jake guessed? Had he seen the resemblance between himself and the man with whom she’d been talking? Would a nine-year-old be intuitive enough to guess that a stranger was his father?

A quick glance at her mother reassured her. Her mother gave a slight shake of her head, indicating that so far her secret was safe, both from Cole and her son. No, this was about something else, though she couldn’t imagine what.