The Calamity Janes: Cassie & Karen. Sherryl Woods

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СКАЧАТЬ sick, isn’t she?”

      “Just talk to her,” her friend repeated, then fell silent. A moment later, before Cassie could even attempt to persuade her to open up, Karen subtly sniffed the air.

      “School’s been out for a month. How is it possible that it still smells like sweaty gym socks in here?”

      Cassie chuckled despite herself, then gestured to the array of air fresheners around the room. “Don’t tell Mimi Frances. She’ll die of embarrassment. Evidently she thought she’d solved that particular problem.”

      Karen wrinkled her nose. “Not by a long shot.” She grabbed Cassie’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before the others come crowding in to see what’s wrong. I don’t know about you, but I do not intend to spend an entire evening in a room that stinks, not when there’s fresh air in the gym and a great band playing all our old favorites. I get my husband to myself too seldom as it is. I intend to make the most of it.”

      Back in the gym, they found most of the Calamity Janes already dancing. Caleb gave Cassie a quick kiss on the cheek, then snagged his wife’s hand.

      “Come on, angel, let’s see if you’ve still got those moves I remember,” he said.

      Cassie watched enviously as he spun Karen onto the dance floor. At least one of her friends had settled into a happy relationship, she thought. Caleb might be older than his wife, but it was evident that their match was heaven made. Once Karen had set eyes on the rancher, all her dreams of traveling the globe had taken a backseat to her desire to become his wife.

      Feeling blue and alone, Cassie wandered over to the bar and ordered a soda. Something told her she was going to need a clear head tonight, if not to deal with Cole, then certainly for that dreaded conversation with her mother.

      The fast song ended, and a slow, oldies ballad began. Memories of another night, hot and sultry and filled with promise, stole over her. She felt a hand on her waist, felt the whisper of warm breath against her cheek and knew it was Cole behind her.

      “Does it take you back?” he asked.

      To a place she didn’t want to go, she thought but didn’t say. “Nostalgia’s a funny thing,” she said instead. “It tends to take away all the rough edges and leave you with pretty images.”

      “Anything wrong with that?” he asked.

      “It’s not real. It’s not the way it was. Not all of it, anyway.”

      He stepped in front of her, his gaze steady. “Dance with me, Cassie.”

      “Cole...” The protest formed in her head, but she couldn’t seem to get the words out.

      “For old time’s sake.”

      Drawn to him, caught up in the very nostalgia she’d decried, she slipped into his arms and rested her head against his chest. The feel of him, the clean, male scent, the weight of his arms circling her waist—all of it was incredibly, dangerously familiar. Their bodies fit together perfectly, moving as one to the music, connected in a way that hinted of another, far more intimate and never-forgotten unity.

      “God, I’ve missed you,” he said, his voice ragged and tinged with regret.

      Was it regret for time lost, though, or for emotions he couldn’t control? Cassie wondered.

      The music played on for what seemed like an eternity, but when it ended at last, she thought it hadn’t gone on nearly long enough. Cole released her, then captured her hand in his.

      “Come on. I’ll buy you a drink.” He regarded her questioningly as they approached the bar. “Another soda?”

      She nodded. When he had her cola and his beer, he led her outside. She didn’t resist. She couldn’t. It seemed they were both caught up in some sort of spell. Reunions had a way of doing that, she supposed. They were intended to take you back in time, to a simpler era when nothing mattered but football victories and school dances. Unfortunately, for her those times were far more complicated.

      The heat of the day had given way to a cool breeze. The summer sun was just now sinking below the horizon in the west in a blaze of orange. They stood silently, side by side, watching as the sky faded to pale pink, then mauve, then turned dark as velvet.

      “Quite a show,” Cole observed.

      “God’s gift at the end of the day, if you take the time to enjoy it,” Cassie said.

      “Do you?”

      “Do I what?”

      “Take the time to enjoy it? What have you been up to for the past ten years, Cassie?”

      “Working.”

      “Doing what? Where are you living?”

      Now there was the question of the hour, she thought. “I’ve been in a small town north of Cheyenne,” she said.

      “Doing?”

      “The same old thing,” she said, unable to hide a note of defensiveness. “Working in a diner.”

      “You were always good at that,” he said with what sounded like genuine admiration. “You had a way of making every customer feel special, even the grumpy ones.”

      She shrugged. “Better tips that way.”

      “Why do you do that?” he asked, regarding her with a puzzled expression. “Why do you put yourself down? There’s nothing wrong with being a damn fine waitress.”

      “No, there’s not,” she agreed.

      He grinned. “That’s better. Besides being a waitress, what have you been up to? I imagine raising your son takes most of your time.”

      She swallowed hard. Obviously he knew about Jake’s existence, so there was little point in denying it. “Yes.”

      “I saw him, you know.”

      Fear made her stiffen. “You did? When?”

      “The day you drove into town. I saw you go speeding past the ranch. He was with you.”

      She breathed a sigh of relief. Only from a distance, then. He couldn’t have seen much, a glimpse at most.

      “How old is he?”

      “Nine.”

      “Then you must have had him not long after we broke up,” he said, his expression thoughtful. Then, as if a dark cloud had passed in front of the sun, his eyes filled with shadows. His gaze hardened. “You didn’t waste a lot of time finding somebody new, did you?”

      She wanted to deny the damning conclusion to which he’d leaped, but it was safer than the alternative, safer than letting him make a connection with the timing of their relationship. “Not long,” she agreed. She studied him curiously. “I didn’t think it mattered what I did, since you were long gone.”

      “So, we’re back to that,” he said, his tone cold. СКАЧАТЬ