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“I mean, all the girls have been in love with you for so many years but now they have vet Baxter.”
“I think I’ll manage.” I’m relieved that they have somewhere else to focus their attention.
I never dated in this damn town. I’m not sure how people do it. Everyone dated everyone. That never sat well with me. I’m starting to think because I might be the possessive type. Which I would have never believed before. Not until a dark-haired beauty’s picture hit my desk.
“Are you into this new vet?” I need to look him up. He must have moved here fairly recently. I don’t remember seeing anything in my monthly report about him.
“No.” June shakes her head adamantly. “He’s too pretty.”
“That’s it? Nothing else new going on around here?” I try again. June gives me a suspicious look.
“Why?” She scrunches her face. She’s on to me. She knows I could give a shit about what’s happening with people around here unless it affects my family somehow. I was never one for gossip.
“Just trying to catch up.” I take a bite of my stew.
“What about Paisley?” Thank fuck for Mom. “She’s a new friend of June’s.”
“I’m trying. She’s more skittish than a wild mare.”
“That shouldn't be a problem for you then.” June has always had a way with horses.
“I think she’s finally starting to come around.” She rubs her hands together. “It’s hard when you can’t get anything out of her. I mean, we all know something is up. She whirls into town out of nowhere looking for a job and staying at the motel.”
I clench my jaw. Staying at a fucking motel? I don’t like that one fucking bit. Paisley is too naïve for that. Cottonwood is a safe town, but she’s a pretty thing, and the bar is right across from there. We get randoms coming and going.
“How long has she been living out of it?” I shove another bite of stew into my mouth.
“Couple weeks.” She shrugs. “I mean, it works for her, I guess. With not having a car it’s convenient for her cause she’s working at the Backwoods.”
“What!” I bark louder than I mean to.
“Jackson!” my mom hisses at me, picking up the spatula she dropped when I shouted.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“What’s your deal?”
“A young girl shouldn’t be working at a bar and living out of a motel.”
“How do you know she’s young?”
I give a half-shoulder shrug. “Figured if you're trying to get close to a new friend, she’d be about your age.” It’s not a lie. I would have speculated that, but the truth is I already know a whole damn lot about Paisley Woods.
And I plan to learn a whole lot fucking more.
4
PAISLEY
I line the shot glasses up along the bar. I try to flip the bottle like Colt does, but I fail. Thankfully, he’s next to me and manages to catch it.
“Let’s go a night without breaking a glass before we are flipping bottles.”
“Sorry.” I take the bottle back from him and pour the shots before stacking them onto my tray. The bar is slowly starting to fill up. I take the round of shots over to a table full of girls next to the jukebox. I’ve never seen them before, but that’s not really saying much since I myself have only been in Cottonwood for two weeks.
“Here you ladies go.” I slowly place each shot glass down on the table.
“Can you be any slower? Jesus.” The blonde snatches the last two shot glasses off my tray, making me drop it.
