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“Will do,” she agrees, disconnecting. I continue to take stock of the inventory before going into my office.
I pull out my phone and call Charlie, who answers after two rings. “What’s up?” He doesn’t even bother with hello.
“Hey, are you around, or are you with Jennifer?” I ask of him and his girlfriend, who lives three towns over in Montgavin. He’s been thinking about moving out there, full-time. He even started the groundwork to open a therapy center there, and so far, the response has been really good.
“I’m back for the rest of the week,” he says. “Why?”
“Can you cover the bar for me tonight?” I ask him.
“Yeah,” he answers, “I’ll swing by now to get the keys and stuff.” He disconnects, and I toss my phone on the desk, leaning back in my chair and looking over at the bed in the back. My mind automatically goes to Zara. I haven’t been with her since that night she tried to cook me dinner, and we had to make do with eggs and bacon that I cooked after we filled up on three cans of whipped cream. We ended up taking two showers to clean the stickiness off us. So now it's been three nights that I haven’t been in bed with her, which hasn’t meant I haven’t seen her. I’ve stopped by each morning after dropping Colson off at school and before going to the barn to work. It’s usually just an hour or so, but it’s something. I have to remind myself each time that she’s leaving in less than a week, but each time I do that, I push it away and don’t think about it.
Charlie arrives within five minutes, and I toss him my keys before getting into my truck and going to her. Walking into the house, I find it empty. I finally see her sitting outside on the back porch steps, looking off into the distance. “Knock, knock, knock,” I say when I open the sliding back door, “is anyone home?”
She looks over her shoulder, and I see she’s wearing the same thing she was wearing when I got here this morning. Some cashmere light gray pants with a matching sweater. “Hey.” She smiles at me. “This is a surprise.”
“Yeah,” I reply, sitting beside her and leaning in to kiss her lips. “I would have called, but I don’t have your number.” She laughs.
“You keep forgetting to get it,” she says, picking up her phone from beside her. “What’s your number? I’ll call you now.” I smile as I give her my number, and she gets up, walking back inside the house when my phone starts ringing. It shows a 212 number.
I put the phone to my ear, glance back, and see her walking back and forth in the kitchen. “Hello.”
“Hey,” she says, and I smile at her voice, “it’s me, Zara.”
“Hey, Sweetheart.” I get up from the step to look at her through the window. “Whatcha doing?”
“I’m sitting here in lingerie, thinking about you.” The minute she says that, we both burst out laughing. She hangs up the phone on me, but I call her back. “Are you really calling me instead of coming inside?”
“Yeah,” I tell her, “I’m taking you out tonight.”
“Cowboy,” she calls me by the nickname she’s given me, “I don’t know how it goes in the country, but usually it starts with ‘can I take you out tonight?’”
“Yeah, same thing.” I smirk at her as she shakes her head. “I’ll be back at six, be ready.”
“I didn’t say yes.” She walks to the back window of the living room.
“See you then.” I ignore what she just said and hang up the phone, making her smirk and then laugh. “Six o’clock!” I shout, and I know she hears me. “See you then, Sweetheart.” I wink at her, walking around the house to the front and starting the truck while I make plans for our date.
I spend the next four and a half hours making sure everything is where I want it, rushing home to take a shower before making my way back to her. I get to the house with two minutes to spare. I grab the flowers from the passenger seat before walking up and ringing the doorbell. I look down at my boots, listening to the lock open and then so does the door. My smile falls from my face when I see her standing there wearing a long white robe. Her hand holds the top closed, and there are white socks on her feet. “What’s the matter? Are you feeling okay?” I ask her.
“I’m fine.” She raises her eyebrows at me. “I’m just settling in for the night.”
“I told you I was taking you out.”
“There.” She points at me. “You told me, you never asked me.” I roll my eyes.
“Fine, Zara.” I hold up the flowers. “Go get dressed so I can take you out.”
“You’ve really never done this before, have you?” She bites her lower lip to stop her from smiling. “It goes like this, ‘Zara, will you go out with me, please?’” She sings the last part. “You can do it, Cowboy, try. Repeat after me, Zara.” She looks at me, waiting.
“Zara,” I start, “will you please go get dressed so I can take you out?”
“Gabriel,” she snaps, “you have to ask me.” She throws her hands up. “It’s not that hard.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“Getting annoyed by a cowboy,” she answers me without thinking twice.
“Good, so nothing.” I lean in and kiss her neck. “So can you go throw some clothes on so I can take you out?” She looks at me. “Fine,” I give in, “go get changed and I’ll take you out on a date.” She folds her arms over her chest. “Zara, you have nothing planned tonight, do you?” She holds her hands up over her head and claps. “Want to go out with me?”
