A Husband of Her Own (Dundee, Idaho #2)(24)
Author: Brenda Novak

“You want the truth?”

He wasn’t really sure, but he nodded.

“Okay, as a friend, I’d have to tell you that Mary’s an opportunist,” she said. “She’s only interested in what makes her look good. If you were ever down and out, really down and out, I suspect she’d walk away without a backward glance, move on to more promising opportunities.”

Her answer made him blanch. “I’d say that’s a definite no.”

“I’m not finished. If you were anyone else, I’d tell you to stay the heck away from her. But you’re not. You’re Josh Hill.”

“Why do I get the impression that means you think we deserve each other?”

She shrugged. “I’m not saying you deserve each other. I’m saying you’re always on top, so what do you have to worry about? Chances are, you’ll never see the worst of Mary.”

“I had to ask,” he grumbled.

She started to lift her end. “Ready?”

He was about to help her, then changed his mind. “No, I’m not ready. I think I’m offended by what you just said.”

“Why?”

“I work as hard as anyone else for what comes my way.”

She didn’t answer.

“Rebecca? You don’t believe I’ve earned what’s mine?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “You asked me what I thought about Mary, and I told you, okay? Can we get this table loaded?”

Josh had the feeling they’d just scratched the surface of what had always stood between them, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to pursue it any further. Rebecca was leaving in a few weeks. They’d finally managed to form a friendship—or some semblance of one. Probably best to leave well enough alone.

They fit the table and all four chairs on the truck, along with a small end table, a bench and several lamps, and padded everything with blankets before tying it down. Then they jumped in the cab of the truck to make their first trip to the Store & Lock. “Can I tell you what I think of Buddy?” Josh asked as he started the engine, still annoyed by what she’d said earlier about him and Mary.

Rebecca fastened her seat belt. “You don’t know Buddy.”

“I’ve heard a few things.”

She folded her arms and braced herself against the door. “Like what?”

Josh checked for oncoming traffic and pulled out when he saw, as he’d expected, nothing. Rebecca lived on a short street that dead-ended into a trailer park. Not exactly a high traffic area. “That he’s too young for you.”

“Who told you that? My dad?”

Josh checked both mirrors to make sure the furniture wasn’t going anywhere as he accelerated and didn’t answer.

“Of course it was my dad,” she said. “He’s so weird about the age difference. Buddy’s twenty-six. That’s hardly robbing the cradle.”

Twenty-six was better than Josh had figured, after what Doyle had said, but he was still convinced Buddy wasn’t the right man for her. “It’s not just his age,” he said. “From all accounts, he’s pretty mild-mannered.”

“From my father’s account, you mean.” She kicked off her shoes and adjusted her seat belt so she could put her feet up on the dash. “What’s wrong with being mild-mannered? Isn’t that exactly what I need?”

He turned onto Main Street. “No.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you need someone who understands your nature. Someone who can fulfill you without giving you too much rope, on one hand, or breaking your spirit, on the other.”

“I’m not one of your horses, Josh.”

“The concept is the same. You won’t be able to respect Buddy if he doesn’t stand up to you.”

“You don’t know that he won’t stand up to me. He’s put the wedding off…er…a couple of times already. I certainly wasn’t happy about that.”

“He isn’t corralled yet.”

“Horses again?”

He ignored her in favor of making his point. “It’ll be different once he feels he’s committed.”

“And you know all this because—”

“I know you.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “We weren’t even friends until an hour ago.”

He slung an arm over the steering wheel. “You asked me what I thought.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said. “You just wanted to tell me.”

“What do you see in him, anyway?”

“Besides the fact that he’s going to take me five hundred miles away from here?” she asked, twirling a section of hair around her finger.

“Yeah, besides that.”

Her hand dropped into her lap and she turned to stare out the window. He could barely hear her when she spoke. “Maybe I like the fact that we get to start in the present.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” she said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

FRIENDS. She and Josh were now friends. He was actually sitting in her living room on the only chair she had left—a recliner that belonged to Delaney and had to go out to the ranch—waiting for her to make him something to eat in exchange for all his hard work. Booker had canceled a few hours earlier, when he found out she already had help, which left her and Josh to move everything into the little cubicle she’d rented from the Store & Lock at the far end of town. Now it was after midnight and they were finished, but they were both hungry and exhausted.

“How about some macaroni and cheese?” Rebecca called from her small kitchen.

“Is that all you’ve got?” he asked, hardly exuberant.

“Unless you want cold cereal. My mother sent home some garlic bread I can warm in the oven, if that helps.”

“Sounds good,” he said. She could hear him flipping through the channels on her television. Rebecca had decided to leave the TV for last, knowing she could always fit it in the passenger seat of her car. She wanted to finish moving tomorrow, because she had the day off, but the house was too quiet to go without television for even twenty-four hours.

“Who’ll be around to help you tomorrow?” he asked.

“I’m sure Randy will come by. I’ve got his truck.”

“Is all your other stuff going with you to your new place?”

“No, my new place is furnished. Once I get packed, a lot of boxes will have to go into storage—all the kitchen stuff and my summer clothes. Which reminds me. I need that key I gave you to my storage unit.”