Page 28 of Waiting in Wyoming
“He was out there on Tyler Mountain helping look for Nikki, but Meyra’s talking about earlier.”
“Brad got into the family wing here. He wanted Meyra to spend some time alone with him,” Daisy said. “Whether Meyra agreed or not.”
“I ran out into the lobby, and Fletcher was there. He sat with me.”
“Oh, so he didn’t go out of his way to rescue you or anything. That makes more sense. He was just there like a rather large…wall?” Dylan nodded. “Okay, now, back to the super-sexy Brandt Barratt. Far more interesting subject than Truckie.”
“I don’t know what to do. For real.” Wasn’t that the whole problem? She had no clue what to do next. Every time she got close to him, everything just got even more and more complicated.
“Do you want to get naked with him?Justget naked with him? Or do you want to go out on dates with him, see if he is the guy you want to marry, spend forever with, make six green-eyed babies with, that kind of thing?” Dylan asked.
“How does a woman even know how to answer a question like that?” Daisy asked. “I mean, look at Darcey and Martin. Those two areobviouslymeant for one another, yet the walls catch fire whenever they are nearby. Not in a good way.”
“Because they are slinging fireballs at each other with their eyes,” Dylan said, nodding. “I have noticed. I made the mistake once of saying how delicious that man is. I thought Darcey was going to scorch me from head to toe. She’s scary.”
“But they completely despise each other,” Meyra said. She wasn’t certain they should be together at all. “People who don’t like each other shouldn’t be together.”
“In general, no,” Dylan told her. “But haven’t you ever heard of enemies-to-lovers romances? Like when there is so muchpassion between two people that it just comes out in weird ways? It’s a thing. It’s a thing.”
“Like you and Truckie Tyler?” Daisy asked. Meyra had been thinking the same thing. “Things are certainly passionate between you two. Really hard to miss.”
“Nonsense. That would never happen, anyway. Besides, while he is decently good looking—I don’t think there is a Tyler around here who isn’t. I think they were genetically modified to look like that, really—the guy is a jerk who sees me as just a kid.” Dylan looked at them both for a minute. Meyra got the feeling her cousin had a secret she was thinking about sharing.
“Dylan, what’s going on with you?” Meyra asked.
“I have a date. A real one. With a guy just as hot as Brandt Barratt. Tomorrow night, actually. I have never really hadrealdates, you know. At least not when I am not sneaking around behind Dad’s back and everything.”
“Who with?” Meyra tried to think about all the men she had seen lately who Dylan would have encountered. Who would be even close to as hot as Brandt. “Jack Masterson?”
Daisy’s hand jerked. “You are going out with Jack?”
Dylan shook her head. “No. Wonkus McBubbles asked me if I’d like to have dinner with him. Quade Davis. Tomorrow. I’m not exactly certain how it happened. It just sort of did.”
“Did you ask him—or did he ask you?” Daisy asked.
“He asked me. But I had talked to him first. We’re supposed to talk to the guests, right? Ask them if they need anything or are okay?”
“Yes. Somewhat,” Daisy passed out more cookies. Meyra normally didn’t eat prepackaged, but tonight she needed junk food. She had no clue where her chips had ended up, either. “Agreeing to go on dates with them, though, is seriously against Grandma’s rules. Not that most of ushaven’tdone it,but…”
“Well, after those two women and those little girls from Texas left, Quade was in the hallway by the dining room, and he just looked a little sad. So I asked him if he needed anything. And next thing I knew, I was agreeing to go out with him tomorrow night. To that really nice place in Pinedale. Where you wear dresses and everything. Except…I don’t even own a dress. Let alone shoes to wear with it. Where am I even going to find one so short notice? One I won’t freeze in, either?”
Okay, so Dylan looked like she was going to panic right now. That was not good. Dylan didn’t exactly panic. Not her.
“Charlotte’s closet is probably the place we should start first,” Daisy said, looking at Dylan like she was studying her or something. Daisy had that look that said she knew what to do and was going to do it. No matter what. Daisy could be a little stubborn sometimes.
“I don’t think she’ll want me to borrow her stuff. I am not exactly her fave cousin or anything.” That was probably true. Charlotte and Dylan weren’t getting along well. Meyra hadn’t exactly missed that. Dylan really didn’t like Fletcher, and, well, Charlotte had been in love with him before. And Charlotte really hadn’t had a chance to get to know Dylan or anything like the rest of them had.
“But she’s the closest in size. And has thousands of dresses in there,” Daisy said. “She’ll cope just fine. Let’s go find her. Tell her what’s going on. She has to be around here somewhere. She sort of pops up randomly in various places. You just turn around, and there is a Charlotte creature. Bam, right out of nowhere. It’s actually kind of creepy, really, when you think about it.”
Well, yes, it was. Meyra had noticed it before.
“But what about Meyra’s problem?” Dylan asked.
“Well, Charlotte is besties with his twin sister. She’s known Brandt for a long time. If anyone can help Meyra figure this out—it’ll be Charlotte. Let’s go.”
Just like that, Meyra and Dylan and Daisy ended up searching the hotel for Charlotte.
But Charlotte was really hard to find sometimes. She had always been that way, able to disappear when she wanted. Much better than Meyra ever could. Probably because sometimes Charlotte broke the rules and went places they’d been told not to when they’d been kids.