“So you aren’t as invested in finding a wife.”
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.”
James rolled his eyes. “Well, you can rest assured that I’m not trying to steal your thunder. There was one girl when I was younger, but that didn’t pan out.”
“You never told me there was a girl.”
James peeked at his new friend. There was a reason he enjoyed their friendship. Shane owned a new country club in town and was building a horse therapy center for people who’d experienced trauma. So they had a love of animals in common. Also, Shane didn’t push too much, and he didn’t know anything about the past mistakes James had made—namely the girl he’d fallen in love with, only to realize he had to break it off with her if he was ever going to be happy.
Things had changed drastically since the last time he’d seen her. Brielle hadn’t been available before. She’d hidden any relationship from her father and from everyone who was important to her—even him. At the time she’d claimed it was because Adeline wasn’t married and there wererules. But Adeline was married now. Brielle was free to date as she pleased.
He’d thought she would have sought him out. They could have picked up where they left off but be public about it. Only Brielle never did that. She didn’t ask him out. She didn’t check in at all.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months until, finally, he’d gotten the courage to talk to her at the country club. He’d expected her to be excited to catch up, but instead she’d pushed him off onto her friend. Only Sarah wasn’t available either.
So here he was in limbo, and there was nothing he could say to Shane that would clear any of it up quickly. Shane would probably laugh at him, and he wasn’t in the mood to be made fun of.
He cleared his throat. “I never told you there was a girl because it’s not an important part of my life. We’ve both moved on. Would I like to find a girl? Sure. Is that going to happen anytime soon? Not likely.”
“Why not?”
Because his heart was still a little bruised from his last encounter with Brielle, even though it had been months ago. Catching even a glimpse of her when he’d gone to check on Constance’s horse had been tough, and he wasn’t looking forward to visiting the Callahan’s ranch daily for the next few weeks.
As long as he didn’t have to see Brielle, it would be fine. He just had to keep a one-track mind. But that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Feeling Shane’s eyes on him, James’s gaze bounced up to meet them. “What?”
“You’re jaded. You know that?”
James smiled. “Speak for yourself. I haven’t met anyone who is as grumpy as you have seemed to become.”
Shane scoffed. “Ouch.”
“It’s true. You run this amazing place. Women throw themselves at you. Literally everyone around you has a better excuse as to why they are single. But not you. I can’t think of one reason you can’t settle down.”
Shane frowned. “You know very well the reason.”
James got to his feet and brushed the dust off his jeans. “All I know is that apparently no one is good enough for you because you think they’re all after your money.”
“Exactly.”
“Maybe you need to have a little more faith in people. I’m sure if you just opened your eyes, you’d be able to find at least one woman who doesn’t care how much money you have. They’ll just want to be with you because of…” He trailed off and let out a soft laugh. “Nope. Sorry. I can’t think of even one person who could put up with that personality of yours.”
Shane shot him a dark look. “Gee. Thanks.”
“I’m just being honest with you.”
He shook his head. “Okay, so what’s the damage? How is she going to be?” He nodded to the horse that James had been inspecting.
James let out a breath through pursed lips. “It looks like she’s got an abscess. I’ll need to drain it, and then you need to keep it clean. I know you maintain good conditions for the horses here and this could just be a fluke where she got infected randomly. Or it could be due to something with her genetic makeup. I’ll keep an eye on it as it heals.”
They exited the stall and headed across the property toward the country club.
James raked a hand through his hair, his thoughts drifting once again to Brielle. There was a chance he’d bump into her after he left Shane’s country club. As much as he didn’t want to tell Shane about his past love life, a part of him was curious about what his advice would be. “I’ll be able to stop by when I make my rounds at the Callahan’s place. That foal needs some strategic intervention to strengthen his hoof.”
“I’ll make sure we’re available for your visit.” Shane’s focus cut to James, seemingly able to delve into James’s mind and read something that had remained hidden for so long. “I get the feeling that there’s something else.”
They stopped and James faced his friend. “That girl I mentioned.”