“When you got to go, you got to go,” Bubba said with a shrug. “Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”
Marisol cast an anxious glance over her shoulder. For a moment, Bubba was possessed by the same suspicion from last night, that Cole had done something inappropriate and Marisol was nervous to be alone with him, but then she knitted her brows and said—
“I can’t wait, either. Is there a girls’ room near the boys’ room?”
—and his worry vanished.
“Why don’t you stop here,” Bubba said, motioning to a stand of scrub brush as he passed her by. “I’ll ride up a little farther and wait for you. Sound good?”
“Okay,” she said, eyes flicking from him, to Cole, and back again as she reigned Darcy in. “But don’t ride too far, okay? I don’t want to lose you.”
“Couldn’t if you tried.” He winked as he nudged Cricket in the sides and gave a “he-yup!” loud enough to be heard over the plodding of the tired cows trudging along the hard-packed earth.
He urged Cricket into a light canter, circling around the left of the herd, far enough up the side of the mountain to be out of the way, but not far enough to make it dangerous getting back onto the trail. Cricket did well heading uphill, but he’d seen too many horses lose their footing on loose gravel on the way down to want to head up too high. He dismounted quickly, took care of his business, and was already zipping up when Cole appeared next to him, leading Dusty.
“You were really good last night at the Iguana,” Cole said as he unzipped, making Bubba cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure Marisol wasn’t riding up just yet. “I hadn’t heard you in so long, I’d forgotten the way you fire up a room.”
“Thanks, man,” Bubba said, taking Cricket by the bit and backing him a few steps away.
“Marisol was good, too,” he said, eyes on the brush. “She seems like a nice girl.”
“She is,” Bubba agreed, silently thinking that Marisol was more than nice. Nice was a weak word. Marisol demanded more powerful adjectives like captivating, fascinating, and sexy as hell.
“Yeah, I like her,” Cole said as he zipped up. “But… Well, I was kind of wondering…”
“Wondering what?” Bubba asked, not sure where this was leading. Unlike John, who had pulled Bubba aside long before he and Casey were serious enough to consider sleeping together to give him pointers on how to make sure a girl’s first time was something special, Cole wasn’t the type to give relationship advice. Cole had made it clear a long time ago that he didn’t want his brothers sticking their nose into his love life, and he was usually happy to return the favor.
Cole pulled off his hat, running his sleeve across his sweat-slicked forehead. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…Casey texted me about a week back. She said she was coming back to town for a visit this coming weekend.”
Bubba’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? I didn’t know you two were that close.”
“We’re not. I think she’s just too chicken to call you.” He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his phone. “She sent a picture, too. She said she wanted me to see her new haircut so I’d recognize her if we ran into each other, but I have a feeling she was hoping I’d show this to you. She asked if you were going to be around.”
Bubba glanced down at the screen and a grinning selfie of his ex. Her honey blonde hair was streaked with platinum stripes on top and purple and blue chunks underneath. The wholesome face he was used to seeing makeup free had been powdered and painted until her full lips looked bee stung beneath a coat of lip gloss and her blue eyes dangerous behind her thick eyeliner. She was wearing a skin tight yellow tank top that dipped down so low in the front her generous chest looked even more generous than usual, and her breasts seemed about two seconds from falling out of her top.
Bubba frowned, troubled by the dramatic transformation. “Jesus, what happened to her?”
Cole shot him a strange look. “What do you mean what happened to her? She went from girl next door to smoking hot babe, is what happened.”
Bubba shook his head as he glanced back over his shoulder, wondering what was taking Marisol so long. “I liked her better before. She’s pretty the way she is. She doesn’t need all the makeup and the…everything hanging out.”
“Fine,” Cole said with a roll of his eyes. “So you liked her better in sweatpants and tee shirts. You should stick around for the weekend and let her know. She’s coming in with a friend. We could all go out together. I could keep the friend occupied, and you and Casey could talk about old times…see if there’s anything still there.”
Bubba’s frown became a scowl. “What the fuck, Cole? Didn’t you get the message I left on your phone? I’m with Marisol. We’re together.”
“I know, I got it, I just thought…” He shrugged before reaching out to stroke Dusty’s nose. “I mean, you and Casey were in love. Like, first love, true love, all that shit.”
“We were,” he said. “But now I love Marisol, and I want us to work. I’ve never felt anything like what I feel with her. Not even with Casey.”
“But you’ve only known her a few weeks,” Cole said. “You can’t know everything about her. She could have all kinds of shit she’s not telling you. Like, serious shit.”
“I have a feeling she does,” Bubba said, voice rising. “But I don’t care. When you love someone, you don’t care if they’ve got serious shit. You love them anyway, and you help them through it. One day,Imight have serious shit, and I hope the woman I love will stand by me. Why wouldn’t I do the same?”
Cole was silent for a moment before he shoved his phone back into his pocket, and reached out to clasp Bubba’s shoulder. “I get it. I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to be a dick.”
“It’s okay,” Bubba said, relaxing as the tense moment passed. “I’m used to it.”
Cole laughed. “Fuck you, baby brother. I was just trying to look out for you.” He mounted up before glancing back down at Bubba with a shake of his head. “But I guess sometimes the student becomes the teacher.”