“I know what I know,” Eli countered. “Besides, we’re not talking about you and me now. We’re talking about Melissa and Cody.”
“I’d rather talk about the two of you,” Melissa said hurriedly, dying to know the whole story of two people who’d worked together as far back as she could recall without giving away so much as a hint that there was anything personal between them.
“No,” Mabel and Eli chorused.
Melissa winced. “Okay, okay. We’ll make a pact. You stay out of my personal life and I’ll stay out of yours.”
Mabel gave an obviously reluctant nod. Melissa waited for Eli to concur, but instead he muttered, “Too late. Yours just walked in the door.”
Melissa’s gaze shot to the front of the drugstore. Sure enough, Cody was striding in her direction, a glint of pure determination in his eyes.
“Go away,” she said before he could settle himself on one of the stools.
“Is that any way to greet a paying customer?” he inquired.
He slapped a twenty on the counter. At the rate he was throwing them around, he was going to go broke.
“I’m not leaving until I’ve spent every last dime of that or you and I have talked,” he announced. “You pick.”
Melissa poured him a cup of coffee, snatched the twenty and tucked it in her pocket. “The coffee’s on me. I’ll consider the twenty a tip for services rendered.”
Flags of angry color rose in Cody’s cheeks. His grip on his coffee cup tightened, turning his knuckles white. “There’s a name for taking money for that, darlin’.”
Mabel sputtered and backed off her stool so fast it was still spinning a full minute after she’d gone. Melissa had a hunch she wasn’t all that far, though, more than likely not even out of earshot.
“How dare you!” Melissa snapped.
“You started this round, not me,” he said tightly. “Care to back up and start over?”
“We can’t back up that many years,” she retorted.
Cody visibly restrained his temper. Melissa watched as he drew in several calming breaths, even as his heated gaze remained locked on her. Her blood practically sizzled under that look. No matter how furious he made her, she still seemed to want him. It was damned provoking.
“Believe it or not, I came in here to apologize,” he said eventually, his voice low.
“What’s to apologize for? Just because you didn’t mention that you were involved with another woman—a woman who apparently traveled quite some distance to be with you—that doesn’t mean you owe me an apology.”
To her annoyance, amusement sparkled in Cody’s eyes. “I don’t have a thing to hide, sweet pea. Want me to tell you about Janey?”
Melissa did not want to hear about the gorgeous creature with the exotic features, elfin haircut and sad, sad eyes. Cody had probably broken her heart, too.
“I can see that you do,” Cody said, taking the decision out of her hands. “First of all, yes, Janey is from Wyoming. Second, I had no idea she was coming. Third, our relationship—then and now— most definitely is not what you think it was.”
“Yeah, right,” Melissa said sarcastically.
“Fourth,” he went on as if she hadn’t interrupted. “Her father was my boss, Lance Treethorn.”
He leveled his gaze straight at her, until she felt color flooding into her cheeks. “Fifth, and most important, she is a fifteen-year-old kid.”
Melissa stared at him. “Fifteen,” she repeated in a choked voice. “Cody, that’s—”
He cut her off before she could finish the ugly thought. “What that is, is a shy, lonely teenager with a crush on the first guy who didn’t slobber all over her due to adolescent hormones,” he insisted adamantly.
Melissa wanted to believe him. In fact, she did believe him. Cody was far too honorable a man to do anything so despicable. Harlan might have raised stubborn, willful, overly confident sons, but he’d instilled a set of values in them that was beyond reproach. She was the one who ought to be horsewhipped for even allowing such a thought to cross her mind.
She moaned and hid her face in her hands. “God, I’m sorry.”
Cody shrugged. “Well, she does look older than she is. That’s been her problem. The guys ahead of her in school think she’s a lot more mature than she is and try to take advantage of her. She’s coped by hiding out at the ranch.”
“And you were kind to her, so she developed a crush on you,” Melissa concluded, feeling like an idiot. “Why didn’t you do something to put a stop to it?”
“For one thing, I had no idea it would go this far. The most overt thing she ever did before was leave food for me. She bakes a brownie that makes your mouth water.”
Melissa grinned. “You always were a sucker for brownies.”
“It was the first thing you learned to bake, remember? You were twelve, I think.”
She remembered all right. Even back then she’d been trying to woo Cody by catering to his every whim. She wondered if it was ever possible to get beyond past history and truly have a new beginning. She’d been facetious when she’d snapped earlier that they couldn’t go back far enough to start over, but maybe it was true. Maybe there was no way to ever get past all the mistakes and the distrust.
Despondency stole through her as she considered the possibility that they would never be able to move on.
“Melissa?” Cody said softly.
“What?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“I don’t believe that. You looked as if you were about ready to cry.”
She tried to shrug off the observation. “Don’t mind me. It’s probably just Monday blues.”
“I know how to cure that,” he said. “Come out to White Pines tonight. We’ll have a barbecue. It’s warm enough today.”
Melissa didn’t think spending more time with Cody was such a good idea, not when parting suddenly seemed inevitable. Maybe Janey Treethorn’s presence had been innocent enough, but sooner or later some other woman would catch his eye. They always did.
“The
