Sherryl Woods - The Calamity Janes - Gina and Emma

“Don’t do that,” she said irritably.

“What?”

“Sneak up on me.” She avoided his gaze, pretending that his nearness wasn’t stirring up all sorts of wicked memories of the kiss they’d shared earlier. She deliberately watched the drama unfolding as Lauren introduced Emma to the stranger, then left them to their own devices. After an awkward moment the man must have asked her to dance, because Emma allowed him to lead her to the middle of the gym. Neither of them looked especially happy about being there, but Lauren stood by beaming her approval.

Apparently satisfied, Lauren came back to where Gina and Rafe were standing. Gina noticed she deliberately inserted herself protectively between them. Rafe noted her action with amusement.

“Still protecting your friend, I see,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Trust me, she can defend herself. Did you hear how she doused me with ice earlier today, then made me hike all the way back into town?”

Gina regarded him with indignation. “I did not! You decided to walk back. I tried to stop you.”

Lauren looked from one to the other, lips twitching. “But the part about the ice was true? Did that happen before or after the kiss?”

Rafe didn’t seem the least bit surprised or embarrassed by the fact that Lauren knew about that. “Before.”

“Interesting. I would have thought after.” She grinned. “You know, an attempt to cool you off, so to speak.”

“It would have taken more than a cup of ice to do that,” Rafe said.

Lauren waved her hand as if it held a fan. “Oh, my.”

Gina scowled at both of them. “If you two are enjoying yourselves so much, why don’t I just leave? There are a lot of people here I haven’t spoken to yet.”

Before she could take a step, Rafe grabbed her hand. “Not now. I was hoping for another dance lesson.”

She frowned at him. “The band’s not playing country-western tonight. It’s playing oldies. Surely you can slow-dance. Lauren, you dance with him.”

“Afraid not,” Rafe insisted with a perfectly straight face. “No offense, Lauren, but Gina’s a little more patient with my stumbling attempts. Dancing is one of those social graces I never had time to learn. Too much studying. It made me a very dull kid.”

“Then I’m amazed so many women invite you to society balls,” Lauren chimed in, drawing a startled look from both Gina and Rafe.

“How do you know that?” Gina demanded.

Lauren grinned. “The Internet is an amazing thing. You’d be surprised what you can find out. I only scanned a few editions of the New York papers, and guess whose name popped up over and over in the society columns?”

Rafe regarded her with admiration. “I underestimated you, after all, Lauren.”

“Many people do,” Gina said. “Lauren, I think maybe you and I need to have a little talk.”

“Tomorrow will be soon enough. There’s a handsome man who’s eager to dance with you. My hunch is he knows his right foot from his left, despite what he says.”

She winked at Rafe, then added for Gina’s benefit, “Just keep your guard up, sweetie. From what I’ve read about him, you don’t want to cross him.”

Unfortunately, Gina was already well aware of that.

4

Since the whole purpose of coming to Winding River had been to clear her head and decide what to do to save her restaurant, Gina awoke at what she considered to be the unholy hour of 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning determined to get on with that assignment. The only way she was able to drag herself out of bed was by reminding herself that it was nine in the morning in New York.

With Rafe turning up almost everywhere she went, the only way she was going to have any time to herself was to sneak out of her own house and take a drive into the nearby Snowy Range, where distractions were few and far between. And she had to do it before he turned up to accompany her or trail along behind like some sort of watchdog.

A glance outside told her it was the perfect day for going for a drive and then maybe even a hike. The sky was a crystal-clear blue with floating puffs of white clouds. The temperature had dropped overnight and promised to stay lower throughout the day. And there were no reunion events until the picnic at midday.

But before she could make her escape, she bumped straight into her parents, lingering over Sunday breakfast in the kitchen. They regarded her with surprise, no doubt because they so rarely saw her before noon.

“What on earth are you doing up so early, darling?” her mother asked. “You had a late night. It was after midnight when I heard you come in. How was the dance?”

Gina thought of the time she’d spent in Rafe’s arms. For a man who’d professed to have no skill on the dance floor at all, he’d been astonishingly adept at everything from the waltz to the twist. Apparently it was only the Texas two-step that eluded him, despite his pitiful claim that he’d had no time for dances as a younger man. When she’d called him on it, he’d simply shrugged and insisted he was only following her lead.

As if, she thought dryly. She doubted he’d ever let anyone get a head start on him, much less lead him anywhere. She sighed at that. It was something she needed to keep in mind.

“The dance was fine,” she said.

“Meet anyone interesting?” her mother asked, her expression just a little too innocent.

“What have you heard?” Gina asked, regarding her with resignation.

Her father frowned. “Yes, Jane, what have you heard? I’d like to know, too.”

“Oh, for goodness sakes, it’s nothing shocking,” her mother said with a hint of exasperation. “Rose Ellen just happened to mention that Gina was with an incredibly handsome man at the rodeo yesterday afternoon.”

George Petrillo seemed no more convinced by that innocuous explanation than Gina was.

“And?” he prodded.

“The man kissed me,” Gina blurted, hoping to save them all the embarrassment of a long, drawn-out debate. “It was nothing.”

Her mother grinned. “That’s not the way I heard it. Rose Ellen said it made her toes curl.”

“Jane Petrillo, I hope you weren’t discussing your daughter’s lack of discretion with half the town,” her father said, his expression dismayed. As the owner of the local insurance company, he tended to worry first about what his customers might think. Gina had done enough outrageous, risky things with the Calamity Janes in high school to turn his hair gray. He always swore he’d taken out extra accident and liability insurance on the family just because of her dangerous shenanigans.

“No, of course not,” Jane said, giving him a soothing pat on the hand. “Just Rose Ellen. She brought it up. I must say I found it fascinating.” She turned to Gina. “I had no idea you’d brought a fellow home for the reunion. Why haven’t we met him?”

“I didn’t bring him. He’s not here for the reunion. And you haven’t met him because I sincerely wish that I’d never met him,” Gina said, reaching for the car keys, even though the drive no longer held much appeal. “I’m going out.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, but I won’t be long.”

She walked out before they could pester her with more questions. As she paused on the back steps to take a deep, calming breath, she heard her mother ask, “What do you suppose is going on?”

“I have no idea,” her father said grumpily. “But I’m sure half the town will know about it before we do. That’s what comes from letting her go off and spend all that time in Europe. She’s come home with a lot of wild ideas.”

“Oh, she has not,” her mother said, then added wistfully, “I just hope there is something more to this. Wouldn’t it be nice to see her married? I can’t wait till we have a houseful of grandchildren to spoil.”