Steal Me, Cowboy by Kim Boykin Page B

know; I don’t want you to.”
    “I have to go.”
    “No, Rainey. You don’t have to go, and that’s the damnedest thing. You say you want him, but are you really sure about that?”
    The silence, again, but this time uncomfortable as hell. Tears spilled down my face. I couldn’t answer his question. “Beck I—. I’m grateful to you for everything. Maybe if things weren’t the way they are—it would be different. But I have to go. Good night.”

 
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    I couldn’t let myself think about what Beck had said last night, I had twelve bridesmaids and a fussy bride’s hair to fix in time for a four o’clock wedding. I was at the bride’s home by eight and her mama, Rita, set me up in the master bedroom. She handed me a much-needed mimosa and introduced me to the girls who had sounded like they hadn’t sobered up from the rehearsal party last night.
    Rita and Missy, the blushing bride, seemed to be cat fighting about everything, making me and the twelve bridesmaids a little nervous. They exchanged big-eyed looks with each other that said this was not a common occurrence, while I scoped out their hair. About half of them had long hair. I’d hoped I could just flat iron or curl their hair with a curling iron and then work on the shorthaired girls and the bride.
    “Let’s get started,” I suggested pointing to a fancy brocade chair. “Who’s first?”
    “ Me . I’m Megan, I’m the maid of honor.” She sat down in the chair while a couple of the other bridesmaids rolled their eyes.
    “Missy?” I said, interrupting her fight with her mom over where Missy’s stepmom would be sitting during the wedding. Apparently, Rita didn’t think the poor woman should sit with the family even if she’d married Missy’s daddy fifteen years ago and was family. “Missy? I need to know what you had in mind for the girls’ hair.”
    She was definitely the most organized bride I’d ever had. She handed me a color-coded laminated sheet with everyone’s names and their desired do’s and went back to fighting with her mama. I scanned the sheet and wanted to cry. I was going to be was going here all day and half the night.
    Meg wanted her hair flat ironed, which wasn’t normally a problem except Meg had tight kinky blonde curls. And being the maid of honor, it was apparently her job to jerk her head around from time to time to police the bridesmaids. No wonder they were rolling their eyes at her. But an hour later, her hair was straight, silky and gorgeous. At the rate I was going, I’d never get done.
    And then I heard an angel in the hallway, and Nell walked into the bedroom with her tools, ready to help. Thank you , I mouthed. She waved it off and went right to work on the shorthaired girls.
    But even with Nell helping, we didn’t finish until almost 3:00. I’d just finished up weaving flowers into the Missy’s fancy waterfall braids when she got that look in her eye. I liked Missy, she was sweet, but I didn’t have time to play therapist.
    I tried to distract her with compliments, but she wasn’t having any of it. “Do you believe in forever, Rainey?”
    “You mean loving someone forever? Yes. When you’ve found the right person.”
    She held the hand mirror up and looked at the back of her gorgeous hair in the cheval mirror behind her. “But how do you know for sure when you’ve found the one? I mean don’t get me wrong; I love David. I just don’t know about forever. That’s a really long time.”
    “Missy, that’s just all those mimosas talking.”
    “I don’t know, Rainey, we’ve been together since high school, that’s already forever. How many forevers do I get in my lifetime?”
    “Do you love him, Missy?”
    “Yes.”
    “If you woke up tomorrow and he wasn’t in your life—.”
    “God, no. I love David. I can’t imagine that.”
    I took the champagne flute out of her hand, put my hands on her slender shoulders, and looked into her reflection in the mirror. “You are