A Cowboy To Come Home To. DONNA ALWARD

up. Before long Amy would be back and any chance to finish his conversation with Mel privately would be gone. But the farmer had other ideas.

      “One more thing…I picked out this ring today, but I’m not sure she’ll like it. Would you mind…?”

      Callum reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. He handed it across the counter and Melissa flipped open the lid. It creaked, as all jewelry boxes did, and she looked down at what nestled inside.

      Cooper couldn’t see what the ring looked like, but he could see the way Melissa’s face softened as she gazed upon it with a mix of wistfulness and tenderness, pain and happiness.

      “It’s beautiful, Callum. Just gorgeous.”

      She closed the box and handed it back. “Avery’s a lucky woman. I know you’ll be very happy together.”

      “Thanks,” he replied. “And thanks for the flowers.”

      “You’re welcome.”

      “Go get ’em, tiger,” Coop said, lifting a hand as Callum made for the exit.

      “He’s excited,” Melissa observed as the door clicked shut.

      “He’s marrying the woman he loves. Of course he’s excited.” Cooper surprised himself with his sentimental observation. Seeing Melissa look at that engagement ring had affected him more than he cared to admit. She deserved something like that. Happiness. She certainly deserved better than what she’d gotten the first time around.

      “Well, I hope it all works out for them,” she replied, tidying up her countertop.

      “Why shouldn’t it? Just because your marriage didn’t work doesn’t mean every couple is doomed to unhappiness.”

      “I know that.” She looked hurt at his observation.

      He stepped closer to the counter. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I just meant…you can’t stop believing in love just because it didn’t work out once before.”

      “Did I say I had stopped believing?” Her hands paused on the tape dispenser.

      “No.”

      She fussed about, but he could tell she was just trying to keep busy.

      “So, have you considered giving it another try?” he asked.

      “No.”

      “Why not?”

      She looked up at him sharply. “Just because it exists doesn’t mean it exists for me, okay? Why the sudden interest? Boy, you’ve been all up in my business lately. Thanks for the cookies, Coop, and we can shake hands and let bygones be bygones like you wanted. But let’s just leave it at that, okay?”

      He looked out the display window and saw Amy turning the corner, coming down the block. He frowned. “You mean that? About letting bygones be bygones?”

      “Sure.”

      “Then shake on it, like you said.”

      He held out his hand and waited. Silently counted the seconds. Amy would be back at any moment, curse her busybody self.

      Slowly Mel’s hand stretched out. Met his. Her fingers curled around his palm.

      Her skin was warm, her fingers slightly callused from working with flowers and chemicals all day long. He turned her hand over in his, looked at the closeclipped, unpolished fingernails that were part of the profession she’d chosen. Years ago she’d grown them long and always had them painted.

      Mel wasn’t the same girl he remembered, and perhaps it was time he accepted that.

      She slid her fingers from his while a strange silence filled the shop. “There,” she finally said, her voice oddly tight. “Truce.”

      “Truce.”

      The word seemed hollow somehow, and left him wanting more. So much more it left him floundering.

      “Mel…”

      Amy came back inside, rosy-cheeked and bringing a rush of fall wind with her. “One coffee, cream and sugar, just as ordered,” she announced brightly.

      It was time Cooper got out of there. He’d done what he’d set out to do—given her the cookies and made peace between them. More than that, he’d realized that all this time he’d been holding on to a vision of the girl he’d once known and loved, rather than the woman she’d become.

      “I’ll see you around, Mel,” he said quietly. “Amy.”

      “See you around,” Melissa replied, while her assistant merely smiled and gave a waggle of her fingers.

      Outside the shop the air had turned suddenly cold. Coop shivered as he realized two very annoying things.

      First of all, he’d forgotten to ask for his jacket back.

      And second, his whole plan had backfired. Instead of letting go so he could move forward, he was starting to realize that the woman Melissa had become could be even more of a threat to his heart than the girl she’d once been.

      Melissa watched Coop walk down the street, and tried hard to ignore the shocking way her stomach seemed to be tangling in knots. Her pulse still raced, beating at the hollow of her wrist where his fingers had rested only moments ago. That had been no ordinary handshake. Things had tingled. In a way they hadn’t since she’d been sixteen and had finally given up on him ever looking at her as if she was a girl. Scott had kissed her one night after a school dance and that had been the end of any crushes on Coop. She’d accepted that they’d only just be friends. It had been fine while she’d dated Scott, and after, when she’d married him. Coop had ended up being more like a brother.