Finding You (By You #3) (14 page)

Reagan popped the door open with a huge smile on her face. Her auburn hair was done up in curls, and she had on a white dress with red flowers. Her eyes widened in excitement when she saw Sarah standing in the hallway.

"I was
just
talking about you! Come in, I have someone I want you to meet."

Reagan swung the door open and all but pulled her into the room before Sarah could even say hello--that was when she saw who Reagan was talking about. Standing in the middle of the room, she saw the chiseled frame of what she could only describe as a rugged cowboy. He was wearing a gray, plaid, button-up shirt that was untucked at the bottom. The sleeves were tightly rolled to the elbow, and his tight, faded blue jeans revealed the tips of dark brown cowboy boots at the bottom. He was wearing a dark brown Stetson cowboy hat that matched his boots. Sarah knew it was a Stetson because it was Huck's father's favorite brand, and he was always quick to lecture her on their quality.

Reagan beamed between the two of them, looking as excited as a little girl who'd just been told she was getting a pony for her birthday.

"Braden, this is Sarah--my new friend I was telling you about."

Braden flashed a smile at her that belonged on the cover of a magazine, and the muscles in his forearm twitched as he scooped the Stetson off his head and brought it to his chest.

"Howdy, Sarah. It's good to put a face to the name."

He held out a massive, strong hand to her, and a nervous smile spread on her face as she shook it.

"Good to meet you, too," she said, looking between him and Reagan.

She gave Reagan a
who is this guy
look.

"Braden is my littlest older brother," Reagan said, answering the question without Sarah even having to ask.

"Oh,
that
Braden," Sarah said, her face lighting up.

Reagan had given her a rundown of all of her brothers when they were first becoming friends, but Sarah couldn't remember them for the life of her. She also couldn't imagine what it would have been like growing up with
five
older brothers. She had one, and she barely ever saw him as it was.

"Braden decided to stop in for a surprise visit."

"Just checking in. Making sure these boys around here know what they're dealing with when they talk to my little sister."

Reagan rolled her eyes at him, but she was smiling, all the same.

"You should start looking after your own self," she said. "Looks like you need to buy a new razor--apparently you lost yours, again."

"Hey, now--" he flipped the Stetson back on his head, and ran his hand across the stubble on his chin, "--I've been working real hard on this."

Reagan rolled her eyes and let out a little giggle before turning back to Sarah.

"Are you done with classes, already? You should hang out with us."

Sarah groaned. "I decided I need a personal day from classes."

Reagan tilted her head to the side. "That doesn't sound good. What happened?"

Sarah glanced back at Braden, who just stood there smiling at them both.

"It doesn't matter--we can talk about it later. You two go have fun."

Reagan cocked her hip to the side. "Nope. You're not getting out of it that easily."

"You should spend time with your brother--I don't want to impose."

Braden leaned forward, and said, "It's no imposition. Any friend of my sister's is a friend of mine."

"See? Now go get your purse, we're going to go do some shopping. That should cheer you right up."

Sarah let out another groan, but she had to admit that it didn't sound like the
worst
idea. After all, she'd been hoping that Reagan would be able to distract her for a while, and shopping did sound like just the perfect thing. Besides, with Braden around, maybe she'd get a chance to learn about the girl that had become the best friend she had at college.

"Go! Now!" Reagan ordered. "If you're not back in three minutes I'll come down there and drag you out of your room, myself."

Sarah let out a laugh at the thought of it.

"Has she always been this bossy?" she asked Braden.

His grin spread even wider, showing perfect rows of white teeth. "Bossy? Hell, that was about as polite as she gets."

Reagan scoffed at him. "
Someone
has to wear the pants in the family and keep all you boys in line."

Braden shot her a devilish grin, but Reagan missed it as she shooed Sarah out one more time.

Back in her room, Sarah gave herself a once over in the mirror to make sure she was presentable. She was lucky to have someone in her life like Reagan. The only other close friend she really had that she could share absolutely everything with was her cousin Maggie, and Maggie was somewhere traveling around Europe with her boyfriend and his rock band. At her best times, Billie was only pleasant to talk to, and the only other person Sarah had made any real connection with was Jeremy.

She let out a frustrated growl as she thought about him again, but not before checking her phone again. Still nothing.

She didn't know why she was still expecting to see anything there. It was obvious that he wasn't going to be calling her. But she still held out a little hope. A little hope couldn't hurt, could it?

West Village was an amazing, little shopping area that was tucked into a tiny neighborhood just west of Franklin's campus. Sarah and Reagan had both driven through it a number of times, and they'd always talked about wanting to go shopping there, but this was the first time they'd actually followed through. Sarah had been there once before, of course--when she and Jeremy had met for coffee at H-Town Coffee, but that wasn't the same as going with her friend.

At first, she'd worried that she was going to be an imposition on Braden's surprise visit, but he genuinely didn't seem to mind her being around. It was fun watching how the two acted around each other, showing their affection by giving each other a hard time about anything and everything possible. A common topic seemed to be their dating lives--or lack there of, Reagan would point out.

Braden shot his devilish grin at just about every girl they passed, and more often than not the girls were falling over themselves to smile back.

"Tell me, is there a girl that you
won't
flirt with?" Reagan asked, after a while.

He gave her an innocent look. "I'm a healthy, young man in my prime... It ain't my fault the ladies like me."

"Not
everything
is about sex," Reagan said, a sour look on her face.

"Of course not. You gotta make time for hunting and football, too. Come on now, you know me better than that."

Sarah tried to stifle her laughs most of the time, but on occasion they slipped out. Yes, she was happy that she had decided to hang out with them--it was exactly what she needed.

"Oh look at this little store," Reagan said. She pointed in a window with two mannequins in it. A wooden sign above the doorway announced it as the
Roaming Gypsy
, and the mannequins were dressed in loose, light colored summer dresses. "Look at those, they're adorable. Let's go try them on."

Sarah and Braden followed her in, and walked around the store with her while she grabbed everything from the racks that looked like it might fit her. Braden distracted himself with a girl at the front register, leaving Sarah alone to watch as Reagan carried two hands full of clothes to the dressing room.

"So, talk to me--what's going on?" Reagan said, once they were sufficiently alone.

Sarah ran her hand over a dress hanging from a rack, but didn't really focus on it. She let out a groan, trying to figure out where to start.

"I made a total mess of things with Jeremy on Saturday," she said.

Reagan gave her a questioning look, and Sarah told her everything that had happened. She told her about how well the date was going, and then how they'd ended up back at his dorm and how things had been so amazing. Then she told her about how she'd turned into a complete crazy person and interrogated him about something that turned out to be nothing. And if that wasn't bad enough, she took it to the next level by practically telling him that she was looking for marriage. Well, not really. But she was certain that's how it came across.

Reagan gave her a sympathetic look and rubbed a hand on her shoulder.

"But you're not really looking for anything serious, right?" she asked.

Sarah let out another groan. "Of course not. I mean... I don't know." She fidgeted with the dress on the rack, trying to compose her thoughts. "After everything with Huck, it's not like I want to rush into anything. But--" she shrugged, "--Jeremy was really sweet."

Reagan's concerned look turned into the biggest grin Sarah had ever seen. She jabbed a finger at Sarah, teasing her.

"You
liiikkeee
him, don't you?"

Sarah gave her a soft push on the shoulder. "Stop it, it's not like that."

"Yes it is. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him. You've got it bad."

She let out a frustrated sigh, and began fidgeting with her hair, curling it between two fingers and then yanking on it.

"It's not like it matters. It's obvious he doesn't want to talk to me."

Reagan frowned.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because he said he was going to text me last night, and he never did. He
still
hasn't." She let out another groan. "I even tried to make plans with him for today, but he totally blew me off. He said he's got class all day."

Reagan winced. "I know it's a stretch, but maybe he's got class all day?"
 

Sarah shook her head. "Maybe. But he didn't say it in the,
I'm sorry I have class all day but we can hang out after,
kind of way, he said it in the,
I hate you and never want to talk to you again,
kind of way."

Sarah made her voice low and immature sounding when she imitated him, and Reagan slapped a hand to her mouth to stop from giggling out loud.
 

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Keep your chin up. If he hasn't called you by tonight, just call him again and ask him what's going on."

Sarah gave another sharp little tug on the ends of her hair. Calling him again sounded really desperate. How was that supposed to help matters?

"Yeah, maybe," she mumbled, mostly to herself.

Just then, Braden walked up, a triumphant smile on his face, and wagging a piece of paper--presumably with the girl's number on it--between his fingers. But the smile was short lived as Reagan fixed him with a stare cold enough to freeze water.

"What did I do?" he said, defensively.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You wouldn't understand."

He gave her a disgruntled sniff as she turned and marched back into the dressing area to try on the clothes she'd picked out. Braden turned and gave Sarah a questioning look.

"Did I miss something?"

She gave him a soft smile. The genuine concern in his voice was sweet.

"It's nothing," she said, waving a hand, dismissively. "Just having some trouble with a guy, but I don't want to bother you with it."

He cocked an eyebrow and straightened himself, looking as though she had offended him, somehow, and he was determined to rectify the situation.

"What kind of guy could give a pretty girl like you any problems? I figure most guys around here would be falling over themselves to get your attention."

It took her a second to believe what he had just said that, but when she realized she wasn't just hearing things, she bit her lip and her face burned. Maybe it wouldn't be bad idea to run it by Braden? He was a guy, after all. Maybe he would think of something they hadn't considered?

She gave him a long look before saying anything. He features were calm and in control--she could understand what he meant when he said the ladies liked him. Finally, she told him everything that happened with Jeremy. She left out a few of the details that she'd given to Reagan--namely the stuff that had happened when they got back to his dorm room--but otherwise she told him everything. It wasn't until she was done that Braden made a peep.

"Sounds to me like you got one of two things going on," he began, rubbing his chin. She nodded for him to go on. "Either he's just not that interested in you--or maybe he's got another girl?"

"You think he's seeing someone else?" she said, horrified. She'd been down that road with Huck, and she wasn't about to go down it again. If she even had an inkling that he was seeing someone else, she'd call everything off, immediately.

Braden shrugged a shoulder. "Sure would explain a lot, wouldn't it? Like how he was too busy to talk to you yesterday, and how you still haven't heard from him today." He considered it some more, then shrugged. "Then again, could be nothing. I'd probably act the same way if I wasn't interested in a girl."

So he was either cheating on her or he wasn't, and he was either interested in her or he wasn't. Those weren't exactly insights she could do anything with.

Reagan came back from trying on clothes just as Sarah let out another groan. Reagan gave her a concerned look, before she rounded on Braden.

"What did you say to her?" she demanded.

He jumped back, holding both open palms up, defensively. "Just told her what I was thinking, is all. Don't shoot the messenger."

She snorted at him before turning back to Sarah with a pained look.

"I'm sure everything's going to be fine. You'll see--it'll all work out in the end."

She really hoped Reagan was right, but from where she was sitting, things weren't looking so good.

When they finally left the
Roaming Gypsy
, they continued walking down University Avenue, which cut straight through West Village. Reagan had bought three new outfits, and Braden had gone about looking around like he didn't have a care in the world. Sarah wondered if he really
did
have any cares in the world--things seemed to be going pretty great for him, by the way he carried himself.

Had he been right about Jeremy? Could Jeremy possibly be seeing someone else? She wouldn't have even imagined it possible had he not mentioned it first. There's no way that Jeremy could do that to her. He wasn't that kind of guy, was he?