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Amanda Whittaker sighed as she closed the door, turning and letting her eyes flutter shut as she sagged into the wood behind her. She wondered what Ryder was doing on the other side. He’d certainly seemed stunned, and Amanda actually was too.
They’d been out four times now, and she just didn’t feel a spark with him. At age sixty-two, she didn’t have time to date a man she didn’t feel much for, even if she enjoyed spending time with someone besides her poochon. And that wasn’t even a someone. The little black poodle bichon frise mix certainly didn’t speak English.
She did balance on Amanda’s knee and whine, excited her master was home. Amanda bent down and said, “Hey, baby,” scooping the little dog into her arms. She moved away from the door as she continued. “I broke up with Ryder tonight. Just now, actually.”
Right when he’d leaned in to kiss her.
Another sigh leaked from her mouth.
Maybe I shouldn’t have broken up with Jason.
It was not the first time the thought had crossed her mind in the past six months. She’d spent three Christmases with Jason. Two and a half years. He was a good man, and she’d loved him. She believed he loved her. But the man had a serious temper, and he’d lost his son because of some terrible things he’d said and done.
And he was completely unrepentant, and he’d stopped going to church years ago. They’d talked about faith and religion dozens of times, and in the end, he just couldn’t come back. Didn’t want the same things she did.
Seeing no other choice, she’d ended their relationship. Since then, she’d been lonelier than ever, second only to the months after her husband had died.
She allowed herself to weep as she fed Beans and refilled the little dog’s water bowl. She’d curl up in bed and Beans would lay right against her hip, and Amanda would figure out what to do in the morning.
Sunday morning, which she’d spend at church and then she’d go to lunch at Whiskey Mountain Lodge with her sons, their wives, families, and friends.
She wouldn’t be alone, and she was infinitely grateful for that.
The following morning, she slipped on her heels and said to Beans, “I’ll be back later, Beany Baby,” and headed out to her car. At least it was summer, and she didn’t have to worry about driving in snow.
Despite living in Wyoming for her entire adult life, Amanda didn’t particularly enjoy winter, and if the snow and wind was bad, she didn’t leave the house. After all, she didn’t have to. She had no job, no obligations besides those she chose. Visiting friends, or serving people in her church, or helping a neighbor down the street with yard work or baking or making cards for their grandchildren.
She and Ronald had worked hard to provide a good life for their boys, and when he’d died, Amanda and all the children had become billionaires. And yet, money couldn’t seem to help find her a man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She set aside the thoughts as she went into the chapel. Beau and Lily always saved her a spot on the end of the row, and she hated how it was twice as much room as she needed. Of course, she’d been coming to church with Ryder for a week or two now, and she hadn’t sent any texts about the break-up.
“I’ll take Charlie,” she whispered as she sat down, leaving several inches of space between her and her son.
“Hey, Ma,” he said, looking behind her. “No Ryder today?”
“We broke up,” she said, gesturing for him to hand her the baby. Charlie had just turned eighteen months, and his chubby cheeks and quick smile disguised the fact that he’d spent several weeks in the NICU as a preemie.
“Broke up?” Beau took Charlie from Lily and passed him to Amanda.
She grinned at the baby and kissed him. He was so perfect, and she loved her grandchildren with everything in her. Beau set the diaper bag on the bench between them. “I thought you liked him.”
“I did,” Amanda said, glancing up to the pulpit and hoping the pastor would start soon so she wouldn’t have to answer her son’s questions. It wouldn’t matter if it was now or later. She’d have to answer them. “I do.”
“Did he break up with you?”
“No,” she said. “There was just no…connection there.”
“Mom,” Beau said, his eyes alight with concern.
“I’m fine,” she said. “We went out four times.”
“You should let me and Graham set you up,” he said. “He knows tons of guys, and—”
“I don’t want a guy,” Amanda said, throwing a glare in Beau’s direction. “And I don’t want to be set up.” It wasn’t the first time Beau had suggested such a thing. Amanda hadn’t had any problems getting her own dates, thank you very much. The problem was, she hadn’t had any luck choosing the right men either.
Men, not guys.
She wasn’t flirty and thirty, or even forty and fabulous. Heck, fifty was in her rear-view mirror.
The sermon started, and Beau focused his attention up front—or on Lily. She wasn’t sure which, but Amanda didn’t mind. She got to cuddle with her grandson and feed him crackers and listen to the pastor talk about treating everyone with respect.
About halfway through the sermon, her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out. Graham, her oldest son, had texted. No Ryder today? Beau says you broke up.
Amanda rolled her eyes, sure Graham would somehow be able to feel it. And she wasn’t dignifying his text with a response. He didn’t need one. Ryder’s absence on the bench was confirmation enough.
“Stop texting your brother,” she hissed to Beau, who simply smiled at her and then looked back up to the dais. She didn’t hear much of the sermon after that, and she took Charlie with her out into the lobby.
His other grandma waited there, with his grandpa, and she passed the baby to Jack Everett with a smile. “Do you want to ride up to the lodge with us?” Fran asked, taking the diaper bag from Amanda.
“I think I’m going to go with Vi today,” she said, looking around. “She wanted me to talk to her about making a coconut cream pie for Todd’s birthday.”
Sure enough, one of the blonde Everett sisters came out of the chapel with her arm through her husband’s. She brushed her short hair back and asked, “Amanda, you’re coming with us, right?”
“Yep.” Vi and Todd lived in town, so they’d be coming back this way later, and Amanda rode up to the lodge with them often. Or another of the Everetts, as it made no sense for so many to drive up the canyon only to drive back down.
Beau and Lily appeared, and Amanda was suddenly anxious to leave. She didn’t want to get bombarded with more break-up questions, and she inched toward the door. But Graham exited the chapel on the other side and made a beeline for her before she could get very far.
He carried little Ronnie in his arms, and he said, “Mom, I know just the guy for you.”
“Man,” Beau said, nudging Graham. “He knows just the man for you, Mom.”
She looked back and forth between her sons, her patience so thin with them already. Perhaps she should just go home today. Heat up some leftovers. Snuggle with Beans and a pot of coffee.
Beau and Graham looked at her with bright eyes filled with hope, and Amanda wanted to give them the world, same as she always had.
She sighed, knowing she was about to regret the words that came out of her mouth.
“Fine,” she said. “Set it up.”
* * *
A week later, Amanda had tried everything in her power to get out of the blind date Graham had arranged for her. He wouldn’t even tell her the name of the man he knew, and Amanda was beginning to think he didn’t know anyone.
But hey, she hadn’t heard the word guy again. It was always, Mom, I promise you’ll like this man, or Mom, this man is perfect for you.
After her son’s texts, maybe she was hopeful. She also knew how dangerous hope could be, and she tried not to hold onto it too tightly.
She knew there were apps for older singles like her, but she wasn’t ready to go there yet. She really just wanted a calm man. One with good values and morals. One who could support himself. Who just needed someone to talk to at night, the way she did. One ready to love, even if it only lasted for a few years.
“That was Jason’s problem,” she murmured as she put her earrings on. “He wasn’t ready to let go of the past and love.”
She’d told Graham and Beau very early on No cowboys. No one in their forties.
That had sparked one of Graham’s most disturbing messages from that week.
How young can I go?
Jason had been ten years younger than her, so she said fifty-two, and then begged Graham to tell her who he was thinking of setting her up with.
He’d done no such thing, and she was meeting this mystery man at Devil’s Tower in thirty minutes, just as Beau had directed her. He’d also said Mom, every man in Wyoming is a cowboy. How non-cowboy are we talking?
She hadn’t answered, because a few minutes later, Graham had given more details about the date. She was supposed to wear her silver scarf, which was ridiculous this close to June, but that was what her son had said.
Between the two of them badgering her, Amanda had decided to just roll with it. Wear what they said to wear. Be where they said to be.
She draped the silver scarf over her blue sweater, and the two colors really worked with her dark hair salted with gray and her dark blue eyes.
That squirrel of hope moved through her again, and she took a deep breath to contain the giddy feeling in her stomach she got whenever she went out with a new man. There was always such an excitement, even if she didn’t know who he was.
Twenty-eight minutes later, she pulled into Devil’s Tower and clicked across the parking lot to the front doors. She wasn’t an idiot, and she’d seen Beau’s truck in the back of the lot, almost like he’d been trying to hide it.
She didn’t see him inside, nor Graham, and she gave her name to the hostess. “Right this way, Mrs. Whittaker,” the girl said, despite there being several couples obviously waiting for a table.
She was seated in a booth over on the side, away from the doors but with a good view of the park across the street from the restaurant. Nerves hit her then, and she wondered how long she’d have to wait.
“Something to drink?” a man asked, easily thirty or forty years younger than Amanda.
She gave him a kind smile and said, “Yes, please. I’ll have a frozen raspberry lemonade.”
The young man left, and she casually looked at the menu, noting that the hostess had put down a second one across from her, as if she knew Amanda would be meeting someone.
A few minutes later, the waiter put her lemonade down and said, “I’ll be right back, ma’am,” leaving her with the bright pink concoction.
She ripped the wrapper off the straw and swirled it through the drink before taking a sip. It was perfectly sour and sweet and delicious, and she sighed. Maybe this blind date wouldn’t be so bad.
Please let this be the one, she prayed. She picked up her glass again, the chill of it against her fingers reminding her to take a deep breath. Everything would be okay. But she’d never had this much trouble finding someone she liked. She’d married her husband when she was only eighteen, and after only a few months of dating.
“Amanda?” a man asked.
She swung her head toward the man standing at the end of the table. He didn’t look like a cowboy, thank goodness.
She didn’t know him, but he was tall, with sandy hair and the brightest pair of blue eyes she’d ever seen. They sparkled at her, and she lost the words that had been in her mind.
“I’m Finley Barber,” he said, extending his hand for her to shake. “I think you’re my date for the night. Silver scarf.” He grinned, and Amanda’s pulse went nuts. He was handsome, and she wondered where in the world Graham and Beau had found him.
She stuck her hand out, realizing a moment too late that she was holding that raspberry lemonade.
Horror struck her as the thick, red liquid went flying, hitting the gorgeous man right in the abdomen.
