Apparently, Mitch had met a woman on a trip to Iowa in July. His cousin Josh and Josh’s veterinarian fiancé, Tori, had gone back to visit her family and to collect some more of her special needs farm animals to bring to Louisiana with her. Mitch had gone along to help with the goats and pig and donkey.
The only other thing Mitch would say was that he’d really enjoyed his first and only night in Iowa and that he was looking forward to going back.
Of course, he’d said it with a very satisfied grin on his face.
But even tight-lipped about his crush on the girl in Iowa, Mitch had made Chase’s two weeks in Autre a hell of a lot of fun. Mitch’s hands-off approach to the pretty southern girls had left more for Chase to flirt with. The weather and spicy food weren’t the only things that were hot in Louisiana.
Like Bailey Wilcox.
Dammit.
Chase sighed. Why was she always the one he thought about when he thought back on the summer of fun and flirtations? Bailey was… smart. A bookworm. A scientist. Not his type.
So, why did he keep thinking about her and the way her hair would fall down from its ponytail and her glasses and the too-big khakis she wore, even to the bar, and the fact that he’d gotten farther with her when he’d talked about alligators than he had when he’d tried to kiss her?
“Tell me about the hot girl across the table,” Mitch said. He was out on his front porch in a lawn chair, his feet probably propped up on the porch railing. He had a bottle of beer in hand and looked like he was kicking back for the evening.
Chase wished he’d grabbed a beer before hitting the couch. But now the sitting down felt too good to get up. He’d have to order a pizza from the place that also delivered beer. Of course, he’d have to get up once the pizza arrived. Still, it would save him a trip to the kitchen now. That was one thing he was going to miss about the big city when he was down on the bayou.
But Ellie always had cold beer and if he had a shot at gumbo or jambalaya every night, he wasn’t sure he’d truly miss pizza.
“Sabrina,” he told Mitch, making himself focus on the stunning red head who wanted to be a neurosurgeon.
“And she’s helping you out with anatomy huh?” Mitch asked.
Chase laughed and leaned his recliner back farther. “Yeah, sure. Something like that.”
“No? You haven’t asked her out?”
“Nah.” Chase shrugged. “It would be weird. We’re stuck together in class for the next three and a half years. Probably better not to go there, you know?”
“Sure.” Mitch nodded. “As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with a cute little nerd who’s got a very strange fascination with amphibians.”
Chase sighed. He and Mitch had gotten close. Close enough that Mitch had definitely noticed Chase’s stupid pre-occupation with Bailey. “Alligators aren’t amphibians.”
Mitch snorted.
He might as well confess even more now that he’d admitted he knew exactly who Mitch had been referring to. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve been thinkin’ about her.”
Mitch gave him a knowing smile. “It’s always the hard to get ones.”
“Guess so.”
“Did I mention that Bailey’s been down here a few times?”
Chase almost sat up straighter. He caught himself though. No need to further confirm that he’d been thinking more about Bailey’s freckles and the horribly awkward almost-kiss between them than he was about Sabrina’s…everything. Sabrina was a knock-out. What the hell was his problem? “No. What was she down for?”
“First time, she came to check on that report about Gus.”
Gus was the river otter that lived under one of the docks that belonged to the Boys of the Bayou swamp boat tour company. A troublesome tourist had called the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries after overhearing that Gus might be rabid. It wasn’t true but, apparently, someone official had to come out and check.
“She got assigned to that?” Chase asked.
Mitch lifted a shoulder, then his beer. “Or maybe she volunteered.” He took a long drink.
Chase was not going to ask if she’d asked about him. He was not. Going. To. Ask.
“She’s been down a few other times now too?”
“She stops by every once in a while. When she’s in the area. Checking on her frogs…or, sorry, gators. Whatever she’s tromping around in the bayou about.”
Chase could clearly picture her in hip waders, knee deep in murky water, her hands full of reptile. Which should have helped with the not-being-attracted-to-a-nerdy-scientist.
It didn’t.
He wanted to see her again. And try the kissing thing again.
Chase cleared his throat. “How is she?”
Mitch lowered his bottle and chuckled. “Disappointed.”
“Disappointed?”
“That you aren’t around,” Mitch said.
Chase felt a disproportionate amount of satisfaction at that.
“The first time was the worst,” Mitch said. “You didn’t tell her you were leavin’? She seemed shocked that you were gone. Like gone gone. That was kind of shitty of you, wasn’t it?”
“I—” Chase shook his head. “Nah. I mean, it was weird between us. Didn’t think I really needed to tell her anything.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t sure which thing she was more shocked about—that you were gone or that you were going to med school.”
Chase grimaced. “The med school thing. I’m sure.” He didn’t want to think about how unimpressed with him Bailey had generally been. “What have you been up to?”
Mitch drank again, then said, “Work. Hanging out. You know.”
Chase nodded. Mitch had a pretty easy life, really.
“You talked to your Iowa girl?”
Mitch hesitated.
“Mitch?” Chase pressed, sensing something.
“We’ve been texting.”
“Really?” That actually surprised him. Mitch didn’t seem like the texting type.
“Yeah.” Mitch blew out a breath. “She’s a lot of work.”
“How so?”
“The long-distance thing sucks. Especially when she doesn’t really want to do the phone-call thing. Or the texting thing. Or the meeting half-way to see each other again thing.”
Chase almost snorted at the look on his friend’s face. Mitch looked put out. Mitch Landry had never looked put out. Probably in his life. Chase would guess he’d also never really pursued a woman before. Mitch didn’t put a lot of effort into much of anything, honestly. He didn’t have to. Work came to him. Fun came to him. Women came to him. He just sat back and let it all happen.
“She’s not into texting? At all or just with you?” Chase asked.
“Maybe all texting. But especially me.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I live far away and we were supposed to be a one-time hook-up and ongoing texting kind of indicates a possible…”
Chase did snort this time as Mitch trailed off. “A relationship?”
Mitch gave a little shudder. But then he nodded. “I guess.”
“You’re not really into relationships either,” Chase pointed out.