“You’re truly okay, then?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“I’m fine,” I said, letting out a small sigh. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer my phone when you called. I guess I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone. Especially about Cowboy. Besides, there isn’t anything left to say.”
Bobbie Jo leaned on the railing and snorted. “He’s always been an idiot. This just proves it.” She shook her head in disgust. “I am sorry it didn’t work out. I don’t know exactly what happened between the two of you, but I’m betting that somewhere in there, he’s the one who somehow screwed this up and is kicking himself in the ass right about now.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s over.” I gave her a non-committal shrug and watched Joe and Clay shove the remaining box into my backseat. “Maybe in time Cowboy and I can still be fr—” A jacked-up red truck coming down the road halted my speech. Oh, great. Speak of the devil.
As the truck drew closer, my eyes met Cowboy’s. He slowed and waved, as if he were offering a friendly gesture to one of his neighbors. But if he expected me to wave back like we were friends, he could forget it. The only kind of gesture I was willing to give him consisted of one finger and wasn’t usually considered all that friendly. The jackass.
I turned my back on him for breaking my heart and started inside.
But before I made it through the door, his truck screeched to a halt just past my driveway. I whipped around to see him throw it in reverse and drive backward into the middle of my yard. Cowboy jumped out of his truck, glaring at the Barlow boys as they made their way back to the porch. “You two get the hell out of here and leave Anna alone!”
“Whoa!” Joe said, as he reached the top of the stairs. “We’re not here to cause problems. We’re helping Miss Anna load up these boxes. Why don’t you chill the hell out, dude?”
Cowboy marched past Clay and clomped his way up the stairs where I stood with Joe and Bobbie Jo.
I put my hands on my hips and glared at Cowboy. “That’s not a parking spot!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, it is now!” he sneered.
“God, you’re an even bigger asshole than I thought.” I turned and marched inside, flapping my arms in frustration.
A growl burst from his throat. “Get back here,” he demanded.
Surprisingly enough, I made it to the kitchen without him manhandling me. I’d fully expected him to be on my heels, but when I stopped and spun around, he wasn’t there. Peeking around the corner, I found out why.
He had tried to follow me through the open door, but Joe had stepped into Cowboy’s path and was now poking one large finger into his chest. “I think the lady wants you to leave.”
I stood off to the side, just out of their field of vision, but where I could see and hear both of them. With rage burning in his green eyes, Cowboy measured up the big guy in front of him. “If you want to keep that finger attached, I suggest you remove it.”
They stood there in an intense, heated stand-off that looked like it would never end. Thank goodness Bobbie Jo intervened, patting Joe on the arm. “It’s okay, Joe. I’ve got this. Why don’t you give us a minute?”
Joe nodded and walked by Cowboy, purposely bumping his shoulder as he passed. Cowboy rolled his eyes and started inside, but Bobbie Jo wasn’t having it. She put her arm up and blocked the door, scowling at him. “You really did it this time, didn’t you, Cowboy? Put your foot in it good.”
“Ya know, I’d love to stand around here talking about how I screwed up, but I have something more important to do.”
But Bobbie Jo persisted. “What do you want with Anna?”
Oh, I love having such protective friends.