She’d almost passed the café when she remembered her promise to Donna Jo and pulled to a stop. The waitress was right; she should take something to eat, as well as several cold sodas. Already it was unmercifully hot. She grinned, remembering Donna Jo’s remark that the locals who escaped to Colorado for the summer weren’t real Texans. Apparently folks were supposed to stay in Texas and suffer.

The café was nearly empty. Sherry took a seat at the counter and reached for the menu.

“What’ll you have?” Donna Jo asked.

“Let’s see… A turkey sandwich with tomato and lettuce, a bag of chips and three diet sodas, all to go.”

Donna Jo went into the kitchen to tell the chef. When she came back out her eyes brightened. “Howdy, Cody.”

“Howdy.” Cody slipped onto the stool next to Sherry’s and ordered coffee.

“Hi,” he said, edging up his Stetson with his index finger as if to get a better look at her.

“Hi.” It was silly to feel shy with him, but Sherry did. A little like she had in junior high when Wayne Pierce, the boy she’d had a crush on, sat next to her in the school lunchroom. Her mouth went dry and she felt incapable of making conversation.

“I was wondering if I’d run into you this afternoon.”

“Cody’s in town for the local cattlemen’s meeting,” Donna Jo explained as she placed a beige ceramic mug full of steaming coffee in front of Cody.

“Doc’s back,” Sherry said, although she wasn’t certain he understood the significance of that. “He said the fishing was terrible, but then, it generally is about now.”

He shrugged. “You’re having a rather late lunch, aren’t you?”

Donna Jo set a brown paper bag on the counter along with the tab. “I was planning to eat on the road,” Sherry said, thanking Donna Jo with a smile. She slipped her purse strap over her shoulder and opened the zipper to take out her wallet.

A frown appeared on Cody’s face. “You’re leaving?”

“For Houston.”

His frown deepened. “So soon?”

“I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.” She slid off the stool and was surprised when Cody slapped a dollar bill and some coins on the counter and followed her to the register.

“Actually I was hoping to talk to you,” he said, holding open the café door.

“Oh?” She headed for her car.

Cody continued to follow. “Yeah, it’s about what I said this morning.” His eyes refused to meet hers. “I was thinking about it on my way back to the ranch, and I realized I must’ve sounded pretty arrogant about the whole thing.”

“I didn’t notice,” Sherry said. It was a lie, but only a small one. She found it charming that he wanted to correct the impression he’d made.

“It’s just that Heather’s on this marriage kick….”

“We both agreed it was a lapse in judgment,” she told him. “Let’s just forget it ever happened.”

He jammed his fingers into his pockets as Sherry opened her car door. “I wish I could,” he said so low Sherry wasn’t sure she’d heard him accurately.