Stick in the Mud Meets Spontaneity (Meet Your Match, book 3) by Rachael Anderson Page B

mother—made the space feel warmer and softer, like her. And if Sam approved, maybe she’d want to come over and hang out sometime. Maybe even a lot of times.
    That was before she’d said her goodbyes yesterday.
    Colton had known it was coming. She was filling in until Cassie returned from her trip and that was it. But everything had been going so well, and she seemed like she was having a good time. Colton had hoped she’d decide to keep driving Kajsa, or better yet, come on her own with no other reason than to hang out. He wasn’t ready to let her out of his life just yet.
    Ready or not, though, she was gone, and like it or not, he had to get used to that. Sam wasn’t a staying type of girl, anyway. She had too many ambitions. Too many goals. The ranch and Colton had only been a fun little diversion to help pass the time.
    He really hated the way his stomach tightened when he thought of never seeing that yellow Bug come up the lane, stirring up a cloud of dust behind it.
    Maybe he should have asked her out. Maybe he should have tried to convince her that flings were overrated and that cowboys were underrated.
    Footsteps sounded behind him, squeaking the floorboards on the front porch. Colton turned around to find his mother standing there, holding a tinfoil-covered plate of something.
    “You left without eating,” she said, a little out of breath.
    “I ate a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast.”
    “That’s not a breakfast.” She shoved the plate into his hands. “This is a breakfast.”
    Colton could feel that the food was still warm, and it smelled wonderful. “Thanks, Mom. But I’m moving out of the house to become more independent, and that means making my own breakfast.”
    “Or pouring it from a cardboard box?” She made a face, and he smiled.
    “Or pouring it from a cardboard box.”
    She let out a sigh that sounded like I-may-not-like-it-but-its-your-life-to-live then looked around, walking farther into the room. “Wow, you really cleaned this place up.”
    “It was mostly Samantha’s doing.”
    His mother toed the rug. “Is this new?”
    “Samantha brought it over. One of her mom’s client’s was moving and didn’t want it anymore, so Samantha showed up with it a few days ago, rolled up and sticking out the back of her trunk.” Colton smiled at the memory. Maybe the little yellow Bug was good for something after all.
    “It looks nice.”
    “I think so.”
    She cocked her head to the side and eyed her son. “You two seem to get along so great that I thought you might…” her voice drifted off, and she waved her hand. “Well, never mind. I guess I thought wrong.”
    “I like her, but I really don’t think she’d be interested in a guy like me long-term.”
    “Why would you say that?”
    Colton set the plate on the counter and opened and closed a few drawers before he found the cheap silverware he’d picked up at the store last week. He pulled out a fork and palmed the counter. “She’s too spontaneous and adventurous for ranching life. Coming here… well, it was something new and exciting to experience. But now that she’s experienced it, she’ll move on to something else that’s new and exciting. Trust me.”
    His mother walked forward, placing her hands on the side of his face. “I’m only going to say this once, because, like you moving to The Shack, I know you need to live your own life your own way. But I can’t let a comment like that slide with no response. You are handsome, talented, hardworking, and—most importantly—a good man. A girl would have to be blind not to see that. But if you find a girl you’re interested in and don’t make your interest clear, she might walk out of your life for the same reasons you’re letting her walk out.”
    His mother gave his cheek a pat, and her expression softened. “I like Sam. A lot. And I’m pretty sure that she likes you. No girl would help you do all this”—she gestured around her—“if she didn’t. But if