A/N – Thanks for continuing to follow this story! FYI, the El Paso County Fair and Events Complex is about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Colorado Springs. Though it's a real place, what follows is a fictional fair and not intended to represent what actually occurs at the EPC Fair.

Chapter 9

Andrew spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out what to wear the following weekend. What did one wear to a county fair where you were trying to impress a girl without looking like you were trying to impress a girl? He figured most, if not all, of the men would be in jeans, so he went with his casual medium wash pair from last week rather than the dressier dark wash. He had a pair of cowboy boots, bought during his time in Topeka, trying to fit in with the locals there. He hadn't worn them for an extended period yet, just the occasional outing, and could only hope he wouldn't end up with blisters on his feet. A t-shirt seemed too casual, however, so he went with a pale blue button up and rolled the sleeves to expose his forearms as a nod to the warm July weather. Hopefully there would be a cooling breeze and shaded sections of the fair to compensate for his slight overdressing.

Of course, besides wondering what he should wear, he was also wondering what the boyfriend – make that rich boyfriend - was going to wear.

The inclusion of Patrick had Andrew debating all week whether he should back out. The entire point had been to be seen as someone Colleen could spend time with and get close to outside of work, but how was that supposed to happen now that the rich boyfriend would be claiming her attention? Unfortunately, he couldn't think of a good excuse for being a no-show after having agreed to go, unless he invented a flat tire or something, so he got dressed and set off for the fairgrounds, knowing that if he saw Colleen truly enjoying her time with Patrick it would be a clear signal that he just needed to get over her and get on with his life. he could simply leave the fair early, blaming it on the newish boots, and commit to that next locum tenens position that he'd been putting off.

Andrew parked the rental car in the huge lot, arriving a few minutes before the designated meeting time of 10 a.m. when the gates opened. As he approached Gate 3, he saw the family already assembled. It did not appear that Patrick was there, at least not yet. Maybe he couldn't make it? The thought put a spring into Andrew's step.

"'Morning, Andrew," said Sully in greeting.

"Good morning, Sully. Michaela, where's that beautiful baby of yours?"

"Grace offered to babysit," Michaela explained. "I wasn't about to turn that down. I pumped milk before coming, I hope it will be enough."

"Our son is still a little too young for this, too. Hi, I'm Matthew, and this is my wife, Ingrid."

"Andrew. Nice to meet you both."

"Hey, Dr. Cook," said Brian.

"Hi, Brian. Today it's just Andrew, okay?"

Brian smiled at the privilege. "Okay, Andrew."

"Good morning, Colleen." Andrew hoped she would take the unspoken hint that it went for her, too. She was dressed in a lilac-colored top with capped sleeves, pastel madras skirt, and her own well-worn pair of cowboy boots. Her hair this time was pulled off her face in the front, but the back was left down across her shoulder blades. The golden bracelet adorning her wrist taunted him as if to say, I'm taken.

"'Morning."

Since Patrick was not yet here, he decided to be bold. "You look nice."

Her cheeks took on a rosy blush. "Thanks."

"A'ho." Andrew heard the familiar welcome off to his left. It was Larry Cloud Dancing with Snowbird, and more greetings were exchanged.

"Let's go in," said an eager Brian. It was now ten and the gates were opening.

"Patrick's not here yet," Colleen fretted.

"Do you want us to wait, sweetheart?" asked Michaela.

She seemed torn. "No… no, you go on ahead. We can catch up."

Everyone headed for the entrance, but Andrew held back. "I'll stay here with you."

"You don't have to, Dr. Cook."

"Andrew. We're off the clock today, Colleen, you can call me Andrew."

She looked uncertain at the idea, and Andrew tried to not let it bother him. "I'm sure he'll be here any minute," she said, avoiding the topic and his gaze by searching the oncoming pedestrians. "He probably just went to the wrong gate… oh, there he is… Patrick!" she waved.

Andrew turned his head and spotted a tall, dark haired, and classically handsome guy stride up. He looked to be in his mid- to late-twenties and was dressed all in black – black button shirt, black jeans, black loafers, and what looked like an expensive watch on his wrist. Terrific, Andrew thought. He now had an image to go along with the name.

"Sorry I'm late. I didn't know parking would be such a bother."

"It's all right. Patrick, this is the doctor I was telling you about, Dr. Cook."

"Andrew." He offered his hand politely.

"Patrick Collins." The men shook, a little too long to be friendly. "Pleasure to meet you, Doctor. Colleen can't stop talking about you."

"Really?"

"That's not true," Colleen protested, glancing between the two men. "I only told him how you went to Harvard, and how you travel around the country for your job, and how you're helping me study."

Andrew couldn't help a bit of smug satisfaction at that description. Colleen's admiration of him was obvious, which clearly rubbed Collins the wrong way. Good. "And what do you do, Patrick?"

"I'm vice president of Collins, Limited. Well, I'm one of the vice presidents, in charge of our western operations."

"And what operations would those be?" Andrew pressed. Not the kind that save lives he thought sarcastically.

He could tell Collins was growing irritated. "Investments mostly," the man answered curtly before turning to Colleen. "Aren't we going to go in, Colleen? Or are we going to stand around playing twenty questions?"

Colleen led them through the entrance and headed for a tented area which turned out to be the produce and flower arranging competitions.

"Vegetables… you brought me here to look at vegetables?"

"It's fun, Patrick. They're judged on size or most unusual shape," Colleen explained.

"Have you ever entered the fair, Colleen?" Andrew asked.

She brightened at the question. "Yes, I did. One year I won third place in the junior pie baking contest."

"Third place?" Collins repeated. "That's an injustice. You should have been first."

Though never having had the privilege of tasting Colleen's pie, Andrew commended the supportive sentiment. Maybe this guy isn't so bad after all.

"Well, it's kinda funny. Brian won that year."

Collins scoffed. "You lost to your kid brother? Judges are always doing that kind of thing, giving awards more for cuteness than merit."

On the other hand…

"It wasn't like that, Patrick. I tried his pie afterwards. It was really sweet and flavorful."

He looked down at her and shrugged. "I'll have to take your word for it. Can we see something else? I thought your family was going to be here."

"They went in right before you got here, so they can't be that far ahead of us. C'mon." She tugged at his hand, with Andrew bringing up the rear.

Thus far, the young doctor was failing to see what she saw in the guy. Sure, he had money, and good looks, and a stable job… and oh, crap, is he a good kisser? This last image tied a knot in Andrew's stomach, and he did his best not to let it show as they left the tent and entered a building housing the baked goods and cake decorating competitions. Colleen hadn't said anything about entering this year's fair, and he surmised she was too busy between her job and her summer classes to participate.

They'd caught up to the family. "Dr. Mike, Sully, you remember Patrick."

"Pleased to see you again, sir, Dr. Quinn," Collins said politely.

"Hello, Patrick," Michaela said. "Glad you could join us."

"Any time spent with Colleen is worth my while," he replied smoothly, offering up a dazzling smile.

In the presence of Colleen's family, Patrick was far more agreeable, though he was plainly tolerating this outing for her sake, paying scant attention to the exhibits. Under other circumstances Andrew might have found the competitive entries interesting or amusing or clever, but with Patrick around he, too, was finding it difficult to really enjoy himself. A couple of times the two men caught each other's eyes, each wary of the other. Colleen was blissfully oblivious to the tension between them while admiring the decorated cakes, though it did not escape the notice of her guardians, nor Cloud Dancing or Snowbird.

As Andrew tried again to focus on the cakes on display, he heard his name. "C'mon, Andrew." It was Brian speaking, the group presumably headed off to the next competition area.

He presumed wrong. The next destination turned out to be one of the rides – the bumper cars.

Perfect. He could take out his frustration behind the wheel and not get arrested for it.

Everyone except Michaela and Snowbird got in line, the former still recovering from childbirth, the latter to keep her company. As it was still early in the day the queue wasn't long yet, it was only a matter of waiting for the prior set of riders to finish their turn and disembark.

"If we do this one early Brian's happy for the rest of the day," Colleen explained as they stood in line. "We make sure everyone gets to see or do their favorite thing before we go."

"Really?" Patrick responded. "Does that mean I get to choose my favorite?"

"Sure," she replied with a smile. Then, as if remembering her manners, she added, "Dr. Cook, you can pick one, too."

Andrew only gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded, dismayed with her continued use of formality. The smug expression on Collins' face indicated that he'd noticed it, too, and Andrew wasn't about to give the other man the satisfaction of seeing him beg Colleen again to change the habit for today. Nor was he going to admit in front of Collins that he'd never been to a fair before and thus didn't yet have a favorite activity.

Luckily the line moved forward at that point, and everyone went to find a car, the ride operator checking that seatbelts were fastened properly before powering the cars up. As soon as the switch was turned on, they were off, Andrew making a beeline for Collins' car. Before he could get there Brian bumped Patrick first, much to Andrew's delight. Andrew wasn't far behind, and he saw the scowl on Patrick's face when Andrew got him. Brian then bumped into Andrew before heading off to get the others. Andrew felt a jostle from behind, it was Matthew. Andrew tried to turn his car around to make another run at Collins, but a squeal from his right drew his attention, it was Colleen caught up in a duel with Ingrid. Before she could escape Cloud Dancing had bumped her, and her laugh rang out. After that, Andrew didn't much care what happened, he was too enthralled by watching Colleen and the fun she was having. Before long the two minutes were up, and the cars were powered down.

As the group exited the ride, everyone had grins on their faces, talking animatedly about who had bumped whom. The smile on Collins' face, however, seemed forced.

Michaela and Snowbird joined the riders. "Did you get everyone, Brian?"

"Everybody except Cloud Dancing," came the response. "Ingrid wouldn't get out of the way."

"I'm not very good at driving these cars," she apologized.

"None of us are, except Brian," her husband soothed. Matthew then addressed the group. "We doing our usual split before lunch?"

"Sure," said Sully. "Andrew and Patrick, you have your choice of checking the horses and livestock with the guys or joining the ladies in fawning over the quilts."

"It's more than just quilts, Sully," Michaela admonished. "It's clothing and decorative items, too, what women did to contribute to the home before they were allowed careers."

Andrew found it an easy decision. He really wasn't that interested in livestock, and if Colleen was going to be with the ladies, that's where he wanted to be. "I'll join the ladies," he announced without hesitating.

He fully expected Collins to make the same choice. "I thought Colleen and I could spend some time alone today, if you don't mind," said Patrick, draping an arm around Colleen's shoulders possessively. "We can meet up with everyone later, can't we?" He looked to Colleen for confirmation.

Colleen was caught off guard but quickly regrouped. "Um, sure, I guess we can do that."

Andrew glanced at Sully, who gave just a slight tilt of his head, acknowledging there wasn't anything to be done. It was Colleen's choice. Having already committed to going off with the women, Andrew reluctantly fell in behind them with a last look toward Colleen.

Though had he known what was about to occur, Andrew never would have left Colleen's side.

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