“It’s April already,” Travis said.

  “I know what month it is,” Will sniped at him. He looked back to Gretchen. “I…don’t know what to say.” He picked up his napkin and snapped it open. “Can we eat already? Jeez, I’ve been starving for an hour.”

  The whole room burst into laughter, Gretchen included. Will didn’t seem to think anything was all that funny, but she put her hand on his knee anyway. He smiled then, and she leaned her head toward his.

  “I would marry you tomorrow,” he whispered among all the chaos of his family around them.

  “Better get me a ring and get down on one knee then,” she said just as Wayne quieted everyone again so they could say grace.

  28

  Will walked into the jewelry store, feeling like the whole world could see him. The two walls of windows did that, and the natural light spilling inside made every gem shine and glitter.

  “Ah, Will,” Darrell said. “Here for the ring?”

  “Yes, sir,” Will said. He swiped off his cowboy hat, his nerves running rampant through him. “Louisa called and said it was sized and ready.”

  “Yes, I think I saw it in the back.” Darrell gave him a smile and went that way. “I’ll be right back.”

  Will nodded and watched him go. A little further into the shop, a woman stood behind the case while a couple looked at the rings inside. Other than that, only salesmen littered the floor. He started to sweat despite the cool temperature inside the shop, and he had no idea why.

  Probably because the calendar hadn’t even flipped to May yet, and here he stood, buying a diamond ring to propose with. His relationship with Tara had not advanced this quickly, and Will shook the woman out of his head.

  After watching Rissa and Spence, then Travis and Shayla, fall in love, Will knew that when a person met their one true love, it didn’t take long to want to spend forever together. He and Gretchen were simply meant to be, and he didn’t want to wait to be with her.

  He also didn’t want to wait until December to marry her. If Clarissa really wasn’t going to let anyone get married in the fall months, then Will figured he might as well ask Gretchen now and they could get married in August.

  He hoped three full months was long enough for her, and panic paraded through him while his brain screamed at him that he should’ve asked her how long she needed to plan her wedding. For all he knew, she’d send off for a custom dress from the shops in Paris or Milan, and that could take months.

  “Here you go,” Darrell said, reappearing in front of Will as if by magic. He held out a smooth black bag with white tissue poking out of the top.

  “Thank you,” Will said, his voice grinding through his throat. He nodded at the man, put on his cowboy hat, and headed for the exit. He needed to get out of this place and stop spiraling.

  Gretchen wasn’t going to order her wedding dress from Europe. She wasn’t that kind of woman at all. She probably would want to make sure she didn’t have any events on her candy calendar, and she’d want to make sure her brothers could be there.

  Will hadn’t met them yet, as they lived some distance from Sweet Water Falls and both he and Gretchen were quite busy with their work. His heart sat heavy in his chest, like someone had filled it with water and it had bloated to twice its normal size.

  He had no idea where he and Gretchen would live once they got married. Would she want to live on the farm? In her house in the country? Could he stand having Elvis around all the time?

  “Stop it,” he told himself as he drove. “It’s all going to work out fine.” He sometimes hated the way his mind circled and spun, and he’d gotten a lot better at slowing it enough to see reason.

  He glanced over to the bag riding on the passenger seat. He didn’t know where to hide it or put it. He didn’t want to hold onto it. He’d bought it for Gretchen, and he wanted to give it to her.

  A quick glance at the clock told him that he could be at her house before she left Sweet Water Taffy, and he started making the right turns to get him there. He’d left late enough in the day to not put out anyone on the farm, and he quickly dialed Travis, knowing his brother would be on the last round of milking.

  “What’s up?” Travis asked, clearly using the speaker on his phone.

  “I got the ring,” Will said, kneading the wheel. “I don’t know what to do next.”

  Travis chuckled, but Will didn’t appreciate that. “Sure you do,” he said.

  “Don’t I need flowers or something?” Maybe he could stop real quick. Another glance at the clock told him not to. It was Friday, and Gretchen never stayed late on Fridays. She went in so early on Saturdays and again early in the week that by Friday, she did the bare minimum and went home.

  It was almost four, and Will actually pressed on the accelerator.

  “No,” Travis said. “I mean, it’s nice if you have flowers or something, but no. You have a diamond ring, Will. That’s all she needs.”

  “What if she hates it?”

  “Okay, I’m hanging up,” Travis said. “Where are you, bro? You’ve never struck me as unsure of yourself or about what to do.”

  Will took a deep breath and nodded to himself. “You’re right. Okay, yeah. I’m going over to Gretchen’s now.”

  “Good luck,” Travis said. “Not that you need it. I think she’s been waiting for you to ask her for a while now.”

  Will nodded again and said, “Thanks, Trav.” He let his brother hang up, and he made the rest of the drive to Gretchen’s as fast as he could.

  His heart sank when he came around the corner and her van already sat in the driveway. “Doesn’t matter,” he told himself, though he definitely could’ve stopped for flowers. And pizza. He suddenly couldn’t show up without food, and yet, he turned into her driveway and parked behind her.

  He picked up the bag and took the ring box out of it. “It’s just me and you,” he said, hoping the pair of them together would be enough. He flipped open the box and gazed at the ring he’d chosen. It said Gretchen to him the moment he’d seen it, and he smiled softly at the bright gold band which flourished up to hold the diamond.

  It was actually shaped like a diamond, and two more tiny gems sat along each of the four sides. They were pink diamonds, and for some reason, Will thought of Gretchen when he looked at the ring.

  Somehow, his booted feet took him up to her porch. He swept his cowboy hat off his head one more time and knocked. Elvis meowed behind the closed door, and Gretchen’s female voice shushed him.

  A couple of moments later, she cracked the door.

  “Just me,” he said, holding his hat against his chest with one hand, the ring box concealed behind it.

  A smile bloomed on her face. “Hey.” She opened the door even further. “I wasn’t expecting you until later.” She licked the corner of her mouth. “I was just having a snack.”

  He grinned at her. “One of Jon’s haystacks?”

  She giggled and backed up so he could come in. “How did you know?”

  “I can smell the chocolate on your breath,” he said, entering the house and closing the door so Elvis couldn’t make one of his feline escapes. Gretchen retreated into the kitchen and plucked another haystack from the box on the counter.

  Faced with her, Will wasn’t nervous at all. He lowered his cowboy hat and dropped it on her loveseat as he passed. He couldn’t look away from her. “Gretchen,” he said, and she looked at him, half a haystack in her hand, the other half in her mouth.

  He held up the ring box, and she froze.

  He grinned at her. “That day at the drug store last year changed my life. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. I love you.” He opened the box with strong, sure fingers and turned it toward her. “Will you marry me?”

  Her eyes widened as she looked at the ring. She shook her head, which made Will’s chest cave in.

  “No way,” she said. “You’re not down on one knee.”

  “Are you kidding right now?”

  She hastily set down her uneaten haystack and dusted her hands. “I’m wearing the ugliest shirt I own.”

  “So what?” Will couldn’t believe this. Travis had said none of this would matter.

  Then that teasing glint came into Gretchen’s eyes. She flung herself into his arms, and he dang near dropped the diamond that had carved a hole in his bank account. “I’m kidding, Will Cooper. I love you, and of course I want to marry you.”

  She kissed him while relief ran through him, and it took Will a couple of seconds to catch up to the situation. “Not funny,” he murmured in the moment he pulled away. Then he kissed her again—a real kiss this time, with both of them aware of what was happening.

  When he finally had the decency to pull away, Gretchen grinned at him with glassy eyes. “This is how we are, Will. Things are little hectic. Cats run away. Caramel gets burned. You seem to have it all over you at the most inopportune times.” She held out her left hand. “We’re awkward, and I love that about us.”

  “Mm.” He slid the ring on her finger, and they both gazed at it for several long seconds. He looked up at her again and found love streaming from her. “What are you thinking?” he asked. “Like August? Or are we waiting until December?”

  She put her arms around his shoulders and clasped her hands at the back of his neck. “Oh, we can’t wait until December.”

  “I wouldn’t think so,” he said, already sliding his mouth along her jawline.

  “I don’t need very long,” she said. “I’ll look into a venue, and then get a dress. It won’t be hard.”

  “So…maybe next month?” Will asked, pulling back and grinning at her.

  Gretchen giggled and said, “Listen,” in her stern-Will-Cooper voice. “We’re not getting married in the same month as Trav and Shay. They deserve their own spotlight.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Will said.

  “But maybe June or July…” She tilted her head to the side. “I’ll check the calendar and talk to my brothers.”

  Just as he’d known she would. “I’ll talk to Mama,” he said. “Do you want a venue? We can get married here. At the farm. At your dad’s place. His backyard is beautiful.”

  Gretchen’s face lit up on the last one, and Will knew they’d be getting married in Short Tail. “Could we get married at Daddy’s?”

  “Of course,” Will said, leaning down to kiss her again. “Whatever you want.”

  “I love you, Will Cooper,” Gretchen whispered.

  “Love you too,” Will said just before kissing his fiancée.

  Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in the Sweet Water Falls Farm series, SURLY COWBOY, which features the last Cooper brother, Lee! You can read this book on any retailer!

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  Sneak Peek! Surly Cowboy Chapter One:

  Lee Cooper pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it in the general direction of his bed. It landed short and fell to the floor, but he didn’t bother going to retrieve it. As frenzied as his mind was, the one thought he landed on was, No wonder Ford is a slob. It’s genetic.

  He ripped open the closet doors, everything inside blurring for some reason. Probably because he hadn’t taken a proper breath in the past minute. Maybe two. Fine, ten.

  Lee closed his eyes and slowed down. He dropped his hands to his sides and took a long breath in through his nose. He watched a morning affirmation channel online every day, and the woman who led the group did breathing exercises like this.

  In through the nose, he heard in her voice. Hold it. Longer. Really take a moment and slow down your mind. Your heart. Release those muscles. Okay, out with me.

  Five, four, three, two one, zero.

  Lee opened his eyes when he got to zero, and the shirts took on individual form in the closet. “Okay,” he said. “You’re fine. Ford is fine. His teacher just wants to talk to both you and Martha on a weekday evening. It’s not a big deal.”

  He’d gotten off the phone with his ex-wife ten minutes ago, and he’d hurried to finish an email that had to go out today. Then he’d dashed home, and he wasn’t any worse off by taking twenty seconds to center himself again.

  With a bright red shirt covering his upper half and a peanut butter sandwich in one hand, Lee dashed back out the front door of his cabin and down the steps to his truck. The old girl was starting to show her age, with rust wearing through around the wheels and the engine chugging to life like it would rather not.

  Lee knew how she felt, and he patted the dashboard. “I’ll let you retire soon, okay? But Ford needs us tonight.”

  He had no intentions of buying another truck, though he had plenty of money to do so. Lee rather liked this one, and he saw no reason to spend money on something when he already had one that worked.

  The drive to Sweet Water Falls passed in a blur, and Lee had no idea where his mind had wandered. He blinked, and the dark-haired image of Rosalie Reynolds flashed in his mind. Ah, so he’d gone down that path again.

  He hadn’t been brave enough to drop by the woman’s office, even when she was expecting him to. He’d sent Will instead. Begged was a better word. The proper word. Familiar loathing and disgust built within Lee, and it was all directed at himself.

  His heart pounded right now, though Rosalie wasn’t anywhere near him physically. He wasn’t sure why she affected him so thoroughly, only that she did. They’d only met the one time. He’d only spoken to her twice, once in person and once on the phone. He’d looked at her picture plenty of times on her website, and he was taking that knowledge with him to the grave.

  He didn’t need to add “stalker” to the list of names he’d been called over the years. Grumpy, sure, he could own that. Short-tempered, yes. What Cooper man wasn’t? He could hardly be blamed for that one. It was genetically inbred in him to get angry or frustrated at the drop of a bale of hay or the first sign of oil leaking from a tractor.

  Meticulous, he actually counted as a compliment. Anal-retentive was a bit of a stretch, but Lee didn’t even mind that one. He worked with a lot of papers that held a lot of numbers, and someone had to be detail-oriented and obsessive about checking them to make sure things got done correctly.

  Money in, money out—Lee took care of that.

  Paychecks due, new orders received—Lee took care of that.

  New clients and their contracts, established accounts and their renewals—Lee took care of that.

  Lee ran Cooper & Co almost single-handedly these days, and most of the time, he let an inch of pride into his heart at how proud Daddy was of him. At how much Daddy trusted him to take over the generational operation that had been supplying milk to the people in Southern Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas for over a century.

  He pulled into a spot at the elementary school, spying Martha’s car a few spaces over. She and Ford weren’t in it, which meant Lee was late. His ex-wife would give him the stink-eye for that, but he’d come as soon as he’d been notified of tonight’s meeting.

  As he jogged toward the entrance of the building, he tucked in his shirt and he dang near pulled off the door as he opened it.

  “Dad,” Ford said, jumping to his feet from a cement bench across from the entrance.

  Lee’s whole face lit up, and he couldn’t be mad at his son no matter what. He opened his arms to him, glad when Ford flew into his embrace. He always wanted Ford to be able to come to him for help, for the good, the bad, the anything.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said. “What am I doin’ here tonight, huh?”

  “Your son got in a fight,” Martha said, and Lee looked over Ford’s head to meet her eye. She didn’t look too terribly upset, and Lee kept hold of Ford in one arm as he leaned forward to touch his lips to Martha’s cheek.

  He settled awkwardly back on his feet, even putting another few inches between them. “I got here as fast as I could.”

  “We’ve got five minutes still,” she said, nodding down the hall. The three of them started that way at a much slower pace than Lee had used coming inside. He’d loved Martha once-upon-a-time, and sometimes when he looked at her, he only saw the good things they’d experienced together.

  It didn’t take long for him to remember the things that had driven them apart, and he certainly wasn’t interested in getting back together with her. Lee simply took a long time to forgive—himself and others—and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to get over infidelity.

  Something about it just cut him right to the core, and even now, he worked against the feelings of betrayal and mistrust of all women.

  Ford’s teacher—a Miss Bair who was easily a decade younger than Lee—stepped into the hall. She smiled at Ford and then Lee and Martha. Lee didn’t want to be in her shoes, and he gave her a smile back so she’d know they were going to agree with her.

  Lee was, anyway.

  “Evenin’,” he said when no one else spoke. “I hope you weren’t waiting long for me. I live pretty far out.”

  “Not at all,” Miss Bair said. “Come on in.”

  Martha went first, then Ford, and Lee held the door for the teacher and entered last. She’d set up some chairs around her desk, and he sat in the last one.

  “Did Ford tell you what happened today?”

  “I heard most of it,” Martha said. “Lee hasn’t gotten much information. I didn’t find the note or hear the message you left until about forty minutes ago.”

  “Ford?” Miss Bair prompted.

  The boy squirmed in his seat, and Lee put his arm around his son. “Hey,” he said real quietly. “Remember the roof? And the stars?”

  Ford looked up at him, his innocent eyes so wide and so beautiful. He nodded, and Lee smiled at him. “Go on then.” He ignored Martha’s questioning gaze and glanced at Miss Bair.

  She smiled at him, but Lee felt no spark of attraction to her. She had dark hair too—his preferred type—and nothing. Absolutely nothing like what he felt when he looked at Rosalie.