“You don’t give a woman much time to make plans,” she said.

  “You don’t need to plan anything,” he said.

  “I run the candy shop,” she said. “If I’m not going to be there, I have to make plans.” Nervous energy ran through her, because she wanted to call Jon right now and find out if he could cover the day’s sweets.

  But it was Friday night on Valentine’s Day. She couldn’t call and ask him. He’d asked out a woman from his church, and she knew they had a date tonight.

  “I’m sorry,” Will said. “I wanted it to be a surprise. I could just come hang out at the shop?”

  “No,” Gretchen said. She’d never be able to work with him there, and Jon sure wouldn’t like it… She kept that last part to herself and met Will’s eyes again.

  “I see the wheels turnin’ in there.” He smiled at her.

  “I’ll figure it out,” she said. “The shop is pretty bare right now because of Valentine’s Day. But I’ll figure it out.” She could go in on Sunday night and do a few things to restock. Jon could keep up with the rest.

  “Let’s go,” she said. “We don’t want to miss our under-the-stars reservation time.”

  “That we do not,” Will said, tucking her hand in his. “You’re all set? Elvis is secure?”

  “Yes, sir.” She grinned at him. “I can put those flowers in a vase later.”

  Will leaned forward and kissed her again, a short, quick kiss that left her unbalanced for a moment when he pulled away. “Nope, I can’t kiss you again. Then we’ll really be late.” A flush worked its way into his cheeks, which Gretchen secretly liked. She loved the way he took care of her by opening the doors and walking her to her side of the truck. He’d been nothing but a cowboy gentleman with her, despite their awkward moments.

  His blush had disappeared by the time he got behind the wheel, and Gretchen decided to dig a little deeper. “So,” she said.

  “No,” he said, interrupting her next breath. “I don’t like it when you start sentences like that.” He tossed her a healthy glare and backed out of her driveway.

  Gretchen blinked, trying to figure out how else to start a sentence. “Um,” she said.

  Will began to chuckle, and Gretchen’s face started to heat. She was sure she carried the flush in her cheeks now.

  “You can’t start sentences without using the word so?”

  “Why don’t you like it?”

  “Because,” he said. “You make it sound like it’s going to be a casual question, and then it’s not. It’s like this punch in the lungs.”

  Gretchen blinked, trying to absorb what he’d said. “A punch in the lungs?”

  “What were you going to ask?” He looked over to her, not paying attention to the road at all.

  Gretchen looked out the windshield and shook her hair back over her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve forgotten now.”

  “Oh, come on.”

  “No, really.”

  Will made a sound of disbelief combined with annoyance—Gretchen knew, because he’d made that sound while on the phone with his brother before. “You can say it.”

  “So I left a review for Cooper and Co,” she said. “Oh my word. I just started the sentence with ‘so’.” She looked at him, her eyes wide. His shoulders shook as he laughed silently. “I didn’t realize I did it so much.”

  Laughter burst from his mouth, and despite his earlier glare and her growing embarrassment, Gretchen giggled too. She might as well embrace her relationship with Will. He was going to say what was on his mind. They were going to get interrupted when they tried to kiss. Things could go from glares to giggles in less than ten seconds.

  Gretchen found it all very exciting, and she turned toward him and crossed her legs, glad she’d chosen a skirt that would allow her to do so.

  “So,” she said, really enunciating the word. Will’s laughter dried up and Mr. Growly Bear came back. Gretchen just grinned at him, because she liked him when he was soft and sweet, and she liked him when he was grumpy and glaring.

  “Mister Cooper. If your girlfriend could get out of work on Monday, what do you have planned?”

  He did the male equivalent of shaking his hair over his head, which was lifting his chin and looking out his side window. “I have a few things up my sleeve.”

  Gretchen laughed this time, because that was cowboy-code for I don’t know yet, but I have the weekend to figure it out.

  Now, she just needed to make sure she could cover things at the shop so she could spend the day with Will. Him taking a day off was a huge deal, and Gretchen determined she’d close Sweet Water Taffy for the day if she had to.

  Monday morning arrived, and with it, Gretchen showed up at Cooper & Co to get her cream. Despite her texting and asking every hour yesterday, Will would not tell her where they were going today.

  She’d managed to go into the candy kitchen yesterday morning and make what she needed for today, and she’d asked Jon to act as the boss. He’d agreed, and while he hadn’t asked, it was implied Gretchen would be out with Will.

  She’d been to Daddy’s yesterday, and she’d told him she wouldn’t be by this afternoon. He could manage without her, and she’d put his medication in a clearly marked baggie and magneted it to the fridge. She’d call him later to make sure he’d taken it.

  Excitement built in her chest when Will appeared, pushing the dolly carrying her crates of cream in front of him. She quickly put her van in park and jumped from it.

  “Morning,” she said, practically running toward him. She swept her hand down toward her feet. “How did I do?”

  He stopped walking and let the dolly settle flat on the ground. Will scanned his eyes from the top of her head to her running shoes—which were a bright fuchsia and clearly not used much—a smile widening with every inch of her he saw.

  “You killed it.” He tipped the dolly again and continued toward the van. She met him before he got there, and he leaned sideways as she slid one hand up his bicep.

  She kissed his cheek, wishing he’d turn his head and really say good morning. He didn’t, but he chuckled, and that sent an additional dose of desire through Gretchen.

  “Let me get this loaded,” he said. “Then we’ll get it dropped off, and we’ll go.”

  “It’s six-thirty.”

  “Did you want to go back to bed?” He grinned at her and left her standing on the path as he continued down it. She let him do all the work, admiring those pretty muscles as he lifted crates of cream into the back of the van.

  One, two, three, four five, and the job was done.

  “I’ll follow you to the shop,” he said, wheeling the dolly past her.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Jon was at the shop already when Gretchen arrived, and the two of them hauled in the cream before Will pulled up. Jon eyed the big truck like it was made of snakes, said, “Have fun, Gretchen,” and went back inside without acknowledging or waving to Will.

  Gretchen didn’t know what to do about that. She liked and needed Jon at Sweet Water Taffy, and she was falling in love with Will. Surely Jon would get over whatever bothered him about the cowboy, and Gretchen wouldn’t ever have to address the issue with him.

  She climbed into the truck and reached for her belt. “All right, cowboy,” she said. “I’m yours for the day.”

  18

  Anxiety seemed to accompany Will everywhere he went lately. He hadn’t gotten up to run this morning, and he told himself that was why.

  It wasn’t because Gretchen sat in his passenger seat before seven a.m., telling him she was his.

  For the day, he told himself.

  She wasn’t his forever.

  Yet, streamed through his mind, but he really wished it wouldn’t. He didn’t want to move too fast with her, and while they’d technically been dating for a little over six weeks, she’d had to hire the farm as her cream supplier to make sure she saw him.

  Humiliation and guilt made a dangerous cocktail inside Will, and he shouldn’t have skipped running.

  “Are we going?” Gretchen asked, and Will reached to put the truck in reverse.

  “Yeah,” he said. “We’re going.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, so listen.”

  “Nope,” she barked at him. “I don’t like it when you start sentences like that.” She grinned at him as she spoke, but Will didn’t think she was kidding that much. “You used ‘listen’ and ‘so.’ Both of those are off-limits.”

  “Fine,” Will said. He would not clear his throat again. He would not. “I just think maybe you have some high expectations for today, and maybe you should lower them.”

  “Come on,” she said. “You’re not taking me to Disneyland?”

  Will smiled, suddenly realizing that it didn’t matter what he’d planned for today. She was just glad to be with him. The concept felt foreign for another breath, and then it seeped into Will’s bones as fact.

  He was glad to be with her, no matter what they did.

  “Trav said The Bluebell Café has good breakfast,” he said. “I can’t imagine you’ve eaten yet.” He looked over to her, and she shook her head.

  “So—I mean, I thought we’d start there,” he said, amending that pesky beginning word. “Then, I thought we could wander the Holy Cow boutique, because that seemed like something you’d like that you don’t get much time to do. Plus, there’s going to be a popcorn demonstration there this afternoon.”

  He looked over to her, trying to drive and gauge her reaction to his plan at the same time. He didn’t care if they walked around town, as long as he got to hold her hand, talk to her, and kiss her.

  That was all Will wanted. Time. He wanted more time with Gretchen, and he’d do whatever he had to do to get it. He’d spent a long time talking to Travis last weekend after Gretchen had stopped by the cabin on Saturday during his lunch hour and told him he’d have a new job every Monday morning—loading her cream for her.

  He’d wanted to rage into the sky, but he’d held back. He hadn’t told her at all how inadequate and how guilty he felt that she’d felt like she’d had to hire his blasted farm just to see him.

  Travis had found a way to keep up with his work and make Shay a priority in his life. Will was struggling, but he was trying to do the same thing with Gretchen.

  “That sounds fun,” Gretchen said. “You like popcorn.”

  “I do,” he said. “They’re going to do the demo for different kinds. Caramel, putting on seasonings, taco-corn, that kind of thing.”

  “Fascinating,” she said, and he found her grinning.

  “Then,” he said, and he failed in his quest not to clear his throat again. “There’s this water circus I thought would be fun. It’s later in the day. Then dinner. Then I’ll take you home.”

  In his mind, there was plenty of time for talking before the circus, and plenty of time for kissing after. Gretchen agreed, and Will relaxed in his seat.

  “Okay,” he said. “The Bluebell Café, here we come.”

  “Have you been there before?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “But Travis has, and he said it was good.”

  “I like their food.” She reached over and took his hand in hers. “This is a good plan, Will.”

  “It’s not that exciting,” he admitted.

  “A water circus? Are you kidding?”

  The power of her grin landed on the side of his face. “I can’t wait,” she said. “I’ve never been to a water circus.”

  “Me either,” he said. “Which honestly, isn’t hard. I haven’t done much in my life but work on the farm.” He glanced at her, hoping she knew that. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about the farm.”

  “Listen, you did?” she teased.

  He grinned too, realizing he did begin a lot of sentences that way. “Yeah, I…don’t take this the wrong way or anything. It’s not, you know, super urgent or anything.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, because he hadn’t really said anything.

  “I work on the farm,” he said. “A lot. You’ve got Taffy.” He’d heard her abbreviate the name of her shop to that several times. “I know you live outside of town so you can get to your daddy’s place easier, and I’m just wondering… I mean, if we were to, you know, make it and get married.” He cleared his throat so hard, it sounded like a tiger growl.

  “Would you want to stay in your house or see if we could find a cabin on the farm?” He didn’t dare look at her, because he’d invited tension into the cab with them.

  “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “If I took a different road, I could get to Daddy’s in about the same time from the farm.”

  “Just something I was thinking about,” Will said, his whole upper body burning now. “It’s fine. Like I said, not urgent.”

  “Where are Travis and Shay going to live?”

  “We haven’t talked much about it,” Will said. “But I’m going to tell him they should live in the cabin where we live now.” He shifted in his seat, knowing Travis wouldn’t want to feel like he was evicting Will.

  “There’s another cabin out by my sister I can live in.”

  “With your wife?”

  “Uh, it’s not a huge cabin,” he said. “Maybe just the two of us. I mean, not us, but a man and his wife.”

  Her fingers around his squeezed. “I get what you’re saying. You don’t have to keep saying it’s not us.”

  “I don’t want to freak you out.”

  “I’m not freaking out,” she said, but she’d turned toward her window and kept gazing out of it.

  “Great,” he said a little too brightly. “So maybe a couple. I wouldn’t want to have a family there.” And he wanted a family. He knew Gretchen did too.

  She just nodded, and Will needed to move this conversation to something else. “Okay,” he said. “You never did tell me where you found Elvis when you got home from your daddy’s last night.”

  Hours later, Will was sure he’d experienced the best day of his life. The absolute best. After his initial awkwardness, he’d calmed down, and they’d been able to have normal conversations around their jobs, the things they liked, and the things they wanted in their lives. He hadn’t found enough bravery to tell her he wanted her in his life, but she hadn’t said anything like that either.

  He’d found a loaf of sourdough cinnamon swirl bread that had been baked in a Dutch oven at the boutique, and Gretchen had bought a pair of earrings made of driftwood that fit her vibe perfectly.

  He’d held her hand, and he’d kissed her every time they went back to the truck. He liked it when she sat on the seat, and he stepped into the space created by the open door.

  Then, she was about his height, and she’d cup his face in her hand and kiss him, kiss him, kiss him. He could honestly kiss her all day, every day, and his male side told him to make sure she knew he was falling in love with her before the day ended.

  He didn’t know how to say words like that. He’d never said them to Tara, and he hadn’t found out that she wasn’t on the same page as him until he’d bought a diamond and dropped to one knee.

  He wasn’t going to do that again.

  “Will,” Gretchen said, her fingers going tight against his. “Look!” She pointed with her free hand, and Will followed it to see a woman descending from high up in the big top, the water starting to fall from the ceiling.

  He’d been eating popcorn—one of his favorite foods—despite gorging on the taco-corn, the caramel corn, and the fruity pineapple corn at the boutique, but he forgot all about that now.

  Designs appeared in lights against the falling water, and Will could only stare. The woman began doing tricks and tumbles using only the line she’d been lowered on, and Will decided then and there that he’d like to come see this show again.

  By the time it was over, he knew he’d just experienced something unique, and by the beaming smile on Gretchen’s face, she had too. They’d made this memory together, and Will leaned over to kiss her.

  She kissed him back, but he kept it chaste, given that they were in public. The lights came up, and Will started to gather their soda cups and the now-empty bag of popcorn.

  “I don’t think I can eat another bite,” he said. “I’ve eaten so much popcorn today.”

  Gretchen only shook her head, her smile cemented in place. “Now I know what to get you for your birthday. When is that, by the way?”

  “May,” he said. “You?”

  “November.”

  He nodded, wishing her birthday sat closer than his. She’d said he didn’t have to bring her so many gifts for Valentine’s Day, but Will wanted to fill her life with all of her favorite things. Absolutely all of them.

  “You’re not getting out of taking me to dinner,” Gretchen said as they started down the steps that would take them out of the tent. “You promised me we’d try that fondue place.”

  “I know what I promised,” he said, a single spark of irritation firing through him. He counted that as progress, because Will hated being reminded of what he’d already said or done, especially if it was in the very recent past.

  They’d talked about where to go for dinner at the boutique, and she’d said she wanted to try Fondue Fusion, which had just arrived in Sweet Water Falls a few weeks ago.

  Gretchen glanced at him as they left the tent, and Will gave her a smile. “Sorry,” he murmured.

  “I wasn’t saying you’d forgotten.”

  “I know,” he said with a sigh. “I’m not upset.”

  “Good.” She released his hand and linked her arm through his instead. “It’s about forty minutes back to Sweet Water Falls. Maybe you’ll have digested a lot by then.”

  He smiled into the darkening sky, wishing he could somehow freeze time right now. Nothing else would move. No clock hands, no other people. Just him and Gretchen would get to continue with their day together, and it would never, ever end.

  As it was, nothing froze, and about an hour later, he pulled into the parking lot at Fondue Fusion. Before he could put the truck in park and hurry around to get her out, her phone rang.