“Admit it,” she said. “You thought I was Lee for at least a second.” Shay laughed, and Travis joined her.

  “Not even a particle of a second,” he said, taking her into his arms.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, reaching up to run her hand down the side of his face. She loved him openly, and Travis appreciated that so much.

  “I am now,” he said.

  “Cherry looked like she’d been crying.”

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “Healing hurts sometimes, but I think she’ll be okay.” He opened the door, and they went back inside.

  “You know what’s not okay?” Shay asked. “Gretchen found where we hid the crispy chocolate squares, and everyone’s going nuts over them.”

  Travis stood still and watched his favorite treat get devoured by no less than three of his siblings—and Gretchen herself. She nodded quietly to a plate on the back counter, where several more sat, and Travis touched his fist to his heart in a silent thank you.

  “Come on, baby,” he said. “Let’s go join my loud, crazy family.” And they did just that.

  12

  Jed held the gray mare steady, staring straight into her eyes. Mares, he thought. They could kick up and buck at any time, for any reason. Unpredictable was the best way to describe them, and Jed couldn’t help applying the same word to the woman currently swinging her leg over Bluebell’s back.

  Cherry landed in the saddle with an “Oof,” and a smile. Jed looked away from the mare—who hadn’t moved a muscle—and caught the end of her grin.

  “Okay?” he asked, looping the reins over Bluebell’s head and handing them to Cherry.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I haven’t ridden in a long time.”

  “Bluebell’s retired,” he said, swinging up into his saddle. His horse—also a pretty mare who he’d named Stormy—barely twitched her tail.

  “She was still a cow horse,” Cherry said. “They have a drive.”

  “That they do.” Jed smiled at her while he got comfortable in the saddle. “But she hasn’t done that work for about a year now. She’s not going to bolt on you.” He hoped. Bluebell had been a phenomenal cow horse, and Stormy still was. Easton worked hard with their horses, and in return, they worked hard for the farm.

  “We’re not going far, are we?”

  “Just out to the fence and back,” he said. “Then you can see Lady Jones’s farm.” His chest stormed, but he wanted her to see it up-close and personal. He still hadn’t answered the widow about possibly buying her farm, and the task weighed on his mind.

  They set off, the morning sky turning lighter by the minute. “No shopping for you on Black Friday?” he asked.

  “Not in person,” she said. “I did a little bit online this morning already.”

  “Yeah? It’s barely seven.”

  “They opened their sales at five,” she said. “Some at midnight, but I already have so many pairs of shoes that I don’t wear…” She laughed lightly, and Jed chuckled with her.

  “Are you moving them all here?” he asked. He still couldn’t believe Cherry Cooper was moving back to Sweet Water Falls. Especially so soon. When he’d seen her in the corn maze only three weeks ago, the distance between them had been the thing putting all the distance between them.

  So much had changed, and he thought, Unpredictable again.

  He didn’t need predictable. In fact, the volatility in his relationship with Cherry was what made it exciting for him. That, and the woman herself. But that could’ve been because of how unpredictable she was.

  He put a stop to the circular thoughts and took a long breath in. Then out. Over and over again.

  “Are you meditating?” she asked.

  “Just tryin’ to be in the moment,” he said, cutting her a look out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t have a lot of slow moments on the farm, and when I do, I try to just stay inside them.”

  She nodded, her voice staying quiet. They plodded along slowly, and Bluebell and Stormy minded their manners just fine.

  About halfway to the fence line, Cherry said, “I have a secret for you.”

  Happiness filled him, and he let it shine through in his smile. “Let’s hear it.”

  She adjusted her grip on the reins, and as it tightened, he realized she was nervous about the secret. That sent a shockwave of nerves through him too, and he swallowed.

  “Okay,” she said. “I hope you won’t be mad.”

  “I hope I won’t be either,” he said as good-naturedly as he could. He tacked a smile onto the end of the sentence, but Cherry didn’t relax. Which meant he couldn’t either.

  “I talked to Easton,” she said, then cleared her throat. In that two seconds of time, Jed’s imagination went wild. What had she talked to him about? The job here? What had his brother said? Had he been rude to Cherry? Had she said something to him to upset him?

  Jed spun out of control, and he barely heard Cherry when she said, “And he said the farm could survive without you for a few days.”

  He blinked, went over the sentence again, and asked, “What?”

  “The secret is that I got you a few days off to come to San Antonio and help me pack and get ready to move.”

  Jed blinked, not sure if this was a good surprise or not. He looked at Cherry, whose face fell. “You don’t want to.”

  “I do,” he said quickly. “But I think you and I need to have a talk about what a cowboy should do on his days off.”

  Cherry sighed and looked away. “Yeah, no one wants to help someone pack. Don’t worry about it. It was a dumb idea.”

  “No,” he blurted. “It wasn’t. Of course I want to come help you.” He nudged Stormy closer to Bluebell, and neither mare threw a fit about the proximity. Reaching out, he took one of Cherry’s hands. “You don’t have to strangle those,” he said gently. “You don’t have to hold them at all. She’ll just keep walkin’.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips. “Sorry for my poor reaction. I was surprised.”

  “Secrets are usually surprising,” she murmured.

  “That they are.” He looked toward the horizon again and released her hand. She went right back to holding the reins too tight, but he didn’t correct her again. “When is this vacation?”

  She scoffed and he caught her rolling her eyes. “You know what? You’re uninvited.”

  “I’ll call Easton.” He dug into his front pocket, lifting slightly up in his stirrups, to get his phone out.

  “No,” Cherry said, the force behind the word enough to make him pause.

  Jed looked at her. “No?”

  “Monday,” she said. “I was going to go back on Monday, finish all the packing, and cleaning, and be ready for when my brothers are coming next weekend.” She blinked those heavenly eyelashes at him. “I got you the whole week off, Jed.”

  His heartbeat started to tap dance in his chest. “I suppose packing and cleaning isn’t a twenty-four hour a day job,” he mused. “We might have to go to lunch or dinner or even breakfast together. In the city.”

  “I suppose,” she said airily, as if no such thing would be happening.

  “You might have to go back to your office because you forgot something, and I’ll just have to go with you to meet all your friends.”

  She made a horrified sound now, and that set Jed into full laughter. When he quieted, he asked, “Where might your boyfriend be staying in the city?”

  Cherry swallowed so hard, he heard it above the clomping of the horses’ hooves. “I have a three-bedroom house,” she said. “Two bathrooms. You’ll have your own of everything.”

  His throat forgot how to swallow. Having her stay in cabin four a few months ago had caused him to lie awake at night, thinking about how close she was to his cabin, and now she wanted him to sleep in the room across the hall from her? In a house she’d lived in for over a decade?

  The whole thing would scream Cherry, from the scent to the sight to the bedding. He pictured it in bold patterns and shapes, maybe stripes or polka dots, because while she had always been standoffish and brusque with him, she had a side of her that loved decorating, good fashion, and bright colors.

  “All right,” he said, barely getting the words out.

  “You don’t have to strangle yourself,” she teased, and Jed whipped his attention back to her. She grinned and laughed, the sound of it soared up into the sky, where it would make the birds happy too.

  “This is a big thing for us,” he said. “Don’t you think?”

  “Perhaps,” she said.

  “Lord,” he bellowed into the sky. “This woman never just says yes to me. I’m still waitin’ on that, okay?”

  Cherry laughed again, and she reached over and swatted his arm. He took her hand in his, his smile real and wide and genuine as he looked into her eyes. “I really am waiting for that yes,” he said.

  “I know I’ve told you yes before,” she said.

  “Perhaps,” he repeated back to her, which made him laugh and her simply smile and shake her head. He sobered and added, “But not with big things, Cher.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “No,” he said almost instantly. “You do if it’s something like, ‘do you want to grab pizza and meet me in the parking lot?’ Then you say yes. But if I want to talk about how me going to San Antonio for five days, where I’m going to stay in a bedroom literal feet from you, you won’t admit that it’s anything more than this horseback ride.”

  She fell silent, but she didn’t pull her hand away. Jed counted that as a victory, since he took all he could get when it came to Cherry. She started to shut down—he watched the blinders go over her expression—and then she pulled back. She came back to him, fire blazing in those deep dark depths, highlighting some of that emerald he’d seen once or twice.

  “Maybe I do that,” she said.

  “Maybe you do.”

  “Maybe this horseback ride isn’t simple for me,” she said.

  “I know it’s not.” He also knew they weren’t talking about horseback riding either. Talking and admitting how she felt wasn’t easy for Cherry. Discussing hard things—like the future and what their relationship meant or where it could go—wasn’t easy for her.

  “Maybe I need someone to push me.” She started to pull her hand away, and for the first time, Jed wouldn’t let her. He held fast to her fingers and when their eyes met, he wasn’t sure if he was about to get a smile or a tongue lashing.

  The excitement of the unknown did make his desire for this woman swoop and flow through his whole body.

  “Maybe you need someone to fight with you about some things,” he shot back at her. “Maybe you need someone to fight for you, who won’t let you run away when things get hard, or there’s things you don’t want to do or talk about.”

  He raised his eyebrows in a challenge, almost daring her to tell him she didn’t need that. Any of it. That she didn’t need him.

  “May I remind you that you’re the one who broke up with me?”

  “May I remind you that you’re the one who said she was going to try to let me in this time? That she wasn’t embarrassed of me, and that we didn’t have to hide from anyone—even each other?” He looked away then, relaxing his fingers so she could pull away if she wanted to.

  To his surprise, she didn’t. She kept holding his hand, and after a couple of seconds, it felt nice and normal. His shoulders went down, and he sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” they said together, and Jed ducked his head, the top of his cowboy hat facing the sun, and chuckled quietly to himself.

  “I am trying,” Cherry said.

  “Mm.”

  “You coming to San Antonio is a big thing for us,” she said. “For me.” She wouldn’t look at him, but Jed didn’t need her to.

  “Thank you,” he said. They reached the fence, and Jed let go of her hand and jumped down. He threw the reins over the top rung and turned to help Cherry down. She slid into his arms, and Jed didn’t back up to give her room.

  Out here, under the morning sun, with Bluebell staying put and boxing Cherry into his arms, he gazed down at her. “I’m real serious about you, Cherry,” he said. “I just want to know if you’re serious about me.”

  She slid her hands down his chest and then back up, watching them instead of looking at him. When she finally raised her eyes to his, Jed didn’t need glasses to see her true feelings. “I am,” she said. “Why else would I arrange for you to have a week off so we could spend time together in the city?”

  In that moment, Jed realized Cherry was a do-er. She might not say exactly how she felt. She might never tell him yes to a big, hard question for her.

  She’d show him.

  She’d done something huge so he could be with her next week.

  She’d already said yes—he just hadn’t realized it.

  “All right,” he said, glad for the rays of light that had been beamed into his mind. He leaned down and kissed her, and once again, he got the yes in the way she kissed him back. In fact, he wasn’t sure how he’d been missing it all this time.

  He pulled away and faced the land on the other side of the fence. “All right,” he said, exhaling. “This would be the new farm.” He really wanted her to like it, because if they did end up together, they’d live on this land with one another.

  “It looks great,” she said.

  He drew her closer to him, a soft golden feeling moving through him. “It looks the same as where we’re standing.”

  “It’s great here too.” She leaned into him, and Jed took a deep breath of her perfume. He really wanted to be in her life, and he ducked his head closer to her ear. “I’m excited for a city adventure with you.”

  “You are?”

  “For sure,” he whispered. “Me, in the city? I’m not even going to know how to walk.”

  She giggled and turned into him. “It’ll be a fun week, I promise.”

  “You can show me everything you’ve told me about,” he said, thinking he’d probably see and experience a lot of things he never had before in the next seven days of his life. And he wanted that so badly, because Cherry would be the one showing him.

  “Holy stomping mares,” Jed said only a couple of days later. “Look at that.” He pointed to a huge cathedral, and Cherry practically leapt into his arms.

  “That’s the Cathedral of San Fernando,” she said, twisting to look at it again. The stunning white structure took Jed’s breath away, though it wasn’t the only thing to do so.

  “It’s incredible,” he said. “This whole downtown area is something I’ve never even imagined.”

  “You’ve seen movies,” she said, shaking her head. “Quit acting like you’ve never seen a building over four stories tall.”

  “Well, there is the hospital in Sweet Water Falls,” he said, and Cherry grinned at him.

  “Come on.” She tugged on his hand. “There’s the greatest little bistro up ahead, and I’m starving.”

  “Yeah?” he asked. “The two hours in the car really worked up an appetite?” He’d fed her at his cabin just before they’d left too. She couldn’t be that hungry.

  As Cherry gave him a sour look, Jed got another big-city, Cherry-specific lesson in his life. This wasn’t about the food. This was about Cherry sharing her city-life with him.

  “Because I am,” he practically bellowed into the city streets. “Practically starving.”

  “All right,” she said dryly, and Jed laughed as he pulled her to him, spinning her into his chest. There weren’t a zillion people on the streets, as it was after the start of the work day and super windy right now.

  So he had no problem kissing her right there on the streets of San Antonio.

  13

  Cherry moved around her bedroom, doing nothing. She finally forced herself to sit in the small chair she kept in front of a bookcase. She loved to sit here over the weekend and read and re-read her favorites.

  Tonight, she hadn’t plucked a tome from the shelf, and she didn’t part the curtains. It was dark anyway, and she didn’t particularly like having open blinds and curtains when people could see in and she couldn’t see them.

  Tonight, her mind ran in figure-eights because of the man across the hall. Today had been the very best day of her forty-six years. With Jed in the city with her…Cherry couldn’t imagine anything better.

  Because while he was country through and through, it had literally been the absolute best experience they’d had together. An early lunch at her favorite bistro with fantastic food. Jed had ordered beef everywhere they’d gone, for lunch and dinner and even for their mid-afternoon snack.

  She’d teased him about it tonight while she’d made her grandmother’s caramel popcorn. He’d said he’d put some beef bouillon powder on it and love it. They’d laughed and laughed, but Cherry thought there was a kernel of truth to what he’d said. He seemed to have the need for red meat in his blood.

  She sighed, finally settled, and got up to change into her pajamas. Once she’d done that, she checked her phone, only to find several texts from Jed.

  It’s not as dark here as it should be, he’d said. She giggled softly to herself. He’d already told her his worries and fears about sleeping in the city. She’d told him she couldn’t stand all the country silence. The way the coyotes could howl, or the sound of a car could send her into a frenzy.

  Here, the noise of the city was like ambient sound. She didn’t even hear it.

  I can hear people driving by, he’d said next.

  The bed sure is comfortable though.

  My mama told me to bring my eye mask to block out the light. She’s a genius.

  Cherry shook her head as she started to respond. You close your eyes, cowboy. That’s how you block out the light.

  She hadn’t quite finished typing when another text came in. You must be asleep already. Yeah?

  She quickly finished and sent him the message. She climbed into bed, something inside her life opening right up. It had a Jed-shaped form, and she knew if she let him, he could walk right inside and be in her life. Truly be in it.