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“For me, too.” She said the words so softly she wasn’t sure at first if he heard them.
“So, if we can do that, don’t you think we could figure this out? At least give it a shot? Don’t we owe each other that?” He searched her eyes. “Don’t you feel God is asking us to do that?”
She swallowed, her heart humming. “I do. I do believe He is.”
“So, can you forgive me…again?” He pulled her closer.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He smiled, his grin more boyish than she had seen since they had come back into each other’s lives. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
She giggled, heat filling her cheeks, and she nodded, over and over, like a silly girl. When he leaned in to touch his lips to hers, she rose on her tiptoes to meet him. Unlike their last kiss when they were first at Camp Hope, this one held less passion and more tenderness. It filled her heart and soul with promise and expectation, and she allowed it to.
She wouldn’t allow the fears to take root, though they struggled to fight their way into her thoughts. In this moment, it didn’t matter how they would figure it out or what their future would look like. All that mattered was he wanted one with her, and she would lean on the Lord to help them figure out how they would do it.
TWELVE
Austin had flown back home in enough time to have a few days to practice with Adam and then drive to Texas with Pops and Mama following with their own trailer. It was a long drive and one that filled Austin’s mind with not only fears but hopeful expectations. Every time he started to hyper-focus on the fears and the what-ifs, he reminded himself that God was in charge. He had led him this far, He would lead him through this transition as well.
Their agent met them at the Nationals while checking in. Several of his other clients were there as well, and he invited them all to dinner. “Win or lose, you guys got this. You’re here, and that’s the important part.” He shook their hands and went off to smooth talk some newbies.
“Well, I’m not sure whether to be inspired by that or offended.” Adam laughed.
“I guess I rightly don’t care. I’ll always be grateful to him for getting us the money that paid for Pops to get better. That’s all that matters to me,” Austin said, looking back to where Pops waited for them to finish registration.
“I couldn’t agree more. Besides, being on TV was pretty cool, too.” Adam elbowed him as he smiled at a group of girls staring at them. “Only made us more popular.”
“You more popular, brother. That’s not my scene.”
“Oh, I know. Speaking of that, has Charlotte figured out if she can make it?”
Austin hadn’t wanted to think about that. He knew it would take a miracle for her to finagle some time off, both from the clinic and the horse care. “If she can, she will be, but she has a lot going on right now, so I’m not holding it against her if she can’t make it.”
Adam nodded, his lips tightly shut.
“What?” Austin glared at him.
“What do you mean, what?” Adam took on a look of feigned innocence.
“That look. What was that all about?”
“Oh, that was nothing. I mean, it’s just…you’re growing up, bro,” Adam said, barely containing a fit of laughter that tried to wheeze out.
“Ha,” Austin said, but he smiled. He guessed he was growing up, and you know what, it didn’t feel all that bad. “Come on, we’ve got an event to win.” He smiled at the guy in charge of registration as they came to the front of the line. “We’re the Bowman brothers for Team Roping.”
The guy grinned. “I recognize you two from that commercial! You guys are the crowd pick for the win this weekend.”
“Crowd pick, you hear that, bro?” Adam practically danced beside him.
“I heard,” he said. “Well, you got a lucky number for us?” he asked the guy.
“Let’s see,” the guy went through packets until he pulled out theirs and checked that everything was there. “How’s 3-16 for you?”
“3-16?” Austin looked at Adam, then back to the guy. “Really?”
“Yeah…is it not good?” The guy licked his lips in nervousness.
“No, man, that’ll do just fine. John 3-16. Couldn’t ask for a better number.”
