“You know what I do need?”
“What’s that?”
“A car. Jenny’s probably sick of picking me up, and if I wanted to go see someone else I’d have to get a ride. I’m enjoying all the nostalgia of being back home, but waiting for my dad to come home from work so I can go to Walgreens is not the business.”
“I’m free tomorrow at one.”
“Free for what? To take me to Walgreens?”
“If you need to grab something from there, sure. But I was thinking we could hit the auto mile.”
“You’re just gonna cut out for lunch and go with me to pick out a car? That could take all afternoon.”
“I own the ranch, Lily-Grace. I think I’m allowed to leave early.”
“Okay, then. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow around one. And we can talk about that friendly dinner you promised me.”
“It can’t be tomorrow night.”
“Damn, Pleasant, I was just kidding.”
“No, I mean tomorrow night is the season premiere ofThe Bachelorette.We watch it at my house.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“You and Jenny are welcome to come.”
“Thank you. I’ll ask her.”
“I have to go,” he said, and an inexplicable bundle of disappointment knotted itself in Lily-Grace’s stomach. Of course he had to go. He’d made it clear this wouldn’t be an all-night gab session the second he answered the phone. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Lily-Grace forced a light edge to her tone.
“I had fun with you today,” Jesse replied.
“I had fun with you too.”
“Good night, Lily-Grace.”
“Good night.”
Chapter 12
The doorbell rang and Lily-Grace told herself to relax. Jesse was just a friend, and he was doing her a favor coming with her to look at cars. She wanted to tell him the truth first, before their friendship went any further. He’d surprised her. He definitely had a lightning-quick temper, but she was starting to understand why, and she appreciated that he’d taken her advice to try and work on it. The way their afternoon had come to a screeching halt the day before was still bugging her a little, but she knew it was probably best to let it go.
She took a deep breath and opened the front door, and almost immediately started to drool on herself. He filled her door frame in another perfect suit, this time a dark forest green, and that black Stetson. She tried not to look up at his lips, think about the way they’d felt against hers the day before. It was a friendly kiss and a friendly underwater dry hump. Nothing to replay over and over in her mind.
“Hey! You wanna come in for a sec?”
“Sure. How are you doing?” Jesse took off his cowboy hat before he ducked his head and stepped over the threshold, then followed Lily-Grace to the living room.
“I’m fine. Please have a seat. I didn’t want to tell you in the car because, honestly, if you had a bad reaction I wouldn’t be above jumping out of a moving vehicle.”
“Is this about the article in theCharming Newsletter?” he asked as he sat carefully on the edge of the couch. Lily-Grace and her father were both tall, but none of their furniture was fit for his long legs.
“What article?”
“They wrote about the date auction and mentioned how your bid was the highest. And how I very romantically rescued you from the pool.”
