Page 33 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

This was not headed where Logan had hoped. “Did he do something that upset you?”

“He asked me to the prom.” The words burst free from Jinx as if she’d been asked if she wanted jump out of a plane into a pit of vipers. “It was horrible.”

“I can see that.” Amusement was better than getting angry at a kid who was probably twenty kinds of terrified himself, asking a pretty girl to a big social event.

Jinx shivered, then she sat up straighter, a touch of fire growing in her words. “I do not want to go to grad with him. Or with Jason, or Todd, or Aslan, or…”

“Good to know.” Logan paused, not sure if he should let hope bloom or not. This wasn’t about what he wanted right now, but what she needed. Still, he had to ask. “But you do want to go with me?”

“I told him I was going with you.” She said it with a hint of defiance. “He said okay and moved to a different seat right away, and no one else bothered me today, but I know when they find out you’re not taking me, it’ll start all over again. Or worse, I’ll get teased for lying.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m more than happy to be your date,” Logan offered truthfully, even though the edges of his heart felt raw.

Jinx’s smile reappeared in a blink of an eye. “Really?”

“Hell, yeah.” He nodded. “I never got to go to my grad, so it’ll be fun.”

Tension slipped from her like air from a balloon. “Thanks, Logan. I appreciate it so much.”

“No problem,” he assured her. He adjusted the flue to closed then stood as she did. “Done for the night?”

“Yeah.” She flushed. “I needed to ask you, and I didn’t want to do it in front of Petra and Jake in case you said no. But now we can tell them in the morning that we’re going to grad as friends. They’ll be glad, as long as you’re sure it’s not a problem.”

“No problem at all.”

This whole idea was a pile of trouble waiting to happen, but that was fine. Logan had dealt with trouble before.

Only not the kind with big brown eyes and a tender heart. Or one with lips that he wanted to lean in and kiss and more…

Nope. No trouble here at all.

8

Hanna hurried into the house, hands full of grocery bags after her Saturday morning shopping trip. “I need help bringing things in.”

From around the kitchen corner, Drew appeared, running full tilt. “I help you, Mama.”

“Help Mama,” Ethan agreed, a little farther behind as his legs were shorter.

Latching firmly onto the back of Ethan’s shorts, Crissy lifted him in the air, a grin on her face as she met Hanna’s gaze. “Hang on, short stuff. You need boots to go outside. It’s still wintry out there.”

Hanna glanced down. “Bare feet? Aren’t you cold, Ethan?”

“It’s spring,” he announced firmly. Crissy deposited him on the ground beside the shoe rack, and he scrambled to grab his boots. “Spring, spring, spring,” he sang as he shoved his sockless feet into them.

“It’s April. In Alberta. It’s not going to be warm enough for bare feet for a bit,” Hanna warned him as everyone pulled on footwear and coats.

Having her boys involved was more work than true help, but seeing Drew determinedly wrangle the package of toilet paper toward the house was worth the trouble, Hanna decided. Some lessons required patience. Family worked together.

Crissy paced slowly behind Ethan as he all but bounced his way to the door, the bag of oranges in his arms falling to the ground three or four times. “You making orange juice, kiddo?”

“Yum,” Ethan announced as he hoisted up the package again. “I like juice.”

“The oranges need to stay unsqueezed until tomorrow morning,” Hanna suggested before turning to Crissy. “Spring?”

“We were reading a book of poems,” Crissy explained. “You know, April showers bring May flowers.”

“Ha.” Inside the house, Hanna took the oranges from Ethan and laid them on the counter. She’d wash them before putting them away. “Okay, I get it.”