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“Nope.”

He shakes his head, but I don't move.

“Nora.”

“It's my birthday! Come on, Grumpy. For me?”

I give him my best puppy eyes, and his lip twitches.

Got him.

He studies me for a few seconds before shaking his head again.

“You'll be the death of me, Nora.”

I squeal when he finally takes my hand and pull him onto the dance floor, where every other Hawthorne sibling is already showing off their best moves to some country song about saving a horse and riding a cowboy.

It takes me a second to understand the meaning.

Oh.

Oh!

I burst out laughing.

As soon as everyone notices Jude standing beside me, they do a collective double take.

“What?” he grumbles.

Nobody says anything, which somehow says everything, and Grace simply grins before turning back around.

I watch her feet and try to follow along as she line dances, bumping into Summer once, nearly stepping on Penny's boot and going in the wrong direction at least twice. But after a few tries, I start to get the gist of it.

“There you go!” Grace calls.

I laugh and follow her movements, with Jude beside me, annoyingly looking as though he actually knows what he's doing.

“You can dance?”

“I live in Wyoming.”

“That doesn't answer my question.”

“Kinda does.”

I roll my eyes and keep dancing.

Soon we're all moving together, our boots hitting the wooden floor in time with the music, until the chorus comes around and everyone stops to yell at the top of their lungs.

“SAVE A HORSE, RIDE A COWBOY!”

I yell it right along with them.

Six weeks ago, this is so not how I pictured I'd celebrate my twenty-seventh birthday. Actually, six weeks ago, I wasn't sure I wanted to celebrate anything at all.

But here I am, in a cowboy bar in Wyoming, line dancing with the Hawthornes and screaming about riding cowboys while Damiano's best friend dances beside me.

Life is fucking weird.