Page 15

A snort bubbles out of me, even as my cheeks flame. “I know, Knox. It’s just you never really seem interested in anyone, and I figured you were so focused on getting ready to help your dad with the ranch that you were—”

He cuts me a look, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes. “It’s never been that.”

Hm. Okay?

“So…you want to date someone, then?” he asks.

“I think so.”

“Is there a reason that you want to now?”

We turn down the county road leading up to the ranch, and I feel like this is one of those now-or-never moments. It is do or die at this point. Knox waits for me to answer, one hand loose at the bottom of the steering wheel, his eyes flicking between me and the dimly lit road like he’s trying to read both at once.

I sigh. “Okay, so…Lottie had this idea.”

“Oh boy.” He breathes out a laugh, and it’s so warm and familiar that my body relaxes a little at it. “That already sounds dangerous.”

“It wasn’t dangerous,” I groan. “It was…mortifying. And stupid. And I shouldn’t have even thought about it.”

“Go on.”

I press my palms over my face, letting my voice come out muffled. “She said maybe I should find a dating coach.”

“A what?”

“A dating coach,” I repeat, sliding my hands down just enough to peek at him. His eyebrows are somewhere near his hairline. “Like someone who can help me…practice and figure things out.”

“Figure what out?” he asks slowly.

“How to date,” I mutter. “How to flirt. How to know if someone likes me. How to not look like I’m about to vomit when a cute guy smiles at me. You know—basic life skills.”

His mouth twitches like he’s fighting a smile or maybe something else, but his voice is quiet. “Felicity…you don’t need—”

“And I was going to ask Ledger.”

There. It’s out. In the world. For Knox to judge.

His shoulders go rigid. “Ledger.”

He says it flat, like a name he’s never liked the taste of, despite it being the name of one of his closest friends.

“Well, yeah, only because he’s…Ledger.” I wave a hand helplessly. “He’s experienced. He’d know what to do. And Lottie thought it’d be harmless since I don’t find him attractive. There wouldn’t be a risk of me, well, you know. And I thought maybe—maybe he’d say yes.”

“And did he?” Knox’s jaw tightens.

“I didn’t ask. I chickened out, completely. I panicked and ran away like someone threatened me with a chainsaw, and he laughed behind me.”

Knox is quiet for a long beat until he asks, “So now what’s your plan?”

I shrug, picking at a loose thread on Lottie’s dress that I’m going to have to fix because I’ve been pawing at it like a kitten with a ball of yarn all night. “I don’t know. I don’t know who to ask. I don’t know who’d even want to help me. And it’s stupid anyway. I should just forget it.”

Knox exhales, long and slow. His fingers tap once against the steering wheel, like he’s wrestling with a thought before it wins. For a long moment, he says nothing. It’s silent beyond the Mazzy Star’s low singing and the hum of the truck’s engine. The sound of tires on pavement. The smoky scent from the bonfire still clinging to my dress. My fingers rub against the leather seat of his truck, picking at the corners.

Say something already.

He exhales through his nose, and we’re so close to his house that I feel him slow down like maybe he’s not ready to pull in yet either.

“I wonder if Betty’s is open?”