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CHAPTER 33
Isabella
The seat squeaked below me as I shifted again. No matter what I did, I couldn’t sit still. I was too excited. No one had ever done anything like this for me. I’d always wondered what a surprise would feel like, and now I knew. It was Tony the Tiger Gr-r-reat!
My mind was spinning with places Jimmy might be taking me. He mentioned the weather, so I figured there was a good chance we’d be outside. I didn’t know the area well enough to pick up clues from the road we were on. All the backroads looked the same to me.
It was dawn. The sun was on the cusp of rising, casting a red-orange hue over the rolling green fields and ocean. It was peaceful, serene, and almost as beautiful as the firefly phenomenon. Jimmy had mentioned marking things off my list, and I wondered which ones could fit into the landscape that was before us.
“So how was it out at Harlan’s place?”
I’d been so deep in my own thoughts, I didn’t immediately answer. “Oh, you mean Farm Strong?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy smirked.
Nadia had filled me in on the fact that the townies considered the class ridiculous. They all thought Harlan was ripping tourists off. But I didn’t care. I’d never had the chance to work on a farm, and if that was a rip-off, so be it.
Still, I did my best to temper my enthusiasm so I didn’t come off like a totally out-of-touch debutante. “It was fun.”
Jimmy was quiet for a second before his eyes sliced over to me and a wide smile spread on his sexy, stubble covered face. “You loved it, didn’t you?”
“I did!” I clapped my hands together, not able to suppress my excitement. “I got to bale hay, I drove a tractor, and yes, we did move feed and repair a fence which I know was work that Harlan most likely didn’t want to do, but I don’t care. It was so fun.”
“Are you going to go back?”
“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure that Cheyenne, Nadia, and Reagan were just humoring me, and I don’t think I’d want to go by myself.”
“Well, if that’s the issue, I’ll go with you when I don’t have early tours booked.”
“Really?” I couldn’t believe that he was offering that.
I would never take him up on it. It didn’t seem like something he’d enjoy. Or maybe he would. Over ninety percent of the class was made up of females, and most of them were dressed in clothes that looked more like they were made to be worn on a fitness shoot, not for actually working out.
Which brought me to something that I wanted to talk about with him.
“Um…” For some reason this topic had my palms sweating. I wasn’t sure how to broach it, or how he would respond. This was where relationship experience could come in handy. If I had a clue what the rules were, then I wouldn’t feel so awkward.
Well, that wasn’t necessarily true. I might still feel awkward, but at least I’d know that I wasn’t making a fool out of myself. What if I told Jimmy that it was absolutely fine if he saw other people, and he looked at me like I was an idiot, because of course it was fine if he saw other people?
The only thing that was driving me to force myself out of my comfort zone and confront this was that I didn’t want him doing anything because of the information that I’d shared with him the day before. I didn’t want him to pity-exclusive-date me. “I saw Reece there.”
“You did?”
I nodded.
“Reece was at Farm Strong?” His forehead wrinkled as his brows lifted.
“Yes.”
He was quiet and I couldn’t tell if he was mad that I’d brought her up or if there was some other explanation for the silence.
“She’s really beautiful.” I prompted, hoping to gauge if it was cool to talk about her.
“Yeah, she is.”
His response didn’t give me any clues as to what he might be thinking. Since I didn’t want to tiptoe around the subject any longer, I blurted out, “It’s okay if you’re seeing her. Or I mean still seeing her. Or whatever.”
“I’m not.” His hands tightened around the wheel. It was nearly imperceptible, but I noticed it. “Not anymore.”
