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Karyn stood and wiped her dark hair back off her face. “I’m not kidding. I have to go get Lucy up, and you need to go call your cowboy.” She grinned at Gretchen, who stood too. She embraced Karyn, her heart pounding in a new way.
She still had to get out to Daddy’s at some point today, but maybe she could make a little stop by Sweet Water Falls Farm first. Karyn detoured to go upstairs while Gretchen went out to the porch.
She waited until she was seated behind the steering wheel before she called Will, who was still sending her messages. The line connected, but he didn’t say hello. More than one voice came through the line, and Gretchen heard, “Say hi, you dolt,” in a woman’s voice.
“Howdy,” Will yelled into the phone. A big exhale followed, and Gretchen wasn’t sure what to say next. She blinked, seeing a Will-less future in front of her, and while a lot of their interactions hadn’t gone terribly well, she didn’t want to be Will-less.
“Will,” she said diplomatically. “I took today off, and I was wondering if you might have a few minutes this afternoon before I drive out to my daddy’s to visit.”
Whispering came through the line, but Gretchen had a hard time distinguishing full words or phrases. “Yes,” he finally said. “That should be fine.”
Gretchen put her car in reverse and backed out of Karyn’s driveway. “Are you with your sister?”
“Yes,” he said again.
“Is she going to coach you through everything to say once I get there?”
“N-no,” he said.
Gretchen smiled to the sky around her. The rain had moved on, but Sweet Water Falls was still wet. The farm would be, that was for sure. “Did you mean the things you texted, or were you just typing what Clarissa said?”
“Both,” he said.
“Are you going to talk to me in more-than-one-word sentences?” she asked. “It’s a long way for a yes or no answer.” She came to a stop at the end of the street, once again presented with a left or a right that would take her to two very different destinations.
“Rissa’s gone,” Will said. “Listen, Gretchen.” He cleared his throat. “I really amsosorry. I have these redheaded genes inside me, and sometimes they just come erupting out. My mama sat and listened to me whine all night last night, and you know what she said to me?”
“I have no idea,” Gretchen said, making the right turn that would take her to the farm and not her father’s.
“She said, ‘William, it sounds like you like this woman a whole lot, and you better figure out how to apologize and then tame your inner grump.’”
“Texas Mommas,” Gretchen said with a smile. “They’re usually right. Mine used to tell me not to go kissin’ boys on top of water towers. She said nothing good comes from a kiss on top of a water tower.”
Will let a beat of silence come through the line, and then he burst out laughing. Gretchen joined him, glad all the tension between them had shattered. “I have missed talking to you,” he said. “Did I hang up on you the other day?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “You sure did.” She twanged out the words like they didn’t sting at her, but his abrupt end to the call had needled her for over forty-eight hours.
“I sure am sorry, sweetheart,” he said softly, and she caught a glimpse of the non-grumpy Will even though she couldn’t see him. “How far out are you?”
“Fifteen minutes,” she said. “I think the farm is about the same distance from my house as the candy store is, and as my daddy’s place.” She had no idea how she’d be ready to face Will in only fifteen minutes. Then she reminded herself thathewas the one who should be shaking in his boots.
“I’m going to go grab the skillet cake Lee made last night, and I’ll be at my cabin, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” she said again.
This time, he said, “Okay, I’ll see you soon, Gretchen,” before the call ended, and then Gretchen only had to focus on not strangling the steering wheel for fourteen more minutes.
By the time she pulled up to the quaintest, most darling cabin in the world, her nerves had frayed all the way to the center. She didn’t have to wonder if she’d found the right place, because Will sat on the front steps with a guitar across his lap.
He looked up as her tires crunched over the gravel in front of his cabin, and he practically threw the guitar to the side as he stood. He came jogging down the steps and the front sidewalk, and she’d barely had time to put the car in park and open the door before he arrived.
She put her hand in his offered one, the touch of his skin against hers sizzling hot. Their eyes met, and Will said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” before he enveloped her in a hug. Gretchen wanted to be held by this man for a long time, despite his stressed-out, grumpy words from earlier in the week
“I shouldn’t have called,” she said against his shoulder.
He pulled back. “No,” he said, his eyes blazing with energy. “None of this is your fault, Gretchen. I just…it’s me. Trav told me he asked Shayla to tell him when he’s being this horrible person, and I guess I need that too.”
Gretchen shook her head. “You know.”
