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“Sure. Hey, speaking of which, nachos sound good again tonight, too. How ‘bout you?”
My mouth tasted like sawdust. “I don’t care.” How could I think about food? Luke wasn’t known for getting serious about women, so either he’d break her heart, or… or worst of all, she would be the one woman to change him. And I’d have to watch. My head was swimming so much I could hardly see straight.
Luke laughed and nudged me with his elbow as we turned around and walked the other way. “Check it out! Marshall’s horse wandered off. Think we should go catch him before we head in?”
“Marshall’s a big boy.” And a happy one, too, from the looks of it. What would that feel like?
It was more than just a question. Deep down, I wanted toknowand be able to explain, from my very marrow, what it was to fall in love and be loved back. Like Mom and Dad. Like Cody and Morgan. Like what Marshall was feeling right now.
I was a writer. Whatever else I was, I’d finally given up fighting that one. I made things up, and I made words happen. I made people feel things, and I put ideas in their heads.
Well, not many heads. So far, just an online group of other would-be writers, all of them too scared to actually pour their hearts out in public—like me. But, as someone in the group said, just because I didn’t have an audience, it didn’t mean I was any less of a writer. And writers are supposed to know what love feels like. I could watch, and I had an imagination, but it wasn’t the same. What I wanted…
Well, I wanted tofeel, and I wanted to give of myself like that… but I wanted it to be with the girl who’d owned my heart for years. If my idiot brother hadn’t gone and beaten me to it.
Jess
“So, are we snowed in?” I came out of my bedroom at six, still tucking my hair into a knot and fumbling into my favorite oversized flannel shirt. Dakota, my Australian Shepherd, trotted behind me. His shoulder bumped my leg with every other step as he stared at me, hoping I had something to throw.
Dad was standing at the window, looking out into the blackened yard with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Looks like it. I already called the guys to tell them to take the day off.”
I came up behind him to rest my hands on his shoulders. “Well, I know someone who will be happy about that.”
“Hmm?”
“Didn’t you notice that Kelli didn’t bring her horse home last night? She got snowed in up at Walker Ranch and had to stay in the bunkhouse.”
“Oh?” He turned around with a funny smile. “And what was she doing up there?”
“You mean ‘Which brother was she with,’ right?”
“It’s a valid question. Four single cowboys up there? It’s like one-stop shopping.”
I laughed. “It was Marshall, and I’m dying to talk to her when she gets home. Sounds like they had an interesting afternoon.”
“You never told me how your date with Luke went. I assume since you didn’t get snowed in at the ranch with Kelli…?”
“Oh, no, I’m in no danger of that! Kelli can have the whole Walker family if she wants them.”
Dad sipped his coffee and smiled over the rim. “Sounds like she’s picked one out already. By my math, there are still two more of them. Not worth your notice?”
“Oh, Dad, I don’t know. I think I’m through with guys for a while. It seems all I ever do is give one after another a chance, and then I’m sorry I wasted all that time on them. Maybe I need to not date for a while because it’s just been such a merry-go-round of duds.”
I chewed on my lower lip and sighed in frustration. Why did this seem so easy for everyone else? I didn’t think I was that picky, but I was so used to going through them like the ticker on a slot machine that I wouldn’t even be able to spot the right kind of guy if he was standing in front of me.
Dad frowned. “Well, I never figured dating for a recreational sport anyway. Too much at stake. You deserve the kind of man who thinks you hung the moon.”
“I’d settle for one who could spell it! Is there more coffee?”
He gestured toward the pot in the kitchen. “Lots. Guess it’s just you and me today. Any plans?”
I poured my cup and then got some creamer out of the fridge to drizzle on top. “We could tinker with the hot rod.”
“Nah. We work on cars all week.”
That was the first time I’d heard my dad say something like that. He loved his hot rod, and he loved it even more when we worked on it together. “Well…” I blew the steam off the top of my cup and took a sip. “We could do a puzzle.”
“The last time we did that, my eyes hurt for hours. Too many tree leaves to tell apart. Do we have any with better color contrast?”
