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“But I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for kayaking.”
“And why not?”
“I mean, if you fall in or you get wet …” He shrugged. “But you can wear it if you want to.”
“I will wear it. Thank you. I love it.” And even though I did want to go and change because I didn’t think a dress was the most appropriate thing to wear kayaking, I didn’t want him to feel like he could just tell me what I could and couldn’t wear. I was obstinate that way.
“Okay. We’re going to go and get the kayaks and the paddles and the fishing rods and the bait and tackle, and you girls meet us at the front in about 10 minutes?” Beau said, interrupting my conversation with Austin.
“Sounds good to me.” Olivia nodded. “Right, Lucy?”
“Yeah, sure.” We watched as the two men walked back into the house and then Olivia grabbed my hand.
“What is going on, Lucy?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you and Austin. Be honest.” She folded her arms and stared at me. “I can see the way that he looks at you.”
“What do you mean?” Heat crept into my cheeks.
“He really likes you. Like he really, really likes you.”
“No, he doesn’t. He just flirts and is being a nice guy.”
“Are you crazy? The way that he looks at you …” She touched the side of my face and grinned. “I think he’s in love with you, girl.”
“No, he’s not!” I bit my lip. “Do you really think so?”
“Yeah, I really do. I haven’t seen a man look at a woman like that in real life. Wow. Never. He loves you.”
“Well, I don’t know if he loves me, but this is so complicated.”
“You really like him too, I can tell. You really, really like him.”
“I do,” I admitted with a sigh. “I really, really do. He makes me want to sing when there’s no sound in the room, he makes me want to run along the side of the road and do cartwheels and backflips.”
“But you can’t do backflips.”
“I know I can’t do backflips, Olivia, but if I could do backflips, I would want to do them.”
“I know. I’m just joking.”
“He makes me want to play with the butterflies and fly through the air. He makes me want to swing from trees and jump from cliffs and just scream about how happy I am. It’s crazy because I don’t even know him, but I just feel it, you know?”
“I know,” she nodded. “When did you realize?”
“I know this is going to sound really crazy, but you know how some people say when they meet someone, they just know that that person is going to be someone important in their life?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I think I knew it from the very first time I saw him sitting in the bar, even though I didn’t even know that he lived at Horseshoe Ranch, even though I didn’t even know that he was a Hamilton, a part of me just knew that he was someone important and that he would play an important role in my life.”
“You didn’t even know you’d see him again.”
“I didn’t. And when I did, oh, Olivia, I tell you my heart stopped.” I sighed. “He’s amazing.”
“So what’s the problem? You like him, and he likes you.”
