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5
Will stole out to the back deck the moment Travis said he was going to go shower. His phone lit up the night, and he cursed the fact that he’d been at the farmhouse for dinner for so long.
Everyone wanted to hear about these grasshoppers, and not a single one of them didn’t get claimed. Lee had given Travis a cock-eyed look and said, “Is that where you two went earlier today?”
Travis had simply grinned at their oldest brother and shrugged one shoulder with a mouthful of crispy rice, caramel, and chocolate in his mouth. Lee’s pretend ire had disappeared the moment he’d taken a bite of the treat too.
None of that had helped get Will away from the family dinner sooner, and he didn’t want to call more attention to himself than had already been done. Travis knew of his insane crush on Gretchen Bellows, but no one but Cherry knew he’d asked her on a date.
“You’re not going,” he told himself as he lifted his eyes from his phone. He couldn’t see anything now, as the bright rectangle imprinted on the backs of his eyelids every time he blinked. The war that had been raging inside him since he’d left the cute little house in Short Tail yesterday continued.
He’d never had a normal interaction with Gretchen. Just when he thought he might be able to pull that off, something happened to twist things sideways. Yesterday, he’d acted like an idiot when it was time to say goodbye. Instead of just saying the word and waving like a normal person, he’d done some weird lunge at her to hug her. She’d patted him on the back, which might have been fine had she not been wearing muddy gloves.
Another shirt ruined, though she hadn’t offered to pay for it this time. He’d run away from her too fast for that.
He shook his head, which only made him dizzy in the darkness, what with his eyes closed and everything. He breathed in as he opened his eyes, saying, “Nothin’ goes right when I’m around her,” in a quiet voice. It still shouted in the country stillness. “I don’t see how I can go out with her.”
Will wasn’t one for spotlights, and he felt certain that any café, restaurant, or bistro he took her to would end in disaster. So he wasn’t going to go. He was going to cancel the date.
One arm of his strategy yelled about simply not texting Gretchen. She didn’t have his number, and maybe if he simply never used hers, that would be that. His heart fought against this strategy, because it would hurt her. The last thing Will wanted was to hurt a woman.
“Arrogant,” he cussed at himself. Who did he think he was to think his non-text would hurt Gretchen? At the same time, he’d seen the interest in her eyes yesterday, as well as in her shop today. She flirted with him. If he didn’t text her to set up their date, she would get hurt.
He couldn’t do that.
He frowned at his device again, cursing Travis this time. His brother’s mouth had gotten Will into hot water for the last time. And not just hot water with Lee, but boiling, scalding water laced with humiliation with Gretchen Bellows.
Stop staring at her like that. It’s creepy.
Did you get her number?
You were supposed to ask for her number. Hurry up.
Will had never wanted to cut out someone’s tongue as badly as he had at Sweet Water Taffy today. Maybe he had been staring at Gretchen creepily, but she’d looked steadily back into his eyes. That was how he knew he couldn’t just ghost her.
No, he’d have to text her and tell her with concise words that he’d had a change of heart and didn’t want to go out with her. He couldn’t make himself do it, because Will wasn’t one to lie, and he was dang tired of lying to himself.
Hey, Gretchen, he thumbed out, his fingers moving fast over the phone. He’d once won a contest for the fastest texter, and he told himself to hurry up and get these messages sent. She wouldn’t be able to respond fast enough, and then he could silence his phone, take his turn in the shower, and go to bed.
It’s Will. Listen, sorry about my stupid brother’s mouth in the shop today. I swear he lives to embarrass me.
He sent that message and immediately started typing out his next message.It’s really busy around the farm right now, and I don’t think—
His fingers stalled when a return message came in.It’s fine. Can I call you?
“Call me?” he asked, as if he didn’t know what those words meant. Gretchen didn’t wait for an answer, as his ringtone cut through the silence on the farm in the next moment, and her name and number came up on his screen, covering the texting app.
Somewhat dumbfounded, he swiped on the call and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey,” he said.
“How did you hurt your back?” she asked.Demandedwould be a better descriptive word, and Will turned in a full circle, trying to make sense of the question.
“What?” he finally asked.
“Travis said he drove you to the shop because your back hurts,” she said. She could probably win a contest for fastest speaker for how quickly her words flowed from her mouth. “Tell me it’s not from the weeding.”
Relief rushed through Will. “It’s not from the weeding,” he said with a chuckle. “I mean, that sure didn’t help, but that’s not the reason.”
“William Cooper,” she said, plenty of snap in her voice. “Why didn’t you say something yesterday?”
