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Will swept his cowboy hat from his head, because he was a right fool. The motion caught Gretchen’s attention, and her eyes locked onto his. He expected his nerves to riot, but for some unknown reason, they…calmed.
“Howdy,” he said, taking a slow step toward her.
The heat of the day thawed her—or maybe his voice, though Will told himself not to be arrogant and not to assume that this woman felt anything for him. Just because he couldn’t stop thinking about her didn’t mean she felt anything for him. Anything but loathing.
She came toward him too, finishing the job of putting on her gloves. “Good morning,” she said professionally. She stopped a good distance from him too, her eyebrows up in a silent question ofWell? Your sixty seconds starts…now!
“Listen,” he said, clearing his throat afterward. “I just wanted to apologize about last night.” He wrung the brim of his hat like it was full of water and he needed every drop to come out. “Of course it’s not your fault I put that stu—apple in my truck and then sat in it.”
Gretchen’s features softened. She held out a pair of gardening gloves. “Want to help me with the weeds in the back?”
“Oh, uh, sure.” Will said nothing about his promise to be back at Sweet Water Falls Farm in a half-hour. He took the gloves and put them on, finding them too small and snug but saying nothing.
“Good, because my daddy is driving me crazy,” Gretchen said. “Maybe if you’re here, he’ll behave.” She started back toward the corner of the house she’d hurried around a moment ago. “You didn’t have to drive all the way out here to apologize.”
“I did,” Will said. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I was a real—I was mean. I was just frustrated at myself for not remembering I’d put the apple on the seat.”
“I get it.”
“And that I couldn’t eat it later,” he said.
Gretchen glanced at him as he finally caught up to her. They walked side-by-side for a moment. “Is that right?”
“Which part?”
“That you would’ve eaten it later?”
“Of course,” he said, glad she hadn’t asked him why he couldn’t sleep. Since he was going with all honesty today, he might have told her she’d been plaguing his dreams—night and day—for weeks now. Months maybe, except there was no maybe about it.
“Why do you find that hard to believe?” he asked.
“You don’t seem to like sweets,” she said. “That’s all.”
“I do,” he said, focusing forward as they reached the back yard. Pure paradise opened up before him, right along with a bubbling stream. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” she said. “My mother loved to garden.”
Will glanced at her, the sadness pouring from her so obvious to him. “How long has she been gone?”
Gretchen yanked her attention away from the bushes and flowers and trees and blinked as she stared at Will. “How did you know she was gone?”
He shrugged, his heart shredding along the edges. “My own mama isn’t well,” he said. “I think I could just hear it in your voice.” He surveyed the land again. “Is all of this yours? All the way back to that fence?” A white fence sat in the distance, with a great pasture beyond that. Will could see horses back there, and he’d dreamt of a place like this for himself.
He had the small house out in the country, but no room for horses of his own, and the landscaping around the farm was for function, not beauty. Her mother had created this to be enjoyed and Will took a few seconds to do just that.
“Beyond,” Gretchen said. “My parents had horses in the past.”
“But no more,” he said, not asking.
“My dad is on oxygen all the time now,” she said quietly. “Come on. You might as well meet him while you’re here.”
“If I’m going to be doing the man’s yard work, I suppose I should.” Will grinned at her, and to his great surprise, she smiled back.
“You owe me, Mister Cooper,” she said, and Will hadn’t been out with anyone in a while, but even he recognized when he was being flirted with. He stared after Gretchen as she started walking again, and he didn’t get going fast enough before she noticed.
She turned back to him. “You comin’?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, jogging to catch her. She ducked her head and smiled, waited for him to catch her, and they shared something when he did. Will wasn’t entirely sure what it was, and he didn’t have someone at the farm to ask.
