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“I know I don’t,” he said. “I want to. I think you’ll be busy with Lee tomorrow, and then you’ll be gone on Sunday. I feel like breakfast tomorrow is all I’m gonna get.”
He was probably right, but Cherry didn’t confirm it. “We’re having lunch today.”
“Yeah, and I want to see you tomorrow too.”
She liked how he just said whatever he thought, at least in instances like this. “I suppose I’ll be needing breakfast tomorrow.”
“I suppose so.” He grinned at her and pulled his hands back. Their late lunch passed quickly, with Jed talking about the work on his farm and Cherry telling him a bit about what she did at the college in the city. Out of everyone in her family, Will knew the most about what she did, while Lee knew the most about her love life.
As she and Jed left the restaurant, he asked, “So that’s a yes to cabin four? You’ve got twenty bucks?”
Cherry looked up into the bright blue sky, wondering where she’d misplaced her sanity. “All right,” she said. “Cabin four. I’ll leave a twenty on the kitchen counter.”
Jed whooped and said, “Lord,” into the sky. “Just once, I want to hear this woman sayyesto me. Just once!”
Cherry laughed, because she did fight Jed on a lot of things. He did work extraordinarily hard to have her in his life, and she leaned into him as a way of telling himthanks for not giving up on me yet.
She wondered if he would eventually, or if he’d keep needling at her until she gave into everything he asked of her.
He led her over to her sedan and put his hand on the door handle. “You’ll tell me yes one day, right, Cherry?” He grinned at her, clearly flirting.
She placed both hands against his chest and smiled up at him. “Maybe, cowboy.”
He chuckled, shook his head, and leaned down to kiss her. He left the parking lot first, and Cherry took a few minutes to check her make-up to ensure she wouldn’t show up at her brother’s house with smudged lipstick. There’d be way too many questions then, and Lee would know to bring up Jed’s name.
Cherry wanted to keep her secret boyfriend to herself for a bit longer, and her stomach turned with every mile that took her closer to home.
“It’s just a weekend,” she told herself. “And Jed will bring you breakfast. It won’t be all bad.”
She hoped.
Her thoughts switched to the salty, mouthy cowboy, and while she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what about Jed called to her, something definitely did.
“Lord,” she whispered, her fingers tightening around the steering wheel. “Help me to know when to say yes to him and when to say no.”
