Page 2 of Make Her Mine

Ninety percent of the town would have been anyway. The town square is the heart of the festival.

Carver just winks at me.

It takes a lot to get Carver worked up. And ‘worked up’ really means excited. Never angry. And the things that get Carver excited are Kaelyn, bugs, and soil samples. Probably in that order, though I’m sure he’s smart enough not to tell Kaelyn if that’s not the actual order.

Carver doesn’t have much of a temper. He definitely takes after my father. My dad isn’t exactly laid-back. It’s more that he’s always wrapped up in some project and so in his own head that he doesn’t realize what’s going on around him. Carver is like that. Our youngest brother Graham gets that way too.

But our sister Ginny and I take after our mom a little more. We’re protective. And we’re a hell of a lot more social than the others. Which means that we definitely understand that people can be assholes. And that pisses us off sometimes.

“So that means you’ll be around for a while,” I say. Dammit. It’s Friday night a week and one day before the wedding. That’s a long time before the big event will be over and everyone can leave town.

“Yep. Took all this time off to come back.” Zach takes a deep breath. “It’s good to be home.”

I scoff and take a drink of my beer. Home. Right. Zach left as soon as he could and has rarely been back. Thank God. While he was in college, he was busy with football and medical school, and his residency has a “grueling” schedule—according to what his mother told his aunt who told my…hell, I don’t even remember who I heard it from at this point. He just hasn’t been back to visit since his parents moved to Omaha.

“Glad you could make it back,” Carver says when I don’t say anything.

“Yeah,” Zach says happily as beers are delivered to our table as well as all the rest in the room. “It’s gonna be great. All the old crowd will be here together. It’ll be just like old times.”

I lift an eyebrow. It will be nothing like old times.

Back in the day Zach and I used to pretend that we got along. I suppose at the moment we did. I was the star quarterback, and he was the best running back our school had ever seen. We were the Dynamic Duo, as the local papers and sportscasters dubbed us. We were unbeatable for three years. There wasn’t a ball I could throw that he couldn’t catch, and if Zach Nelson had a football in his hands, we were getting six points.

We had three amazing years of football together. Everything was great. On the surface.

Then we both went to play in college.

But for two different Big Ten teams.

And once a year for four years, and twice a year for two years including the conference championship, we faced off.

The news and fans went nuts. Sapphire Falls went nuts. The watch parties, the betting pools, and the way the town divided up was nuts.

He was the good guy who played for the home school. He was starting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers by their fourth game his freshman year.

I was the ‘traitor’ who went to play for Minnesota. I was starting by our fifth game after our starting QB broke his wrist.

Of course, the sports coverage talked about how Zach earned the spot and I lucked into mine.

They talked about how we’d been ‘inseparable’ in high school.

And they talked about our State Championship series our senior year.

The year Sapphire Falls won without me.

Everyone here knows that Zach and I don’t get along. But they all think it’s about football.

I wish football was the reason I hate this guy so much.

“I need to get going,” I tell my brother as I stand from my stool and withdraw my wallet.

Zach puts out a hand to stop me. “I’ve got this.”

I toss a few bills on the table. “You’re not covering me.”

“I’m at least buying the last round.”

I meet his gaze directly. “You’re not doing anything for me.”

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