Page 22 of Untruly With You

“Frankie,” Sutton says in an exhale, both of them squeezing their arms around each other. They stand like that for a long time, but I don’t dare disrupt their moment. I’ve never,everseen Sutton be so openly affectionate, and it makes me feel like my chest got pumped with helium.

I’m not sure how much time passes before the two separate, but just as quickly as she found Sutton, Frankie brings her gaze to me. She has the same brown eyes as Sutton, with that same bright sparkle in them. I like her already.

“Holy hell, she’s real,” Frankie whispers, a bubbly laugh slipping out.

“Am I?” I look through the windshield for dramatic effect. “Because it feels like I’m in a dream right now. This place is breathtaking.”

Frankie dashes to my side of the truck, opening the door for me. She lunges forward but pulls back at the last second. “Uh, sorry, can I hug you?”

A single nod is all it takes before I’m being yanked from my seat. I’m five-foot-four, a perfectly average height, but Frankie must be half-a-foot taller—more, probably. Beyond that, she’s a little curvy andverystrong. When she releases me, I feel like I need to catch my breath. Sutton is close behind her, watching us with knit brows.

With Frankie at arm’s length, I see that, beyond those brown eyes and golden tan skin, she and Sutton don’t look similar in the least. While he’s all sharp angles and squared features, Frankie has full cheeks and a heart-shaped face. She must not be wearing much makeup, because the freckles across her nose are in full view. She looks like an angel, or maybe the love child of Florence Pugh and Jennifer Lawrence. So, basically an angel.

“I’m so excited to finally meet you,” Frankie says.

“Finally?” I repeat. It’s only been a week since Sutton told his family about our so-called relationship.

“Yes, finally. For months I’ve been—”

Sutton groans. “Very smooth, Frank—”

“What?” Frankie asks, laughing again. “If she’s dating you now, it’s clear your months of pining have paid off.”

My heart drops to my stomach, and my breath catches in my throat.

I’m not sure what my face does, but I must have enough of an alarming expression for Frankie to feel the need to clarify. “Not in a creepy way or anything!” she says, pulling her hands back to wave them in the air. “At first, it was ‘This girl paid three hundred dollars to go on a date with me.’ But later, it turned into—”

“Where is everyone?” Sutton interjects, a scarlet wash across his cheeks.

“Mom is inside, making your favorite pie. Wells is out with the cattle. Dad had some sort of appointment in the city.”

The news of the delayed reunion with his father causes Sutton’s shoulders to loosen a bit. They relax even more when Frankie adds, “And Cassidy already had plans for tonight, so you’ll have to meet her later, Laine.”

I try to look disappointed.

“Ready to meet my mom?” Sutton asks me.

Frankie nudges me. “Ready to meet that pie she’s baking?”

I grab my backpack, but Sutton takes it off my shoulder, slinging it over his own. Then, he grabs our two suitcases from the bed of the truck, lifting them by their top handles.Has he always been so strong?I had to pay an overweight fee for my bag, but Sutton carries it like it’s lighter than a single Trader Joe’s grocery bag.

“So, you pined after me?” I whisper to Sutton, sneaking him a devilish smirk.

“It was all a part of selling the story,” he says, his gaze straight ahead.

“Which reminds me,” I say, linking my elbow around his arm.

He looks down at me, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

I shrug. “It’s all a part of selling the story.”

11

SUTTON

The ranch feels smallerthan I remember. I haven’t gotten taller in the past six years. Even so, the house seems less towering, the land less expansive, the air easier to breathe. Maybe I’ve matured. Maybe counseling is paying off. Or maybe with Laine by my side, everything feels easier to stomach.

Even if Frankie humiliates me in front of her.

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