Page 96 of The Surprise

And Steve’s letting me ride Farrah. It’s kind of awesome to have these great horses. I feel a lot better out here. “It’s like this ride,” I say. “Being around Beth is like being out here, I mean.”

“It’s peaceful?” Izzy’s lip curls. “Because I’m not sure that ‘peaceful’ is really the beginning to an epic love story.”

“I don’t want epic,” I say. “I want chemistry, sure, but there’s plenty of that, too. When I see her, I want to kiss her. I want to hold her hand. I want to run my hand—” My sister looks like she might be sick. “That’s probably enough of that. But what I mean about the trail ride is that it calms me to come out here. Actually, just being around horses and cattle is like that. Back in Houston, my brain was always full of so much noise. Being around Aunt Helen, or Aunt Amanda, or even Mom sometimes, it’s like that. There are constant questions and pushing and, I don’t know. Interrogations? But when I’m with her, it’s like being in the sunshine. It makes me happy.”

“You know, Mom might say that’s not enough,” Izzy says.

“I know.” I groan. “But for Mom—”

“I saidMommight,” Izzy says, “but I think that’s the best reason I’ve heard. You didn’t say you like her face, or that she keeps your interest because you can’t catch her. You didn’t say anything specific, just that she makes you happy. Isn’t that the best reason to want to be around someone? And if someone like Beth, whose family has been such a disaster, can still make you happy, there must really be something about her.”

“She’s my Juliet,” I say. “The world wants to rip us apart, but I won’t let it.” I clench my fingers tightly on the reins, and Farrah’s head jerks. “Sorry, girl.” I pat her neck.

“Don’t take it out on Farrah. She didn’t do anything.”

“I know,” I say. “I told her sorry. But about the Beth thing, I think I took Amanda’s advice to give her time a little too much to heart. I need to just lay my cards on the table. It’s time. She’s avoided me all summer, and I let her, because I was too afraid to press. But she’s had time. I thought that, when I heard she was staying with Donna, maybe it was for me. But she never came by. She never texted, and she barely even responded to me.”

“You do need to find out what’s going on,” Izzy says.

“But how, when she won’t even reply to me?”

“Trick her,” Izzy says. “It worked last time. I’ll help you again.”

“You will?”

“I’ll tell her we’re having a party, and that since you’re working, I don’t want to be lonely.”

It might be a sign that Izzy has to tell Beth I won’t be somewhere to get her to come, but I refuse to just let it go because of that. I don’t think I’ll be able to let it go until she tells me herself that she doesn’t like me. “Do it,” I say.

“Where?”

I think about that for a while. We wind around the little stream crossing, and we’re on our way back when I have an idea. “Don’t tell her it’s a party. She might remember my birthday’s around now.”

“Okay, then what?”

“Tell her to meet you for dinner at Brownings.”

“Since when do I go to dinner with people? I’m not thirty years old, and I can’t even drive. Or did you forget that?”

“Just text and ask. Since it’s not me, she might say yes.”

Izzy stops Leo.

“What?”

“This is your problem. You don’t think these things through, and then they fall apart.”

I spin Farrah around. “I’ve overthought everything, and every time I’ve gotten close, something has gone wrong. For once, let’s just try it the easy way. If I have to, I’ll go over to her house with a big speaker and stand under her window.”

Izzy grunts. “I’m not sure Donna would appreciate that. I think Aiden goes to bed pretty early.”

“What, then?”

“If you want simple, why don’t I just ask her to meet me for coffee?”

“Have you ever seen a romantic comedy with a breakfast declaration of love?”

“Do you love her?” Izzy looks incredulous.

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