Page 23 of Hard Candy Christmas

Chase

Two days later, I frowned as my phone beeped. I grabbed it, reading the text from my brother about the fence that we were supposed to repair and didn’t get around to.

“Shit,” I muttered, looking up at the salesclerk. So much for trying to get in my last-minute gift shopping. “Mary, I gotta run. Any way you can hold on to this for the next few hours, or maybe till tomorrow? I’ll be back. It’s my mom’s Christmas gifts.”

“Sure thing, Chase. I’ll just keep in the back room in case you come when I’m not here.”

“Thanks.” I gave her a smile and then ran out to my truck, hauling ass to get back to the house.

Two hours later, I was saddled up on a horse and heading to the fence line, cursing myself for not doing when I should have. I couldn’t blame this on anyone but me, either.

“There he is.” I jumped off the horse, tied it to a post a few feet down, and frowned at Bo.

“I was shopping.”

“That last minute crap,” he grumbled, and I shrugged. I’ve been this way for years. Wasn’t going to stop now, that’s for damn sure.

“It’s for my mom and she’s one of the hardest people to shop for on my list.” I shrugged as if it was no big thing. And given that this was Bo I was talking to who’s been my friend since the eighth grade, well, he knew better. “Let’s get on this, huh?”

“You knew about this, didn’t you?”

I let out a deep breath, knowing he would only call me out on my bullshit if I lied. He was that kind of friend, and honestly, I was grateful to have him in my life, but sometimes, he saw and knew far too much.

“I did.”

“And you didn’t do anything?”

“What do you want me to say, Bo? I got distracted and I let it slip. I ordered the stuff I was told to get and let it go. I didn’t mean to, and you know I’m not like this.”

“No, you aren’t, Chase. This place is your bloodline, things like this don’t happen. So, what has you so scatterbrained that you would forget this?” He paused for a second and then looked at me. “Wait, does this have anything to do with the date I tried taking Belinda on?”

“Let’s be honest, that wasn’t going to go anywhere.”

“Dude, it’s fucked up you even came. And you don’t know that! We could have hit it off?”

I stopped cutting the wire on the fence and lifted a brow at the man.

“Yeah, let’s go with the fact that kissing her probably felt like kissing your sister, right?”

He visibly shivered and deep down, I wanted to jump with pure happiness. I mean, it was wrong, I hated the thought of his lips anywhere near hers, but I knew how close they were. Hemight have liked her in high school, I might have turned a blind eye to that, but I knew what it would be like now.

“Don’t remind me. She’s got the softest lips, but if there was ever a kiss that did nothing for me no matter how much I hoped, especially with a good kisser, it was that one. So, yes, we parted ways and left it at friends. Besides, we both weren’t into playing the game of pretending. We were well aware I wasn’t what she wanted.”

I was happy they both came to that conclusion, but I was also torn.

“Talk to me, Chase.”

“What’s to talk about, Bo?”

“What’s been going on with you in the last forty-eight hours? It’s not like you to slack off at work. And it’s such as hell not like you to be this pensive.”

I licked my lips, grunting against the next cold front coming in. The wind was picking up, the clouds were gathering, and it wouldn’t surprise me if by tomorrow, we had more snow on the ground. Which was why getting this fence done was the most important thing. Not trying to figure out my feelings.

“Things have happened.”

“Yeah, I gathered as much.”

I yanked on the wire, pulling pieces together as Bo clipped the ends. Finally, I stopped and turned to him.

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