Page 65 of Hung Up
Me
Come stay with me in Aspen Creek.
Sweetheart
Are you asking me or telling me?
Me
Asking. Unless you say no, then I’m telling you.
Sweetheart
What’s in it for me?
Me
The smell of horse manure, farm animals, and sweaty cowboys.
Me
Oh, and my mom’s apple pie.
Sweetheart
You had me at horse manure.
I’ve spentthe last two days rereading her text, still unable to wrap my head around the fact that she agreed to stay with me for two days before we head into Billings. My house is the cleanest it’s ever been, my fridge fully stocked as if I anticipated us getting snowed in for a month. Nash is mad at me for not helping around the ranch while I’m home, but I have better things to do.
I need to make sure that Faith loves her time here.
Ever since our talk in the bar—which I still can’t believe we had such an intimate and serious talk in a crowded sports bar—I’ve had this sneaky suspicion that my feelings aren’t just one-sided. I know she feels something for me, even if she’s fighting it and refuses to accept it. Her admitting that she was disappointed when I said I wanted to end our weekend endeavors, and how upset she was that she thought I had given up on her, proves to me that, deep down, she might just be falling for me, too.
That means if I’m going to get through to her and make her see just how right we could be for each other, I need to pull out all the stops from here on out.
It’s time to show Faith just how serious I am.
“You’ve moped that spot four fucking times now,” Stevie tells me from her spot on my couch, her feet kicked up on my coffee table. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
“Come on, Stevie,” I groan, setting down the mop. I walk up to her and grab her ankles, rotating her so her legs are resting on the couch. “You know how important this is.”
She nods her head, laying flat on the couch with her hands behind her head. “I know, I know. If Cinderelly can have a spotless house, his reporter girl will fall in love with him andthey’ll live happily ever after.” She turns her head to look up at me with an unenthused expression. “I get it.”
“Go easy on your brother,” my mother calls out from down the hallway. “He can’t help it. Love makes you do crazy things.”
“Yeah, like clean your house for the first time in three years.” I grab a pillow off the other couch and throw it at her. “God, lighten up, will you? You’re such a stick in the mud when you’re like this.” She leaps to her feet and saunters past me, heading for the kitchen. “I don’t like it.”
Picking the mop back up, I trail after her only to find her eating one of the apples I had placed in the fruit bowl on the counter. “Just wait ‘til you have feelings for someone. Then you’ll know what it’s like.”
“Oh, please,” she huffs, tucking her dark brown hair behind her ear. “I’m very happy with my random weekend hookups, thank you very much. You can keep that love bug to yourself.”
“I didn’t need to hear that.” Our mother comes walking into the room, the duster in one hand and an empty vase in the other. “The last thing I want to hear about are my children’s sexual habits.”
Stevie and I exchange a look before a grin grows on her face. “Are you sure? Because there was this one guy?—”
“Out,” Mom says, pointing toward the front door. “If you’re done helping, then head back to the barn. The veterinarian is supposed to be by to check up on Finley.”
“What happened to your horse?”
