Hattie pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, a strange look passing over her face. It’s been a long time, but I can read it immediately.
She’s thinking about it. Really considering it.
“I have missed being home,” she admits, glancing back at me. Her lip falls from her teeth, and I’m almost tempted to steal it with my own.
I raise a brow. “Miss Paris and New York misses Willow Ridge?” I ask.
Her cheeks darken with a flush as she shakes her head. “Sort of. I’ve loved seeing the world. I’ve got a passport full of experiences.” She stops for a moment, swallowing hard. “But there are other things I really want to do before I go back out.”
I was hoping she’d say that.
Maybe it’s selfish of me. Now that she’s home, it’s like she never left.
I feel that light again. That presence of hope.
There’s a flutter in my chest that hasn’t been there in years.
If Calder could see me now.He’d be having a field day with this.
There would be a whole lot of ‘I told you so’s’ about Hattie and our relationship. Well, on my side.
I still don’t really know how Hattie feels. She’s hiding her emotions well, even around me.
“We have a deal,” she says, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“A deal?” I pull back slightly, eyes narrowing on her.
Determination darkens her eyes as she gives me a single nod. “Yeah. A deal. While I’m home, we’ll play the role of boyfriend-girlfriend in front of my family. You get to protect me like you want to in front of them, and I get to keep Stella and Mom off my back for the rest of the week. And once I’m gone, it won’t matter anymore.”
My heart drops at the wordsonce I’m gone. The deal might be to protect her while she’s home from her family, but there’s more I want.
“How about I make you another deal?” I ask, heart pounding against my ribs. “Like the old days.”
Hattie cocks her head, dark hair falling over her shoulder. “And what kind of deal might that be?”
“Give me a week to convince you to stay.” Blood thrums in my ears as I press myself against her, our bodies completely flush now. “Give me a week to show you why you want to be in Willow Ridge.”
Her gaze softens as she shakes her head. “My entire career is…outthere,” she says quietly. “While I like being home, I can’t give that up.” And yet, something in her gaze says otherwise.
“Let me show you that isn’t true,” I tell her. “Make the deal.”
Hattie presses her lips together like she’s considering what it could mean. I can tell she wants to accept, but there’s also something holding her back.
Issomeoneholding her back?
Before I can ask, her mom rounds the corner of the barn and makes a sound of disapproval in the back of her throat. “Harriet Simms,” she hisses, stomping towards us with her hands on her hips. “This isyour sister’sday and now she’s inconsolable!”
Hattie stiffens. I pull back, ready to put myself between Hattie and her deranged mother. Why the hell does Stella even care? Why should Hattie?
But before I can open my mouth, Hattie moves in front of me, arms crossed. “If Sella doesn’t want me here, that’s fine. I don’t really care,” she replies, keeping her voice even. “But what I do withmy boyfriendis none of her concern. She’s supposed to be getting married, remember?”
Hattie’s mother turns an odd shade of red. I’ve spent the last decade avoiding this woman. When she isn’t boasting about Stella, she’s bemoaning Hattie. Willow Ridge is enough of a gossip mill that Ma knows everything about everyone—much to Dad’s dismay—and there’s plenty about the woman across from me. Either from her own mouth, or the mouths of others.
And they’ve had a lot to say about the woman who ignored her own daughter in the hopes of winning the heart of her stepdaughter.
“You know how sensitive she is,” Mrs Gibson says. “Seeingyouwithhimis a lot.”
The emphasis on‘you’ makes my blood boil. “What’s that supposed to mean, Mrs Gibson?” I ask, wrapping an arm around Hattie. For a moment, my girl stiffens, but she’s quick to melt into my embrace.
