“Can I hold one?” Lane asked.
“As long as you’re careful.” Nellie lifted one of the tiny birds out of the box and set it in Lane’s hands. “You can even take one home with you if?—”
“Nope.” Holt cut her off. “Jack the Rabbit doesn’t need a friend. You’ve already been way too generous with sharing your strays.”
Nellie just laughed. “We’ll see, sugar.”
While Lane oooh’d and aaaah’d over the baby chick, I ran my hand over the back of a miniature pony who looked like he’d had a rough start.
“That’s Lemon,” Nellie said. “No idea where he came from, but he showed up one day underweight and full of burrs. Nobody claimed him, so he’s been with me ever since.”
“Your heart is way too soft, Nellie.” Holt stepped up next to me and scratched Lemon behind the ears.
Our fingers brushed. The contact sent shivers racing across my skin, just like it did every single time we touched. I was in deep with Holt. Deep enough that I needed to decide for myself where things stood so I could make plans.
“Looks like things are working out between the two of you,” Nellie said. Her eyes twinkled as she shifted her gaze back and forth between us.
I waited for Holt to say something. Every second that passed felt like the ticking of a time bomb.
He cleared his throat and stepped away from me. “Yeah. Calla’s been great with Lane. A real lifesaver. The two of them have been having a great summer.”
“That’s great.” Nellie shifted her gaze to me, her brows arched. “Your grandma told me you moved in with Holt. Said she was sorry to see you go, but that it made sense so you could be more hands-on.”
Heat crept up my neck and across my cheeks. It was like she could see right through both of us and knew exactly what we’d been doing every night after Lane went to bed. “Um, yeah. It’s made things a lot easier since Holt sometimes needs me at night.”
“I bet he does.” A woman with long dark hair wearing a Huckleberry Cafe t-shirt and a smirk stepped up next to Nellie. “Hi, I’m Holt’s sister, Jessa. You must be Calla. I’ve heard a lot about you from Lane.”
She held out her hand, and I automatically took it. Holt had told me a little bit about his baby sister, but we hadn’t had the chance to meet. Nellie looked on as we shook hands while Holt’s face turned the same shade of pink as the Mason jars full of huckleberry lemonade she had for sale.
“Hey, Jessa. Don’t you have somewhere to be or something to do?” Holt asked.
“She’s helping me with the farmer’s market today,” Nellie said. “And it’s about time the two most important women in your life met each other, don’t you think?”
“We need to head over to Harlan’s. I promised Lane I’d buy some of his homemade jerky.” Holt couldn’t seem to get moving quickly enough. He took the chick from Lane’s hands and set it back in the box. “See you both later.”
I said a quick goodbye and followed him as he herded Lane away from Nellie’s stand and down the street. It took me a minute to catch up to him since I had to take at least two steps for every one of his. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing. I just don’t like people prying into my personal life.” He offered a smile that was probably meant to reassure me but did the exact opposite. I wasn’t expecting him to hold my hand and tell everyone we were a couple as we waltzed down Main Street, but his reaction made me question just how he viewed our relationship.
It wasn’t a good time to bring that up, not with Lane around, so I bit my tongue and figured I’d bide my time. We stopped at Harlan’s stand next, and Lane picked out a few new flavors of beef and venison jerky. Then we wandered through the rest of the booths. I grabbed some fresh vegetables from a local farm and a jar of huckleberry jam. Holt bought us all fry bread tacos from a food truck for lunch, then we walked along a path by the river until it was time to head home and get dinner started.
We were about fifteen minutes away from Holt’s place when my phone pinged with an incoming text. While he and Lane sang country songs at the top of their lungs, I checked my messages. It was from the supervisor of the group I’d worked with on the school program. He’d secured funding for the upcoming school year and needed to know as soon as possible if I’d be able to start in a few weeks.
My heart lit up. I’d been wrecked when the program got pulled. The kids I’d worked with had made such progress and would definitely back slide without ongoing support. But then I turned around and looked at Lane. He strummed a fake guitar as he made eye contact with his dad in the rear-view mirror.
Running the program would mean moving away from Hard Timber. I’d only been in town for a little over a month, but it had grown on me. The time I spent watching Lane didn’t feel like a job. It felt like being part of a family. And Holt… the blood drained from my face.
“Everything okay?” Holt reached over and gave my hand a squeeze.
“Yeah.” I squeezed back. I’d have to talk to him about the offer. It wouldn’t interfere with watching Lane since he started school a week earlier than the kids in Bozeman. But it would mean putting an end to whatever was growing between us.
I tried not to let on that something was bothering me while we made dinner together and played one of Lane’s dino games after. But once we’d tucked Lane into bed, read him a story, and kissed him goodnight, I couldn’t pretend anymore.
Holt followed me back to the family room and pulled me into his side as soon as we sat down on the couch. “Up for a movie, or would you rather head to bed early so I can show you how much I missed you today?”
I snuggled into him and laughed. “What are you talking about? We spent the whole day together.”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t touch you how I wanted to or kiss you whenever I wanted.” He rested his chin on top of my head and let out a long sigh.
