Page 9

I was honest about what I said in the pen pal message about being a coffee addict. It’s my go-to beverage.

My phone alerts me that I have an unread message from Midnight Cowboy.

I smile as I read it and then eagerly respond.

To: Midnight Cowboy

Subject: Yes! Christmas.

It’s my favorite holiday, too. I love the warmth of it. The colors. Though sometimes I feel nostalgic about the days when the holiday was different than it is now. Less rushed. And I hope someday my holidays will be peaceful again.

What are you doing? I’m drinking a cup of coffee right now.

The simple life is what I long for the most. Do you like to read? What’s your favorite book?

And thanks, I hope I do figure it out. The sooner, the better.

What made me sign up? The nights get too lonely. Anyway, now tell me two things about yourself that no one knows.

~Sunflower

I close out of the email just as I hear Maverick’s truck rumbling up the dirt road. But this time, instead of driving right past, he pulls into the driveway and climbs out, adjusting his black Stetson as he walks.

I don’t bother getting up out of the rocking chair.

He stops at the bottom of the porch steps and there’s a look on his face that makes my stomach knot. It’s the same expression he’d get through the years when he did something I didn’t like.

“What?”

“Let me preface this by saying I was desperate and I’ll fix it as soon as I figure out how.”

I slowly stand then, my stomach knotting tighter.

“My granny tried a blind date surprise again,” he says. “But this time, she had the woman waiting for me at the house.”

I relax a little. “That’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Well…funny thing is, after that woman mentioned me as her potential groom, I told my family I was dating you and that you were my girlfriend. I said I loved you. I don’t know where any of this came from. I just blurted it out.”

I laugh. I laugh because that possibility is as nonexistent as my mother taking my cheating father a second time.

“Yeah, that is funny, right?” He looks relieved.

My laughter ends as fast as it starts. “Maverick Calhoun, what the hell have you done?”

“If they think I’m dating you, they’ll concentrate on making sure our relationship ends rather than throwing me into the lion’s den over and over. At least for now.”

I open my mouth, then close it and count to three before I say, “Dating me, my ass. I’ll go set that record straight right now.”

The name Calhoun isn’t said with any fondness among my parents and grandparents, and I don’t want this to get back to them. I bound down the steps and as I near him, he catches my arm.

“Wait. Don’t go over there. My grandmother’s health isn’t good. She has a heart condition.”

“Then you go tell them you lied your ass off.”

“Technically, it wouldn’t be lying if you could just do me this favor…”

He smiles and it slams into me. How wrong is it that he looks this devilishly good?