Her Texas Cowboy. Jill Lynn

he likes you.” Val stretched out the phrase, sounding as though she was imitating one of the second-grade students she taught.

      “Ha.” Rachel swallowed, mouth suddenly devoid of moisture. “That’s not funny.”

      Laughter floated into her ear, then stopped abruptly. “Oh, no.” Resignation laced Val’s tone. “There went the mac and cheese. Gotta go.”

      They disconnected and Rachel glanced at the pile of supplies. What was Hunter thinking? Could Val’s joking insinuation be true? Was Hunter trying to...? No way. He couldn’t have feelings for her. Could he? He had talked to her more in the last few days than he had in years. Was he trying to rekindle things? It made no sense, especially since he always seemed annoyed or offended by her presence. At least, he had before this visit home.

      Rachel didn’t know what to think. It couldn’t be. But why else would he do something like this?

      It wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten a crazy idea regarding them before. His suggestion they get married had been completely unexpected.

      Back in high school, Rachel had made some stupid decisions about guys. She’d dated one she would rather forget and had done a number of things she regretted during her teenage years.

      In the last part of her senior year of school, when she and Hunter had first started hanging out, she’d been wary of making another mistake. Another stupid decision about another guy. But she’d quickly noticed the differences in Hunter. He’d been genuine. Always respectful. He’d made her laugh. He was one of the few people she’d talked to about her parents and he’d talked to her about his mom.

      They’d hung out a long time before they’d even so much as held hands. Their first kiss had been...heart pounding. They’d been on a walk. He’d been teasing her about something, and the next thing she knew, he’d stopped, buried his hands in her hair and kissed her. Kissed her as though she was oxygen and he needed to breathe. After, he’d backed away. His grin slow. Easy. “I knew it.” Then he’d grabbed her hand and kept walking while she stumbled to find coherent thought again.

      She’d fallen for him. Hard.

      Falling for him had been the easy part. But even back then, they’d known she was moving for school. The knowledge had hung over them like a storm cloud that followed their every step. At first it hadn’t been menacing—just something to deal with in the future. But as the time for her to leave had neared, the cloud had changed from might-rain-sometime into a dark, severe-weather thunderstorm.

      They’d avoided talking much about her looming departure for college, neither of them knowing what to do about it.

      The week before she’d been set to move, they’d been sitting on the porch swing at his dad’s house, concern over the future stealing their words, when Hunter had squeezed her hand. “Don’t go,” he’d said. Her head had snapped in his direction. “Stay. I know people will say we’re young, but I don’t want to do life without you. Marry me.” At first, his eyes had flashed with surprise at his words, but then he’d leaned toward her as if the idea had gained momentum. “We should get married. We could elope.”

      Rachel remembered precisely how she’d felt. Like a car had rammed into her. She’d loved Hunter, but had known instantly that she couldn’t. As much as the thought of leaving him had hurt and refusing him had felt like the hardest thing she’d ever do, she’d been certain she had to follow through with her plans.

      Her stomach had tied itself into thousands of knots. She’d tried to tell him how much she cared about him...but that she couldn’t stay. Couldn’t marry him. Not at eighteen.

      In the middle of her explanation, he’d shut down. His eyes had hardened. And then he’d told her to go. That if she didn’t feel the same way about him as he did about her, she might as well leave immediately. In the next week, before she’d left, they hadn’t even seen each other. It had been so painful.

      She couldn’t do that again. Rachel didn’t know what Hunter was thinking, but she had to talk to him. They were going to be working together with the youth. They’d be seeing enough of each other that she had to make sure she was clear with him about her future plans and that nothing could happen between them. They couldn’t go back down the road they’d once traveled.

      It was Wednesday. Tonight was the first night of working on the float with the teens. She’d head over early and have a conversation with him.

      She had to. Because, despite having moved on from their younger years, she knew she couldn’t survive that experience twice.

      * * *

      “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

      Autumn was perched on the desk in the barn office/storage area while Hunter rummaged through the bins the church had given him for float decorating.

      When he glanced up, her pointed look told him she expected an answer. His sister packed a lot of punch for five foot two. But despite her petite size, she’d always played and fought just as hard as the boys.

      “Yes, I know what I’m doing.” He set aside two bins. “Just because you’re older than me doesn’t mean you’re wiser.”

      “You are correct.” She twisted her light brown hair over one shoulder. “Age doesn’t matter, but I am wiser.”

      He didn’t bother answering that sassy comment.

      “You do remember what happened the last time? I mean, I think Rachel’s great and all, but you were a mess when she left.”

      He didn’t need the reminder. “I wasn’t a mess.” He might have been a small version of that word. “But that’s not going to happen again. This is about being a friend. What I should have been to her in the first place before I let stupidity cloud my judgment. She needed someone to be there for her, and back then I made it about me and what I wanted. She deserves to be treated well, and while I didn’t accomplish that the last time, I am going to this time.”

      “So, you’re just going to help her with this house whether she wants it or not?”

      “Pretty much.”

      “And you’re trying to prove...”

      “That I’m not Dad.” The words slipped out, and Hunter almost rolled his eyes. How did Autumn always pull information out of him he didn’t plan to give?

      Her eyebrows stitched together. “Hunter, you’re nothing like Dad. You work hard, so I guess you have that in common, but that’s about it.”

      Except for the part where he’d asked Rachel to stay and he shouldn’t have. And the next part, where he’d been a jerk and reacted badly when she’d said no. Autumn didn’t understand because she and her husband Calvin had met when they were older. Dating...marriage...it had all just fallen into place for them without any stupid decisions to atone for.

      “Think about it this way. If you knew you couldn’t have Calvin as anything more than a friend, wouldn’t you want that? And if you’d hurt him, wouldn’t you want to rectify that?”

      Autumn studied him. Finally, she nodded, but her brow remained pinched. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

      He tapped a fist on his chest. “I’m practically a superhero with all of these muscles.”

      She groaned in response, then stood and rubbed a hand over her growing belly. His nephew was coming in about three months, and Hunter was more than ready. It had been a rough pregnancy, and Autumn had been sick for much of it.

      She might be his older sister, but he still felt protective of her. Which meant he understood her concern about him. But she was just going to have to trust him. Hunter had prayed over this decision, and he felt peace about it. Moving on and regaining a friendship with Rachel was the right thing to do.

      Autumn stretched her arms over her head, accompanying that with a huge yawn. “I’m hungry.”