“Or...you’d win yourself a sexy cowboy.” Lexi wagged her eyebrows and elbowed me. “That might be a risk worth taking. I think you’d be great. You really need to enter this contest.”
I wasn’t sure why Hunter’s face popped up in my mind the moment she said that, or why my gut twisted with a strange kind of need, but I shook it off as quickly as it came. There was no way I would enter that competition. Not even to avoid all the basket weaving courses in the world. That wasn’t me. The only thing I wanted to think about was seeing my best friend again.
“You guys are barking up the wrong tree,” I said, slipping out of the booth. “The last thing I want to do right now is take Sarah on. I’d never win. I’ve got no talents, no skills, absolutely nothing to offer. They probably wouldn’t even let me sign up for it in the first place. You know it’s true.”
Lexi and Beth exchanged disbelieving looks across the table. Still, I faced them both with my fists on my hips.
“Now, if you’re done using me for free food, I’ve got to meet Hunter at the opening ceremony. You coming, or what?”
“Actually, we’ll meet you there,” Lexi said slowly, shooting a glance at Beth. “We’ve got an...errand to run for my mom first. Right, Beth?”
Beth jumped, her forehead wrinkled. “Yeah...right. An errand. For her mom.”
Lexi turned back to me with a sickly-sweet smile. “Save us a seat, Char.”
My eyes narrowed at her, but I let her secrecy and use of my nickname roll off my back. It didn’t matter to me what they did. The ceremony was about to start, and Hunter was waiting for me. That was all that mattered.
This summer was going to be the best one yet.
Chapter Three
Nothing got the small town of Rock Valley as excited as the 4H county fair. It was the summer event, so it wasn’t surprising to see the arena at the fairgrounds already half-full when I got there. A couple hundred people had shown up, and from the look of them, they were mostly the young competitors and their families. One quick glance at the crowd and it didn’t take long to pick out the two rows of boys sitting on the bleachers front and center, all dressed in their flannel shirts of various colors and jeans. More cowboys. Lexi would be ecstatic.
And in the middle of them sat Hunter.
Exhilaration pulsed in my chest as he waved at me. I thought I would’ve calmed down after that scene on the bull this morning, but seeing Hunter again made me as nervous as ever. I swallowed hard and walked toward him, forcing myself to try and smile naturally.
It was a definite fail.
“Char, saved you a seat,” he said, patting a spot beside him on the metal bench.
I sat down and grasped my knees, willing my nerves to go away. “Hey.”
He gave me a shy kind of smile. It was strange to see such an unsure expression on a face that very much resembled a man. “Missed you,” he said softly.
“Missed you, too.”
His smile faded as his gaze searched my face. I wondered if he noticed all the ways I’d changed in the last year as well. My brown hair was still long and curly. I was still waiting on that last growth spurt my mom swore would come any day now. But I’d finally mastered the concept of the mascara wand and I’d splurged on some Chanel perfume with my Christmas money.
I’d matured a lot, too. A brush with death tended to do that to a person. My sister might have had to save me from drowning at the Cascades, but the girl she’d pulled out of the water was forever a different person. Could he see any of that?
Finally, with a low sigh, he raked his hands over his head and squinted at me. “This is kind of awkward, right? I mean, with me coming back and everything.”
That was so like him—to call it like he saw it. I’d missed his honesty. The tension in my back loosened as I laughed and turned fully toward him. “I’m glad you said that. I thought it was just me.”
It made me feel so much better to realize that I hadn’t been the only one worrying about the changes between us. Hunter had felt them, too. It made sense, after a year apart, that things would be bumpy at the start.
“It definitely wasn’t just you.” He let out a low breath and grinned. “Don’t worry, everything will work itself out. I’m sure after you make me watch Easy A for the millionth time tonight, we’ll feel like I never left.”
I laughed and bumped against his shoulder with mine. “That’s exactly what I had planned for tonight. You still know me so well. That’s why we’re best friends.”
“And always will be,” he said, capturing my gaze with a serious frown. “Those are the rules, right? And we never break the rules.”
I nodded solemnly, unable to look away from him.
We’d invented the rules the year Hunter’s parents had surprised everyone by announcing their decision to get a divorce. We had all thought they were going to be together forever. The moment the papers were signed, his dad had hitched a flight to California where he was now remarried and working on a vineyard tending grapes or something.
To say the least, the split had been rough on Hunter. They’d seemed like such a happy family before then. He hadn’t seen it coming. So after all of that heartache, we swore an oath to never let anything come between us.
And nothing ever would.
“Well, what do we have here?” The cowboy sitting on my other side leaned forward to flash a shark-like smile at me. He was about our age, with jet black hair and a heavy brow. His brown eyes traveled slowly down my t-shirt and jeans, as
