He stared at her as the glow of the porch light spread around her, making her beautiful face look almost surreal. He’d just gotten home, having traveled out to one of the neighboring towns and spending the day shoeing horses for a client who had several daughters competing in a barrel racing competition this weekend. He hadn’t had time to shower much less eat since he’d had breakfast at the diner that morning.
“What are you doing here, Julie?”
Her smile faltered, but only for a second. “I was out driving. You know, trying to get familiar with the town again.”
She glanced around outside as if looking for someone or something in the parking lot of the apartment building.
He poked his head out of the doorway for a second to see what she might be looking at. There wasn’t anyone there.
“How did you know where I lived?” he asked.
“I saw Brody at the ranch. You know, I thought he looked familiar when I was talking to him last week. But I couldn’t place him. I didn’t realize that was Marie’s brother. Doug Mitchell’s girlfriend, right?”
He frowned. “That’s…for another day. You went out to the Lone Creek?”
“Sure. I saw Trip, too. I just wanted to say hi. I didn’t get a chance to do that the…last time I was there.”
“Oh.”
They stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds. They’d never met this way before. When they were younger, Julie would sneak out of her house and meet him somewhere in town. They’d drive around in the old truck he’d bought while on the rodeo circuit that had way too many miles on it. It had broken down one night and she’d been glad she lied to her parents and told them she was staying at Katie Dobbs’ house.
He’d managed to get the truck started after working all night on it by the side of the road. Julie had slept in the cab of the truck while he’d worked. Every so often when he walked back to the bed of his truck to rummage through his toolbox for another tool, he paused and watched her sleeping. He’d also remembered wishing the night had turned out different. They were supposed to make love for the first time that night. They hadn’t. Too many things had gone wrong.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
There were a thousand reasons why he shouldn’t. Did she even know what seeing her did to him? He’d been a mess since seeing her at the post office. All day he’d been busy working. Even though he knew there was no reason he’d see Julie out on one of the ranches he was working on, he found himself dreaming of her and the way he’d seen her sitting on that bench under the tree at the Lone Creek Ranch.
He didn’t want to fight with her. And he didn’t want her to run away if he pushed her. So in a split second, he decided he wouldn’t. He’d just enjoy whatever moments he had with her for however long he had them. Maybe one day she’d bring up the past on her own and tell him what really happened.
But not tonight.
“Um, sure. Come in.”
He stepped aside and let Julie walk into his apartment. The opening of the door felt like an opening to his heart once again. Everything about her rushed back to the forefront of his mind and he felt ten years younger.
As she moved past him, Hunter caught a whiff of her scent that brought it all home. She wasn’t wearing heavy perfume but Julie smelled sweet and it ignited his senses. It only magnified when he shut the door behind them.
Julie took a moment to look around Hunter’s apartment. His home. Then she placed her hand on her cheek and said, “I shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t even think that maybe you…”
He glanced around to see what she might be seeing that he missed. “What?”
“Were busy or…maybe had…company.”
“There’s no one here but me,” Hunter said, wishing he’d had a few minutes before Julie had arrived to clean up. She might smell good, but he knew he still smelled of horse and Lord knows what he’d stepped in while in the last barn he’d been shoeing in. Not all barns were as clean as the Lone Creek Ranch.
Julie walked into his apartment and looked around again.
Suddenly feeling awkward, Hunter said, “It isn’t much.”
“It’s fine.”
“I don’t need much.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
He’d come far in his life. He was proud of how far. He knew some bull riders on the circuit who’d been caught up in drugs to help them work through injuries and they’d never made it. Either they were dead from their addiction, or they were in jail. But suddenly his meager existence seemed shameful.
The secondhand sofa he’d purchased when he’d first moved into the apartment looked different to him tonight. It wasn’t dirty but it was dingy in a way he hadn’t noticed until just then. Suddenly the stains from spilled beer or pizza from eating while watching television at the end of a hard day jumped out at him.
Julie stood there and continued to look around the room. It suddenly occurred to him that she was waiting for him.
“Do you want to sit down?”
“Sure.”
He hated the awkwardness between them. When he’d been involved with Julie when they were young, she’d been carefree, not closed up like she was now. He couldn’t remember ever seeing a frown on her beautiful face. She was always smiling or laughing at one of his stupid jokes. He wasn’t good at it, but she’d always laughed and that alone made it worth the effort to try.
He could tell she’d been crying tonight before she’d arrived. Her eyes were glassy and swollen and her nose was red.
“Can I get you something to drink? I don’t have much but…”
He quickly thought about what he had available. There were two beers still
