“Take the call. It’s what you do. It’s not going to ruin the day.”
He felt his eyebrows pull together. “It may cut our day short.”
“It’s what you do. And it will happen all the time whether it’s today or some other day. So take the call. I’m not going to disappear.”
He stared at her for a long while and drew in a deep breath. “Are you sure?”
She smiled. “I promise.”
* * *
They’d had to park at the end of a big field because it seemed like half of Montana had come to the festival. Julie and Hunter walked around the aisles of exhibitors selling everything from farming products to old trinkets and crafts.
They held hands as they walked together. Almost immediately, Julie’s mind went back to the last time she’d been to the festival with Hunter and had shared moments like this. They had conceived their child that day right after the festival. Julie had told her parents she’d gone to the festival with Katie and was staying overnight. But Katie had been home sick with the flu.
Of course, Julie had never intended to go with Katie. That had just been her cover. She knew her parents wouldn’t call Katie’s parents to find out if she was really there. Her parents had left town for an overnight church trip and they hadn’t wanted to leave Julie home alone by herself. At the time, Caleb had been in the military, stationed overseas. That meant that the house was empty. After the festival, Julie and Hunter had gone back to her house and made love for the first and only time in the bed she’d slept in as a child.
She had been eighteen years old at the time. She’d been an adult but was so inexperienced. But they’d been in love. She had never experienced anything that came even close to what she felt for Hunter since.
Today was the first time in a long time that she felt some sort of trust seeping back into her. She felt comfortable with herself even though she knew that they were a long way from where they needed to be. They had a lot of hurdles to get over.
But she could already see that Hunter and her were getting there. It was time to take those barriers down and face them. She was facing them and they didn’t hurt today. Not on such a gloriously beautiful sunny day in Sweet, Montana.
As they walked down the craft aisle that was filled with pottery and wood carvings, something caught Julie’s eye. She rushed over to one of the displays.
“Let’s just keep going.” Hunter took her hand and started tugging her down the path to another exhibit.
“Oh, leave her alone, Hunter. She wants to have a look.”
“You know each other?” she asked with surprise.
“Ruth, this is Julie. She’s the one who insisted I bring these dreadful paintings here.”
“So nice to meet you, Julie,” Ruth said. “Don’t listen to him. You have yourself a look.”
She recognized the first painting as one that she had seen at Hunter’s apartment. But there were others she hadn’t seen.
“You didn’t tell me you decided to display your work,” Julie said.
Ruth laughed. “Decided? I’m not quite sure he decided anything. He brought one of them to the ranch when he came out to shoe Old Smokey Bones. He’s my gelding. He asked me if I would hide them here in my booth today. Hide. That’s the word he used.” The woman laughed loud.
Julie turned and gave Hunter a questioning look.
Hunter shrugged. “Thanks a lot, Ruth. You were just supposed to keep them here so I could say that I showed them at the festival.”
Julie’s mouth dropped open. “Just to make me happy or to shut me up?”
“That was the plan, yes.”
“Hunter Williams, I can’t believe you would do that. These paintings are great.”
“Those pictures are going right into storage in my closets as soon as the festival is over.”
Ruth lifted a finger in protest. “Not if I can sell them first. That was the deal.”
Julie looked up and saw Tara Mitchell and Brody Whitebear walking toward them down the lane.
“Oh, geez,” Hunter said, turning away. “Ruth, put those things away.”
“I will not!”
“Hey, we found you,” Tara said. Before anyone could say anything more Tara zeroed in on the painting they were looking at.
“Oh, look at this, Brody. This is beautiful.” Tara turned to Ruth. “Is this from a local artisan?”
Ruth motioned with her eyes to Hunter.
Tara swung around with her mouth dropped open. Brody frowned.
“You did these, bro?” Brody asked Hunter.
Hunter blew out a quick breath. “Yeah. Can we put them away now?”
“Hunter Williams, you’ve been holding out on me,” Tara said, looking at the painting of a boy and girl climbing a fence to look at a man on a bronc. “This is wonderful. I want to get some of these in my shop.”
“I’m not ready, Tara,” Hunter said quickly. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready.”
“You obviously are now. How many of these do you have?”
“A few.”
She turned and eyed him. Then she turned to Brody. “How come you never told me Hunter painted?”
Brody shrugged. “I didn’t know.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“Because you’re a woman with a suspicious mind.”
“That’s right.” She turned to Hunter. “I can sell these in my shop. My customers love local artisans.”
“I’m not an artisan. I’m a farrier.”
“Why didn’t you come to me instead of taking a booth here at the fair?”
“I wasn’t ready.”
“Stop fidgeting,” Julie whispered.
“I don’t want to be here,” Hunter whispered back.
“You’d rather be at the livestock show.”
He shrugged. “Yes, let’s go there.”
Hunter took her hand and pulled her away from the booth as Julie waved goodbye to the others.
“I never thought you were shy,” she said, nudging him in the side.
He put his arm around her as they walked in the direction away from the livestock display. “Nah, I just wanted to have you all to myself.”
* * *
They walked down a path that was covered with
