Page 21 of A Gift for the Hopeful Cowboy

“I already told you,” she murmured a little too close to his ear, “you have to make your own magic.”

Goosebumps trailed along his arms, making him grateful for long sleeves and jackets. “Well, then I guess I have no choice but to make a wish. It’s all in good faith, right?”

“Right.”

He pulled out a dime from the change in his pocket and flicked it off his thumb. It twirled in the air, hovering as if gravity had ceased to exist, then dropped. There was the barest hint of a splash at the bottom of the well when the dime plopped into the water.

“What did you wish for?” Pippa asked.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t come true.”

Their faces were so close. He could grasp her chin right then and there to steal one of her kisses. Her lashes fluttered and she exhaled softly.

An engine of an old car backfired, causing them both to jump. Pippa released a laugh and pulled away from him, the moment lost.

“Are you ready to go ice skating? They’ve finally got it all set up. I thought for sure they wouldn’t get it done in time for our date.”

Rob nodded, still reeling from their closeness. He shook off the strange feeling and flashed her a smile. “Are you sure you can keep up? The last time you visited Montana, you could barely stay upright.”

She gave his shoulder a little shove. “I beg your pardon, but from what I recall, you were one of the main reasons I kept falling down.”

He snickered. Any chance he got, he’d come darting out from behind her, giving her the impression they were going to collide, which inevitably had her falling right into his arms. Those moments were some of the best ones he had. Rob held up a hand with another laugh. “I swear I won’t throw you off balance.”

“Yeah. Like I’m going to believe that.” She slipped her arm back through his and leaned into him as they walked. “Maybe we just take it slow.”

He stiffened. That sounded a lot like she was talking about something else. He glanced down at her, but when she didn’t give him any further information, he let it go. He could have misunderstood. She might not have said something and he’d let himself think she had.

Her closeness was intoxicating. It felt like they were already an item and all his worrying had been for nothing. That was one more problem with their little pact. He didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t.

Rob reached for her hand and took it in his. He laced his fingers with hers, ignoring the quick glance he received from her. When she didn’t pull away, he took that as a win. They were getting closer to the point where he could feel comfortable telling her his feelings.

At the rink, there was a small shack where they rented their skates. Another shack on the other side sold hot chocolate and other snacks. Floodlights overhead ensured that as it continued to get darker, skaters would stick around.

Mid-sized speakers had been set up around the whole rink, which blasted familiar Christmas tunes. The rink was encapsulated by a wall of Plexiglas, but that didn’t stop the folks here from decorating it. Garland and Christmas lights adorned the exterior, making it feel like they’d walked into a winter wonderland despite there being a lack of snow on the ground.

Once they had their skates on, they entered the rink. Rather than pull away, Pippa took his hand, and they skated together around the outer edge of the rink.

She tossed him a smirk. “I guess I was right. I’m a decent skater after all.”

“It appears so.” He glanced at her a couple more times. “Is there anything you’re not good at?”

“Well, I used to think I wasn’t very good at making my folks happy. You remember when I went to college for agriculture?”

He nodded. It was one of those things she’d vented to him about before he’d dropped out.

“You remember that my family thought I’d come back and help run things at my brother’s ranch, right?”

“But I thought your mom was happy to give you the loan for the restaurant.”

She bit her lip and grimaced. “I didn’t exactly tell you everything. She wasn’t thrilled that I’d gotten a degree I couldn’t use. It took months to convince her that my calling was cooking. I didn’t have the money to do culinary school, but I knew it was the field I wanted to go into. My mom finally gave in, and that’s when the restaurant became my life.”

“And your family wasn’t happy…”

Pippa shook her head. “It probably took a full year for them to get on board with it after it started being successful. Thankfully, my brothers were able to keep my parents off my back, but man, those twelve months were some of the hardest in my life.”

He frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I didn’t know if you’d want to know.”

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