Page 42 of A Gift for the Hopeful Cowboy

“It’s about Rob, again, isn’t it? Have you called him?”

Pippa shook her head.

“Pippa! You have to call him if you want to work this thing out.”

“The problem is that I don’t know if he wants to work it out.”

Allie gave her a patronizing smile. “You’re never going to know if you don’t do something about it and ask.”

Pippa groaned again. “That’s the problem, though. I don’t want to lose what I still have. I might be able to salvage our friendship.”

“But is that what you really want?”

Her words echoed around them, weighing on Pippa with a heavy sort of finality.

She shrugged, but deep down, she knew the answer. She didn’t want this to be the end. She didn’t want to be stuck in a friendship with a guy she had unrequited feelings for. She wished she could go back in time and ask him what he needed from her before she jumped to conclusions.

Allie nudged her, bumping their shoulders together. “You know what you should do?”

“What’s that?” she asked miserably.

“I’ll say it again if I have to. You need to invite him to come with us to Santa’s Village.”

Pippa groaned, shaking her head sharply. “There’s no way I’m going to do that.” Especially not after what had happened.

Allie gave her a disbelieving look. “Why not? You guys are friends.”

Pippa stared at her flatly.

“Well, you were friends before you got close, and now you have a chance to talk to him under the pretense of going to a Christmas event. It’d be fun. Besides, with all the magic in town on Christmas Eve, there’s no way he’s gonna say no.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Why not?” Allie lifted a brow. “It’s as easy as you’re going to make it. You can’t work things out if you don’t even try. He’s not going to show up if you don’t ask him to come.”

Pippa shook her head. The truth was she was too scared to invite him after everything had shifted between them. If he did say no, that would feel more permanent. The worst part was she couldn’t exactly explain it all to her friend. Something told her Allie wouldn’t understand the situation. At times, the argument they’d had seemed silly.

She took a deep breath and blew it out through pursed lips. Before she could attempt to find the words to convince Allie to drop the whole thing, Pippa’s phone vibrated at her side. She reached for it but Allie ripped it out of her hand.

A gasp tore from Pippa’s throat as Allie jumped to her feet and moved a few steps away. The phone was unlocked and she was already tapping on the screen—presumably to see what the notification had been.

Pippa jolted toward her and reached for the phone. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but?—”

Allie handed her the phone without a fight. “There. Now you don’t have an excuse.”

“What do you mean?” Pippa stared down at the screen, realizing what Allie had been up to. “You texted him?” Her voice rose in a panic. “How could you do that?”

“I told you. He should meet up with you. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Pippa’s mouth hung open. Her heart felt like a mangled mess and her stomach hadn’t stopped churning. There were a lot of things that could go wrong, the first one being that he’d tell her he wasn’t interested. Her eyes dipped to the screen as the small word beneath her text appeared.

Read.

Great. This was just perfect. How could Allie have done this to her? They were supposed to be friends. They were family. They were supposed to support each other. Now, Allie might have single-handedly put an end to Pippa’s relationship with Rob.

“Anything,” she whispered.

“What?” Allie asked.

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