Page 61 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

She watched as he shouldered the rifle, and she squeezed her thighs together, because whether she should or not, she was always going to find that hot.

Or maybe it was just him. And he could breathe and she would experience a pulse of arousal. Entirely possible. The man had an extreme effect on her.

He blew up the water jug with one shot, and she laughed and clapped. She couldn’t help herself.

Maybe it was a little juvenile. But she felt juvenile, she’d already admitted that. This felt new. Wonderful. Terrifying.

And she wanted it. All of it.

They had target practice contests, and in the end it was their sister Callie who bested everybody. Afterward, they hoisted her up on their shoulders, while she screeched in protest, and Tansey, Wendy and the girls clapped. Cara pretended to be furious, while Shelby and Juniper made grand shows out of being gracious losers, since they had competed as well.

When they started the walk back, Flint was up with his sister, and Wendy lagged behind with her girls.

“I want to tell you something,” said Wendy.

“What?” asked Sadie.

This was dangerous. Because the girls could make a big scene right here. But...she didn’t really care.

Mostly because she just wasn’t ashamed of any of it. If they had a bad reaction to it, they were going to have to deal with it.

“I just wanted to let you know that I...that I like Boone.”

“Of course you do,” said Mikey. “He’s cool.”

“No, Mikey. I...I like like Boone.”

Both the girls stopped walking. “You’re not serious?” Sadie asked.

“I am. And I wanted to tell you before...”

“Before what?” Sadie asked.

“Just before. That’s all. Before anyone else.”

“You’re not even divorced yet,” said Sadie.

“I know. I’m just being honest. And maybe it’s premature. I don’t know what’s going to happen, if anything. Entirely possible nothing. But I just like him.”

It wasn’t Sadie who reacted. It wasn’t Sadie who had an explosion. To Mikey’s credit, it wasn’t an explosion. But she put her head down, and she ran ahead. She wasn’t quite in a group with anyone, but she held herself with her head down, and walked, and Wendy was too stunned to catch up with her. She felt frozen, and kept walking at the pace she’d been walking at before, uncertain of what to do. She really hated all the uncertainty.

“It’s weird,” said Sadie.

“I know,” said Wendy.

“She’ll get over it.”

She looked at Sadie. “Are you over it?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s weird because... Because it hasn’t been that long. But he’s been really nice to us, and I know he makes you happy. You haven’t been happy. And really, you shouldn’t be. You left just a few weeks ago, and everything’s been crazy, and you were not happy until we got here.”

“But you’re not especially happy here, are you?”

“I don’t know. I do know that I wasn’t happy back home either. I’m trying to be. But this is all weird, and it’s a change.”

“I want you girls to be happy. And I would never do anything to compromise that.”

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure there’s anything you can do one way or the other. Sometimes we’re just unhappy.”

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