Page 55 of Bull Riders Don't Swoon

“Have faith, Griff. It’ll work out. I know it.”

“Thanks. I’m just nervous.”

“You’re allowed to be, and if shit goes sideways, you have my number.” He slaps my shoulder again. “Now get out of here. If I know Jamieson, he’s chomping at the bit to see you right now.”

I laugh at the accuracy. My phone has been buzzing for the last fifteen minutes with an impatient Jamieson.

“Thanks again, Jackson. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Before I pull away, I text Jamie to let him know I’m on my way home. He hearts the comment, and I don’t know why, but that settles me a little.

When I arrive home and take my usual parking spot at my building, I spy Jamieson’s truck on the street.

I live above a small bookshop and coffee bar downtown. It’s tiny and all I’ve ever needed. Parking only needed to accommodate my tiny car, but Jamieson has never seemed to mind parking on the street.

After climbing the short flight of stairs and entering the code to my little sunroom off my apartment, I smell Jamie before I see him. It’s a mixture of leather soap and orange, the stuff he uses to condition his chaps. The scent seems to cling to him more than the leather most days.

When my eyes land on him leaning against the wall, I suck in a quick breath.

“Hey, babe.” He pushes off my wall and crosses over to me. Hands in his pockets and a shy grin. “I didn’t want to sit in my truck. Hope it’s okay that I let myself in.”

“Of course it is. You could have used the spare key to let yourself all the way inside.”

“Maybe I did.”

Shaking my head at his cryptic words, I turn the key in the lock and open the door. Jamieson steps in quickly behind me, closing the door and turning the deadbolt while I stare at the giant balloon with a note attached in my hallway.

“What’s this?”

“Open the note and find out.”

My heart races as I remove the note from the shiny blue balloon.

Griff,

When I met you, you wore a blue shirt like this balloon. I remember thinking how it made your eyes look really blue.

The smile that comes to my face is automatic, and I snort. “Really blue?”

“You know I’m not good at the whole descriptive thing. Keep going, there’s more.”

The hallway is short, so it’s only a few steps before I enter the living room and gasp. “Jamie…did you buy out the balloon store?”

Various colours of balloons fill my living room, all with notes attached.

“They’re numbered. See?” Jamieson spins the one closest to us and shows me it’s a three. “You need to find number one, then two…it goes in order.”

“What is all this?”

He swallows before pulling me to him and placing a soft kiss on my lips.

“A surprise and a way to show you that maybe I’ve always loved you, too.” He pulls a red balloon over with a number one. “Start here.”

This envelope has another note in his messy handwriting that really hasn’t changed since university.

“The first time we hung out after a rodeo, you ordered a burger with no pickles and told me you aced your sociology exam.”

Note two is on a yellow balloon.

---