Page 42 of Knot what I want for Christmas
A few moments later, we see the beams of another truck coming toward us in the opposite direction and then my little sister is jumping forward in her seat again and tapping me on the shoulder.
“That’s Travis’ truck,” she says, “Blink your lights.”
I mutter under my breath as she punches my arm.
“I’m not sure I like Travis.”
“He’s a million times nicer than any other dude I’ve dated. Don’t you agree, Hollie?”
Hollie has spoken barely a handful of words to the bartender from theDirty Boot, but she always has her best friend’s back and nods. “He seems really nice.”
“Fine,” I say, flicking the lights on and off, on and off, then slowing the truck down as Travis does the same until we’re parking up alongside each other. I wind my window down and Travis does the same with his.
“Hey there, folks,” he says, eyes flicking around the cab and sparking with excitement when he spots my little sister.
“Hey, man,” I say.
“I was just swinging by your ranch,” he says. “Dropping by to say hello. I got a Christmas present for you too, Annie.”
I resist the urge to snort a second time. The ranch is a good 20 minutes outside of town and in the opposite direction from where Travis lives. But he’s certainly got a thing for my sister, and she’s right, he’s not so bad. For starters, he has a job, a house, and a truck. It’s a lot more than that of the other idiots my little sister has dated.
“I’ve got a present for you too,” Annie says, leaning over my shoulder to talk to Travis through the open window. “Back at the ranch, you’ve got time to come back there with us now?”
“Sure,” Travis says, smile broadening across his face.
“Great,” Annie responds.
And before I know it, she’s jumping out of my truck, running around Travis’s in the snow and jumping in his passenger door. She waves at us through the window. “We’ll see you back at the ranch,” she says. I go to argue, but Travis’s window is zipping up and his truck is rumbling away.
“I thought girl code stipulates that you aren’t meant to ditch your best friend for a dude,” I mutter to Hollie, outraged on her behalf and starting the engine a little too aggressively, nearly sliding on the snow as I jerk the machine forward.
Hollie simply shrugs. “She’s completely loved up. You can’t blame her. And people do crazy things when they’re in love.”
I swing my gaze back to the windshield. Blood hums in my ears. It suddenly feels crazy warm in the cab.
“Have you ever been in love?” I ask her, because I’m an idiot and I can’t help myself.
She’s quiet for a moment and then she says, “No, I don’t think I have been. I mean, once or twice I thought I was, but now, looking back, it wasn’t the real thing. But I’m hopeful, you know, that it’s out there for me too.”
She’s quiet for another moment and then she says, “How about you, Clay Jackson? Have you ever been in love before?”
I shake my head. “No, same as you really. There were one or two girls, but it wasn’t real. I wouldn’t have moved mountains for them.”
“That’s the test?” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “You have to want to move mountains for someone to be in love?”
“Absolutely,” I say. “I think they have to be someone you want to spend all your time with, that you never want to be apart from, that you’d do anything for.”
“Yeah,” she says. “I think you’re right. I think that’s what love is.”
I glance her way. She’s not looking at me anymore. She’s looking out through the windshield, gaze glazed over. She’s thinking. I hope I haven’t made her sad again. Because I want her to be happy. And I wonder, is that another sign that you’re in love with someone and if so does that mean I’m in love with Hollie Bright?
The realization nearly has me skidding off the road. In love with Hollie Bright?! That can’t be right. That can’t be happening.
“How did you meet your packmates?” Hollie asks me, pulling me out of the mini crisis happening inside my head.
I scratch at the back of my neck. “Tucker and I go way back–”
“All the way to kindergarten,” Hollie interjects.
