Page 34 of A Fallow Heart (Tommy Creek 2)

Cooper Thaddeus Gerhardt?

No.

Jo Ellen’s eyes widened on that denim-clad bulge, her face draining of color. If Travis Untermeyer was the number one person she didn’t want to run into, Cooper Gerhardt was the second. Didn’t even matter that he’d turned into a delicious hunk of heaven, which from what she’d seen so far, it looked as if he had.

She jerked her face up, her lips instantly parting with surprise as she came face to face with the grown-up version of Cooper Gerhardt.

Oh, Lord have mercy.

In high school, he might’ve been the cutest boy in her class. Now, he was just plain hot; Playgirl centerfold, the country boy edition. In a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, he wore blue jeans and a button-up shirt with the arms ripped off. A few ragged fringes hung down over his very tan, very muscled biceps.

Jo Ellen went a little breathless. “Oh! Uh…H-hello again, Cooper.”

Pale brown eyes inspected her before he tipped his hat politely. “Jo Ellen.”

And, wow oh wow, his voice had grown deep. The man truly played havoc on a woman’s hormones.

The tension between them grew palatable. She could practically taste the brewing chemistry. Like wine, it layered an intoxicating brand against her tongue until she grew lightheaded. Even Alexa paused eating to glance back and forth between them.

“Been a while,” Cooper murmured oh-so politely.

Jo Ellen cleared her throat and nodded. “Mmm hmm. How…how are your parents?”

There, that had to be the safest topic to discuss.

When he flinched, however, her insides contracted. She’d been grasping for something polite and distant to say, something that had nothing to do with the million and one apologies she felt she owed him. But seeing the brief pain in his expression told her she’d hit a sore spot. She covered her mouth immediately, already worried about both Loren and Thad. They’d always been the most considerate people.

“Oh, it’s just awful,” Emma Leigh butted into their conversation, explaining Thad’s condition. “Most days, he doesn’t even remember who he is.”

Jo Ellen glanced at Cooper. When he shifted his gaze away, misery lacing his features, she swallowed. “What about the farm work?” she asked, her voice sounding rusty. “Did you have to hire on more help?”

Cooper shook his head, still unable to make eye contact with her. “Can’t,” he rumbled out the answer in his new low-pitched voice. “There was no money to hire another hand.”

Her brow furrowed. “So, how is everything getting done? I thought Thad had bought cattle to add to his farm a couple years back.”

He glanced at her, a quick intense dart from his whiskey eyes, before looking away again. But in that split second of contact, she felt physically touched. “It’s slow moving, but I’m managing to get through. A couple of neighbors have offered to help when it’s time to pick corn.”

Jo Ellen’s eyes bugged. “You mean, you’re running your parents’ farm entirely by yourself?”

He shrugged. “Dad did it by himself before I came along.”

She shook her head. “But…Grady told me you’d started a spraying and fertilizing business. How can you possibly do both?”

He crinkled his eyebrows, frowning at her. She flushed slightly, realizing she’d just confessed she’d somewhat kept track of him over the years. This time, she glanced away.

“I had to put my business on hiatus until Mom and Dad are…settled.”

With a sigh, she shook her head, knowing this was exactly what he would say before she even asked her question. Irrational anger clutching her tight, she scowled. “You are just bound and determined to sacrifice your entire life for something other than yourself, aren’t you?”

He pierced her with a sharp, penetrating stare. Then his eyelids quivered before he rumbled out the words, “Well, being that it’s my life, I figure I can sacrifice it for whatever I deem important.”

“Even if the recipient of that sacrifice doesn’t deserve it?” she charged, drilling her gaze right back into him.

She had no idea why she was challenging him, or why she grew so instantly upset to learn he’d ditched his business to help his parents. Cooper had been the one and only person to hold her hand and stand up for her when everyone else in the world had turned away. He was the last man on earth she should censure.

But it felt as if the years had melted away and they were still staring at each other in her parents’ living room. “I can still help you with the baby, Jo Ellen.” he’d promised so adamantly. “Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it.”

She just couldn’t handle learning he’d yet again thrown his entire future away, all his dreams, for another life-altering sacrifice.

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