I thought back to yesterday when I’d dropped Jessica off at her house after having dinner with her parents.
“SO, DO YOU have a going away present for me?” Jessica asked with her cute little smile.
“Ah…I didn’t know I was supposed to get you a gift, baby. I’m sorry.” Her face dropped and she looked out the window. I placed my finger on her chin and pulled her eyes back to mine. “Jess, I didn’t even think about it.”
Her jaw tightened and I knew it was coming. “I find it funny that you thought to buy your best friend a ring when y’all went off to college, but when your girlfriend is leaving for the whole summer, and returning to live with you on your family’s ranch, it doesn’t even pop into your head that maybe you should buy her something.”
I closed my eyes and let out a long, slow breath. “Jesus, Jess. Why do you always bring that damn ring up? I wish I’d never told you about it. What do you want from me?”
“A commitment, Walker. Something that tells me you want the same things I want. I want to know that I’m not picking up my entire life and moving out to the country for a man who doesn’t want the same things I want.”
“Jessica, I just don’t see why we should rush into getting married just because we graduated.”
She laughed. “I’m not asking you to marry me tomorrow, Walker. I’m asking you to commit. To give me something.”
I nodded and looked into her eyes. “I promise, I’ll give you what you’re asking for.”
“When?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
I swallowed hard. “By the end of summer.”
She smiled. “Is that a promise?”
“WALKER?” MY FATHER snapped his fingers in my face. “Earth to Walker.”
I laughed. “Sorry, Dad. I was thinking of something.” Smiling, I slapped his back. “Dad, Jessica and I talked before she left for Europe. I’m planning on asking her to marry me before she moves out to the ranch. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna rush into a wedding, but she wants a commitment from me and I intend to give her one.”
My father smiled and nodded. “That sounds like the young man I raised. We’ll go down to the foreman’s cabin and show you how Layton and I fixed it up. We added another room so Jessica could have an office. I think you’ll both be very pleased.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said. “I’ll take pictures and send them to her.”
My dad led us back up to the house. As we walked, I heard someone pulling up the driveway. I’d parked out front, leaving room for Liza’s car in the back by the garage. When I saw her Camry come around the corner I couldn’t help but smile as I said, “Looks like Liza’s home.”
Right behind Liza were Whitley and my mother. The second I saw Liza step out of her car, the wind swept up her long, chestnut hair, I had to catch my breath. Shit. That hasn’t happened to me in a long time. What is the matter with me?
Whitley and my mother both squealed as Ava came running out the back door screaming. They all tackled Liza and started crying.
“Why do they do that?” I asked.
My father was watching the whole thing play out. “Why do they do what?”
I gestured toward the women. “Scream and cry like that. I mean, I get that Liza hasn’t been home in a while, but good lord.”
My father shook his head. “Son that is the first of many, many questions you’re going to have about women. Almost all of them come down to ‘why do they do that?’”
I laughed and followed my father over to Liza’s car. Layton was hugging her and Jase was waiting for his turn. As much as he tried to be a badass, he loved his sister—and mine. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for either of them.
Liza turned around and the smile on her face about dropped me to my knees. Holy shit. Her hair was escaping from a loose bun on top of her head, despite a bandana wrapped around her head. My eyes traveled up and down her body as I took in the jean shorts, cowboy boots and pink T-shirt. Her smile faded briefly when she saw me, but she quickly brought it back when my father hugged her.
“My gosh, you’re not my little Liza who use to beg me to take her fishing every Saturday on the pontoon boat.”
Liza laughed. “I’m still that girl, just a little older. I still want to go fishing, Reed.”
My father took a step back and I approached Liza. I hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. I glanced at something hanging around her neck. When I saw that it was the ring I’d given her, I looked down to her left hand. That’s when I saw the giant-ass engagement ring. I stopped dead in my tracks. Liza chuckled nervously and gave me a quick hug.
“Hey, you. Oh my gosh it’s been what? A year?”
I couldn’t pull my eyes from the ring. Liza was engaged? When I finally met her gaze, she glanced briefly at her ring before putting her hand in her pocket.
“Um…how have you been?” she asked.
“You’re engaged?” I blurted. Her smile dropped and she squinted her left eye at me, just like she always did when she was agitated.
“What did you say, Walker?” Whitley asked.
That’s when I noticed Liza biting her lip. I realized she didn’t want anyone to know she was engaged. But why?
“I um,” I said “Just, wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.”
Liza let out the breath she was holding and smiled weakly at me.
I smiled back before starting back toward the barn.
“Walker?” she called after me.
I just kept walking. It felt like all of the air had been pulled from my lungs as I desperately attempted to drag in air. She’d moved on—again.
I WATCHED AS Walker walked toward the barn. My first instinct was to go after him. Instead, I plastered on a fake-ass smile for everyone.
My mother pulled me in for another hug. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she whispered into my ear.
I held her tighter. “Me too, Mom. Me too.”
My father clapped his hands said, “Let’s head back in and eat some barbecue ribs, shall we?”
I looked back toward the barn as Jase and Walker both walked through the barn doors. I turned to my father who gave me a funny look, then winked.
Walking into the kitchen, I instantly felt relaxed. I loved being home. I loved our ranch, the river, the cows, the horses. I loved everything about this place. My mother and Courtney were getting everything ready for us to sit and have a feast. Ava was bouncing around, talking a mile a minute about how she only had one year of college left. Her degree was in design, and she would be interning this summer at design firm in Austin.