Page 69 of A Hard Habit to Break

“So have I.” He’d lifted, rolled, tossed, and raised more hay bales and wood, all the while trying to keep his own under wraps. Watching Rachel dispatch Cheyenne’s shenanigans with a determined scowl had him crowing louder than Pretty Ricky.

She leaned closer. “I’m sweaty, too.”

“Even better,” he chuckled.

“You’re not going to give up?” It was a question, but Noah had one of his own.

“Are you gonna give in?” He knew her answer, but—

“Maybe.”

His breath caught like fine cotton on a rusty nail. He met her eyes. “Don’t tease, Six. I swear I’m not strong enough to fight what I’m feeling.”

“Have I ever led you on?”

“There was that thing when you dumped your taco down my shirt in junior high for talking with Prudence.”

“I’ll do real damage if I catch those haunted hazel eyes on anyone but me, Noah Calvary.”

“Of that, you have nothing to fear.”

“Don’t I, Noah? Thousands of miles have a way of making relationships messy. A part of me has always considered you a friend. Let’s not jeopardize our friendship for a couple of feel-good days in a fantasy.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Whatever. You know what I mean.” She went back to her task.

“Six, do you remember the time you designed our future house out of mud and popsicle sticks?”

She stopped hammering a nail into place. “I remember having to stop construction because you vomited after the tenth popsicle.”

“True, but I didn’t quit.”

She laughed then. “After your mother found you hurling down by the plunge pool, she marched me up the mountain…” she trailed off, but Noah knew the rest.

“You spent the next week under punishment for force feeding me. Your dad forbade you from coming to the plunge pool,” he mused. Noah had cried when his mom informed him that Rachel would have to stay home for seven whole days.

“My dad woke me up an hour early every morning to milk the cow and feed the horses before school.”

“I remember,” he said, brushing one stubborn curl away from her face to tuck it behind her ear. She turned her head to look at him. Gosh, he wanted to kiss her… he wanted to run away, just the two of them. “What happened next?”

“I wanted us to run away together.”

“Some days, I wish we had, Six.” Then he never would’ve lost her.

She took his hand in hers. “You didn’t want to leave Calvary land because you’d promised me a house,” she whispered.

“That I did.”

“And a Calvary man keeps his word.”

“My word is my bond.”

She squeezed his hand. “You emptied your savings and bought us walkie-talkies.”

“And you had to climb on the roof to use yours.”

“Every night.” She smiled more to herself than to him. “I’d wait till my dad turned off my bedroom light, then tiptoe to my window and ease outside.”