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For those of y’all with hearts like wild horses. Don’t let them rein you in. (But if a cowboy wants to tie you up and have his way with you, well…)
Sally. My Sally. Holy shit, she came.
“Hey.” She holds up a six-pack of Coca-Cola. “I got the Coke. You got the Jack?”
Sally dropped everything to be here. She dropped everything for me.
Sally, though, just tightens her grip on me. I cry, and she cries, and we hold each other for what feels like a small eternity in the front seat of her daddy’s truck.
I need her now more than ever. Which means I absolutely, positively can’t fuck this up by wanting her like that.
Holy God, am I getting hard for Sally?
I hear her laughing, too, and despite the terror I feel over the possibility of falling for my best friend out of the blue, I’m filled with this blindingly warm sensation. Trying not to suck in lungfuls of water, I picture
a literal sun bursting to life inside me. That’s how it feels, being touched by Sally. Laughing with her. Being loved by her.
“I do miss you,” I blurt. “All the fucking time, Sally. I worry you’ll forget about me. I’m happy you’re living your dream—don’t get me wrong. But life…it’s suddenly all so different, you know? My parents died. And right now, with you, is the first time I feel like I might not die too.”
“You’re not gonna die,” she says thickly. “I won’t let you. I miss you too, Wyatt. Sometimes…God, at school, it gets lonely, and I find myself wanting to be back on the ranch with you so badly that I can’t sleep.”
“You’re like sunshine, you know? Sounds cheesy, but it’s true. I always feel so much better when you’re around.”
“I’ll be your sunshine anytime, Wyatt.”
My entire being rebels at the thought of letting this girl go. Every single one of my cells screams at me to keep her here, to make her mine. That’s when I know I’m in love with her.
But in my heart of hearts, I know that somehow, over the course of an hour, maybe less, I’ve fallen in love
with my best friend. Or maybe I’ve been in love with her all along, and the realization is only hitting me now.
And because I’m in love with her, I have ...
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You’d think I’d be immune to my best friend’s extreme hotness by now, even though I’ve been away from Hartsville more often than not over the past decade. He and I have been friends for—goodness—over
over twenty years now. Wyatt Rivers should be like a brother to me. Only the raging crush I’ve had on him since the second I hit puberty makes my feelings for him anything but fraternal.
And this is why I often wonder if my standards for men are just too high. Has Wyatt, with his forearms and his Stetsons and his generosity, ruined me for everyone else?
Really, Wyatt got this sunshine thing all wrong. He’s the one who’s the sun. The rest of us just float in his orbit, waiting our turn to bask in his warmth and attention.
But the only girl I’m interested in right now is the one across the bar, who looks like she’s about to puke.
I glance at the tattoo of a sunrise on my left forearm. Sally’s remarked on it in passing, but she doesn’t know I got it for her. She also doesn’t know about the other tattoo I got for her, the one on my leg. That one, more than the sunrise, is a dead giveaway of how obsessed I am with my best friend.
The idea that Sally might not come back for years— Yeah, I’m gripped by the selfish impulse to finally make her mine.
But losing Sally? Yeah, I don’t think I could survive that.
God almighty. This girl don’t know what she’s asking. She doesn’t know that asking me to show her has me thinking about showing her lots of things. Most of them involving nudity and my face between her legs.
“Daddy is fine. Dad is not.”
“C’mon, Sunshine. Give me what I want.” “Yes, Daddy.”
I really don’t want to leave. Being with Wyatt always feels like coming home.
“What’s on your mind, Sal?” I hate how easily this man reads me. Knows me.
I love it so much it hurts.
“I have a favor to ask.” I reach for the thermos and refill the cup, grateful for the excuse to not look at Wyatt. “Answer’s yes.” “Let me ask it first.” “Answer’s still yes.”
“But you wanna ask me to be your date, then yeah. Answer’s yes. How many times I gotta repeat myself?”
“You really don’t have to.” “I know. But I will. For you.”
“I’mma show you how fun is done. How it should be done.” He reaches over to put the cap back on the thermos and flashes me a handsome smile. “Hell, you’d better hope I don’t ruin you for everybody else, Sal, because I’m real good at this shit.” That’s exactly what I’m worried about.
Fuck me for falling in love with a girl who was never, ever going to be mine.
“You’re not sick. You’re in love with Sally.”
“You know, you’re not gonna let Mom and Dad down by choosing a path that’s different from theirs. You don’t owe them anything, Wy.”
“To be happy.” Sawyer’s eyes gleam in the lights outside the bar. “That’s it. That’s all they wanted for us. As a parent, I can tell you that’s all anyone wants for their children—for them to be happy. To be who they are and do what they want.”
“Isn’t your nickname for her ‘Sunshine’?” I scoff. “Ha. Hadn’t thought of that.” “Move toward the light, brother. That’s all I’m sayin’.”
“Because that won’t fuck up our friendship or anything.”
“That ship sailed years ago. You don’t wanna ‘be friends’”—he uses air quotes—“with Sally.
“Hey. Hi. Hello, Sally.” “Hi, Wyatt.”
“For you. You look—wow.”
“Wow, Sally. Beautiful.”
Have I died? Am I in heaven? Have I ever felt prettier or happier in my entire li...
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“Of course I’ve been hanging out with Mollie. She’s my new favorite person.” “As long as I’m still your number one.” I grin. “Always.”
“You can fool a lot of people, but you can’t fool me, Wyatt Rivers.”
“I’m not trying to fool you, Sally. It’s just—” His Adam’s apple dips. “It’s hard, you know? Talking about her without, yeah, totally falling apart. I don’t wanna fall apart. Not tonight, when you got so dressed up and look so beautiful. You want me to remind you how to have fun, remember?”
“Fall apart with me another time then?”
