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“Then I pity myself,” she says, drawing back and exaggerating her frown.
“And lastly, rumor is that Jude Noughton and Sadie Wilkins are engaged. Who knew? Not me.” The announcer plays the wedding march song, and everyone around us turns to face us. Every pair of eyes, even the players as they run back onto the field, seek us out. “Stand up, you two. We’ve been waiting forever for this day.”
I groan and roll my eyes.
“Jude and Sadie!” Emmett chants and claps over and over, urging the rest of the crowd to do the same.
“Kiss her!” I hear someone scream. I swear it was Brooks. Shouldn’t he be doing some sheriff shit or something?
The announcer starts saying, “Kiss her!”
Soon the entire high school stadium is chanting it.
“Come on, guys.” Lottie urges us with her hand and gives us a stern look.
I reluctantly stand and hold my hand out to Sadie. She rises to her feet, and I wrap my arms around her waist. She steps into me, and I tuck her in tighter. Her tongue slides out and wets her lips.
This isn’t something I want to do in public. Kissing Sadie for the first time in my life in front of our entire town sounds like a special sort of hell. I’ve long imagined what it might be like to kiss this woman, but it was never like this. But I guess I’ll have to kiss her at our wedding, so this is like practice.
She pushes up on her tiptoes, and I bend my head to reach her. We come together, our lips moments from meeting, and a part of me is excited to finally know how she tastes, how her lips feel against mine, even if everyone is watching. My hand slides just under her shirt, feeling the smooth skin on her lower back, and I dip lower, eager to kiss her now, with or without the audience.
We’re millimeters apart, and the entire stadium quiets, or at least I can’t hear them. At the last second, Sadie turns her head, and my lips land on her cheek. Everyone boos. I find myself wanting to join them because we were so close.
“Wait until the wedding!” she shouts at everyone, and they continue to boo.
“I guess back to the game, Wildcats,” the announcer says.
I sit back down on the bleachers and watch the game, confused as to why she didn’t try to sell us, but I think I’m mostly upset because I really wanted to kiss her.
Jesus, we haven’t made it down the aisle and already things are getting confusing. Not a good sign.
Chapter Thirteen
Sadie
I stop at Jude’s during his lunch hour so we can meet with Romy at The Knotted Barn and figure out what day we can get married. I’d like it to be as soon as possible, before my nerves get the better of me, and so I can get the loan cosigned and make sure the farm isn’t sold.
“Are you ready?” I shout, walking in through the screen door.
He jogs down his stairs, freshly showered and dressed in a clean shirt and jeans. “I just have to grab my wallet.”
I swing my keys around my finger. “Great. I’ll drive.”
He goes to the small table by the front door, slides on his cowboy boots, and pockets his wallet. “I was thinking we’d take the UTV.”
“Oh, I figured you had to get back right after.” I stand by the door, waiting for him.
He opens the drawer in his table and pulls out the keys to his UTV. “Dad’s taking Emmett today. Said we need to get this wedding going.”
He steps over to me and waits for me to go out the door first, then he shuts his front door, and we both bound down the steps.
“Do you find it weird that we haven’t gotten a lot of questions about the validity of our engagement?” I ask on the way to his garage, which holds the UTV.
It’s a four-seater that Jude uses a lot when he wants to get around the grounds of Plain Daisy Ranch faster than he can on horseback.
“I’m not questioning it. It’s probably because it goes along with the narrative everyone’s always spewing that we’ve been secretly seeing one another our entire lives.”
I slide into the passenger seat. “I guess, but your dad didn’t say anything?”
