Page 47 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

He tipped his head and took off, leaving her and Logan together in the afternoon sunshine.

“We’ll go slow,” Logan promised.

“I feel safe,” she assured him.

He was silent for a moment then said, “You look beautiful.”

Her heart fluttered, but it was so full of joy and happiness she couldn’t focus on being nervous. “Thank you.” She examined him closer. He wore brand-new jeans and a crisp white shirt. Over that was a tailored vest and tie, both in the very same fabric and colour as her dress. “I can’t believe you got a vest and tie to match my dress.”

“Petra helped set it up.” Logan chuckled. “She was worried when you picked pink that I’d change my mind, but if a guy can’t wear pink, he’s got issues.”

“You look good,” she assured him. “Handsome.”

Far more handsome and grown-up than the boys in her grade twelve class, but she’d keep that tidbit to herself.

“Thank you.” He pulled Glory Days to a stop before they reached the main road to the front doors. “I nearly forgot.”

He reached into the saddle bag that was decorated with flowers—probably a gift from Tansy’s sister Rose—and pulled out a corsage with a pink rose and baby’s breath.

She held up her hand and he slipped it on her wrist. For one moment they sat there, holding hands, staring at each other.

‘Thank you for coming with me to grad,” she offered softly.

“I’m glad to do it,” he repeated, taking the reins. He clicked his tongue to get the horse moving again.

She took a big breath, held on to the pommel with her right hand and his wrist with her left. She leaned into him a little as she stared straight ahead at the crowds now turning their attention toward the approaching horse. She twisted her head slightly so they were nearly cheek to cheek. “Logan?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad to be going with you. Not only so I didn’t have to go with another boy, but because you’re special to me.” She didn’t want to mess it up, talking about being good friends—even though they were.

His lips were beside her ear. The hand around her waist tightened the slightest bit, sending a tickle of wildfire through her veins. “You’re special to me, too, Jinx.”

She had bubbles in her blood stream, and her head was light and fuzzy, but mostly, she was happy. To the core, happy and safe.

Logan spoke again, a low rumble with amusement in his tone. “Now, let’s have a fun night. The grad march, dinner, dancing, lots of pictures with Sasha. One good thing after another, all right?”

“All right.” So many eyes on them now—the girls looking with admiration at Logan, the guys stepping back a little. Jinx felt as if she was the cherry on top of a sundae and didn’t mind it one bit.

She was special to Logan. She didn’t mind that one bit either.

11

The Canadian flag over the new community hall snapped in the wind as Ryan Zhao, arms filled with an oversized box, hurried past the north fence of the building site to where they’d set up the Bike Rodeo.

The Heart Falls Canada Day celebrations had originally been broken up into a bunch of smaller events at locations, but when the organizing committee realized the parking lot would be paved and ready before July first?

Plans changed.

Between shutting down three blocks of main street and the parking lot, the community had plenty of room to gather in the best way possible, already making memories around the future hall.

The fire hall crew had set up a bike rodeo in the wide-open space of the parking lot. Ryan hurried past the table where Brad and Hanna were doing helmet inspections for the children. “I got them,” he told Madison.

Maddy offered him a sweet smile. “Thanks, love. See, Katie? I told you Mr. Zhao had more of the special bike plates.”

The little girl standing beside Maddy had a couple of tear tracks down her cheeks, but she smiled tentatively at Ryan. “I thought I wasn’t going to get one.”

“Sorry, sweetie. We had two big boxes, but one got left behind for a minute.” He opened the top and lifted out a bike-sized white plastic licence plate printed with HEART FALLS CANADA DAY BIKE RODEO. He eyed her seriously. “You know you need to decorate this, right? That’s what makes it special.”