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I licked my lips and didn’t miss the way her eyes watched the movement before connecting with my stare. “Like what?” I was being a bastard.
The douche canoe had just left, her heart was probably broken, and I was behaving like a bull in a china shop pummeling my way into her life.
Or deeper into her life.
But she’d understand one day. I couldn’t keep going the way I’d been. She needed to know where I stood.
She needed to know my heart belonged to her.
“Like… like youlikelike me.” Her eyes dropped, but one of my hands lifted her chin, forcing our eyes to reconnect.
“I like you. I more than like you,” I rasped.
“As friends,” she whispered. I swallowed hard. Her eyes dropped to my neck as my Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.It was go-time.
“More than friends, baby. You’ve always been it for me.”
“It?” she repeated and shook her head “Auggie—”
“Shh…. I got you. I got both of you,” I promised as I pulled her back into my arms.
But this time, there was no fight. No hesitation. She simply let me lead her against me.
When she was in my arms, sitting on my lap this way, everything felt easier.
Everything, like breathing or existing was actually possible.
Sandra ‘Sandy’ Duarte
“You’re too good to me, Auggie,” I whispered into his broad chest. It wasn’t the first time we had sat this way. Auggie and I had always been close. Affectionate. But this, in its own way, was different.
I wanted to stay right where I was for a lifetime.
Heck, I’d been in love with August West since the moment I’d caught a glimpse of him when my mom started working on the ranch. But August West was more than an unreachable dream.
Our differences had been obvious growing up. My mom worked for his family. Not that they treated us any differently or ever looked down on us. But when we started high school, I realized just how silly the notion of being more than friends with August West actually was.
He was the big guy on campus.
The star athlete who seemed to turn everything he touched into gold. I, on the other hand, was his clumsy, nerdy sidekick. The one who, like a cliché, was in love with her best friend.
But it was okay.
He had no clue.
I’d made the decision a long time ago that I’d rather have Auggie in my life as my best friend than confess how I felt and lose him when he told me he didn’t feel the same way.
After we graduated, for whatever reason, Auggie decided to stay home and work the land of his family’s ranch instead of going off to college. He insisted I go and even helped me find scholarships to help me pay for it since I wouldn’t take him up on his generous offer to pay for it all up front.
Leaving hadn’t been easy.
College had been lonely. But I kept my head down and studied and tried to get through the four years done in three.
While I was gone, I came back during the holidays, and a year later, my mom retired and moved to New Mexico to live close to my aunt.
But even though I didn’t have family at the ranch, I kept returning. It had always felt like home to me, and Auggie always begged me to come. Auggie’s family had built two beautiful cabins at the edge of their property for extra ranch hands. The spot was special to me. Growing up, it was where Auggie and I would ride to. We’d sit beneath the tree and talk and laugh. Sometimes, he would even pack us a lunch or bring snacks with him.
It was beautiful.
