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Chapter 12

The trail ridehad been good, despite the revealing conversation and admission she had made to Jewel while Eli had conveniently vanished. The rest of the afternoon and evening had been the most relaxed she had been around Jewel in days, and it felt good. It felt wonderful, actually, to be able to talk like they were best friends again without a heavy weight between them. But Azalea knew they still had a lot to discuss, and she, more importantly, had decisions to make.

She heard Eli come in for her morning coffee, and she was ready to go. She’d snuck out of the bed as silently as she could, leaving Jewel to sleep in. Azalea walked down the stairs and found Eli filling up a thermos with coffee in the kitchen, with only one light on.

“Mind if I join you this morning?”

Eli jumped, the lid of the thermos clanging loudly against the sink. “Jesus, Azalea. Are you trying to scare me to death?”

“No. Just thought you might like some company.”

Eyeing her suspiciously, Eli nodded. “But you get your own coffee.”

“Fair is fair.” Azalea stepped forward to grab a travel mug, filling it with the leftover coffee before she cleaned out the old filter and grounds, adding new water and setting it to start again. She knew Jewel was going to want some as soon as she woke up.

When she was set to go, they walked together out the back door. Eli held Azalea’s hand as they followed the barely visible path down a steep hill toward the barn. They moved in silence until they got into the old farm truck and Eli started the engine.

“So tell me, teach, what’s on your mind?”

Azalea snorted. It had been nearly a decade since Eli had called her that, and usually it was her asking Eli a question, not the other way around. “Nothing much. Really just thought you might like some company for once.”

“Right. I’ll believe that when I see it. No one wants to get up at five in the morning for morning chores unless they have to.”

“Well, I did.”

Eli narrowed her gaze and shook her head, even though Azalea could barely make out the shadows on her face in the pitch-black night. “Precisely.”

“Oh, come off it, there’s nothing wrong.”

“There is most definitely something wrong.” Eli turned down the dirt road to the lower fields where the cattle were currently grazing.

Keeping her mouth tightly shut, Azalea released the tension in her body and allowed the moment to be just what it needed to be. Two friends, one helping the other, in good company.

“You like her. And you lied to me about it when you got here.”

Every muscle she had just relaxed tightened. “What?”

Eli grumbled. “You like her, teach. Get over it already and just admit it.”

“I never said I didn’t admit it.”

“I asked you when you first got here if you liked her, and you told me no, you were just friends.” Eli stepped on the brakes as they entered the field. “What I found in the kitchen the other night was absolutely not just friends.”

“Some things may have changed in the last few days.”

“Uh-huh.”

Azalea sighed, pushing a hand through her hair. She did not think getting in the truck with Eli was going to result in the inquisition.

“So you like her.”

“Yes,” Azalea admitted, though she felt like she was saying that to the wrong person. She should be telling that to Jewel, not Eli, but she couldn’t find a way to back out of the corner she’d painted herself into yet, not when she was so sleep deprived and under-caffeinated.

Eli stopped the truck. “I’m sorry, did you actually just admit that?”

Azalea understood Eli’s surprise. In all the years they’d known each other, she’d never shared about her romantic relationships other than her orientation. In fact, she never shared about her romantic relationships with anyone, which might be the cause of Jewel’s lack of understanding of her hesitancy. She needed to rectify that.

“I did.” Azalea’s voice was firm. “I think I’ve liked her for a long time.”