Page 63 of A Rancher's Vow

Shim grinned. “Didn’t have to.”

He pointed at the laundry. Charity’s pale pink bra sat on the top of the pile like a cherry on top of a sundae.

“Fuck.” Dustin dropped the lid on the basket, hiding the evidence from sight. He pointed at his friend. “Don’t you tease her.”

Shim looked shocked. “I would never.”

“You’d be joking, but I don’t want her scared off.” Dustin sighed. “I like her, Shim. Seriously like, more than high school girlfriend like nonsense.”

His friend only grinned wider. “Well, then it’s a good thing you justhappento have to pretend to be a pair for the summer. Just to make sure everything’s in the clear when it comes to the online drama.”

“Great. Remind me that she’s only doing this because she has to.”

“Dude, Charity is not one to do anything she doesn’t really want to do.” Shim pointed at the laundry. “She seems to have wanted to do you just fine.”

“Shut up.”

“Can’t. I’ve been waiting for the mighty Stone to fall, and I’m finding it rather sweet.”

Dustin punched Shim in the shoulder lightly, and they wrestled for a minute.

When they stood again, Shim patted Dustin’s back, expression gone serious. “I get it. The whole wanting to know if this is right, and living up to expectations, even the unspoken ones.”

Because that was hitting the nail on the head. “My family means everything to me. But you and my friends, you’re a part of what’s important, too.”

“And now you’re trying to figure out if Charity could be somewhere in both of those camps. Friendsandfamily.”

Or would she be something even more?

Dustin shook his head. “I’ve got to think it through, but yeah. This is big. I don’t want to rush, but I also don’t want to miss out on something good because I’ve got my eyes closed.”

They headed to the cookhouse for dinner, the companionable silence between them something to be grateful for. Especially when Dustin’s head was full of tangled thoughts and uncharted territory.

13

Charity was still feeling a little unsettled the next morning when she put through a call to Chelsea. Partly because of the image of her and Dustin looking too much like a couple. Partly because her desire kept growing for the pretend story they’d started to inch closer to reality.

A nice catch up with Chelsea would help.

Her sister answered the phone with a yawn and a fuzzy, “Whatsup?”

Charity laughed. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d be awake by now.”

“Suz had a late shift, and I waited up for her. You home?”

“Got back yesterday. Successful time away, both for my job and mostly riding out the weird gossip about Dustin.”

Chelsea hummed. “I watched the story evolve over the past few days—Dustin’s not online much, is he?”

“No. He mostly spent a lot of time shaking his head this past week while people told him what was being said.”

“Good for him for keeping it separate. Did you look?”

Charity considered. “Only enough to remind me how much I don’t like having things online that are out of my control.”

“I hear you, kiddo. But it does seem as if the mess is settling nicely. I saw mention of him having a girlfriend, so that’ll help.”

Oh no. Charity searched her brain but couldn’t remember what she’d told her sister. “Um…about that girlfriend.”