Page 85 of Heartland

It’s tempting. I don’t want to be a slacker where the caramels are concerned. But I glance at Ellie, who’s playing with her bottom lip. “Didn’t you tell Ellie’s parents we’d look after her?”

“Yeah, I kind of did,” he says, wincing.

“Well, I’m going to make sure she gets to bed okay. There was some vomiting earlier.”

“I had a feeling.” He smiles at me, and my chest actually aches. “You know you can’t duck me forever, though, right?”

Busted. “I don’t suppose I can.”

He taps his fingers on the steering wheel. “I don’t know what to do, Chass. I need us not to be broken.”

“Broken?” I ask, even though the word resonates with me immediately.

“Complicated,” he tries. “I shouldn’t have been so impulsive the other night. Because look what happened. You’re not answering my calls.”

“That’s Kaitlyn’s fault,” I say. But it’s a lie. Kaitlyn put words to some things that I didn’t want to hear out loud. True things. “She’s the one who made it awkward. But it’s my fault for throwing down the challenge in the first place.”

He gives me a small smile. “Well, I didn’t really argue.”

Except he did. He’s the one who said it was a bad idea. He’s the one who said he doesn’t date. I didn’t want to hear any of that.

So if we’re broken now, I’m the one who broke us. I guess I’d better figure out how to fix it. “We’re going to work together next weekend,” I tell him. “I promise.”

“Good,” he says, giving me a tentative smile. “I’m counting on it.”

Yup. It’s going to be torture. “I’d better take Ellie inside.”

“She seems cool,” he says.

“She’s terrific.” I glance out at the spot where she’s sort of swaying on the bench. “I’m not sure cool is the right word.”

“It’s exactly the right word,” he argues. “The cool people are the ones who like you just the way you already are. She called me Farm Boy.”

“I noticed that.” It was actuallyHotFarm Boy, but I’m not going to correct him.

“LikeThe Princess Bride,” he says. “Kaitlyn called me Farm Boy, too. But she meant it as a put-down. I’m serious, Chass. The cool people are the ones you don’t have to try to impress.”

“That’s a nice way to think about it,” I say quietly. “Ellie is the coolest, then. But I should take her inside now.”

“I know.” He leans forward and traps me in one more caramel-scented hug, while my heart beats wildly against my ribs. I will never get enough of Dylan Shipley. He is my ultimate cool person and I’m just going to have to figure out how to live with that. “You’re pretty cool yourself.”

“You don’t have to flatter me.”

“I’m not,” he says, and then he drops a kiss onto the top of my head. “Call me,” he says. “Before Friday.”

“I will,” I promise, extracting myself and then hopping off the truck’s seat and onto the curb. My skin feels too hot for a cold November night.

“Call me about algebra, too?” he asks as I’m about to shut the door.

“Maybe? Might not need help this week,” I lie. Then I close the door and give him a quick wave before hurrying toward Ellie, who looks about ready to pass out again.

The truck doesn’t move yet, though. Dylan will wait and watch and make sure we get inside. He’ll be my friend and my algebra tutor and he’ll spring me out of jail.

But he won’t be my boyfriend. And that’s just the way it is.

Twenty-Six

Dylan