Moose stood on the front doorstep of the imposing Rowland family home, shifting from cowboy boot to cowboy boot. He had the requisite bouquet of flowers in a stranglehold in front of him, clinging to them as if to a life preserver. He’d brought yellow roses over tonight instead of the usual red; yellow meant friendship. Red meant love. Even he knew that.

So, yellow it was.

Gathering his courage, he knocked firmly on the front door of the Georgian plantation home – or the closest replica to be found this side of the Mississippi. The style seemed horribly out of place up in the wilds of Idaho, but it’s what Tennessee’s parents considered to be the best.

And they always needed to have the best.

Tennessee’s mother opened the door, a haughty look on her face that melted into a smile once she spotted him. “Oh, hi dear!” she exclaimed, standing back to welcome him inside. “Come in, come in. We didn’t realize we would be graced by your presence this evening. What a lovely surprise. Tennessee!” she called up the grand staircase. “Deere is here to see you.”

Moose kept a smile firmly planted on his face even as he fought back the urge to correct her usage of his legal name. He was Moose…to everyone he cared about.

In that case, he figured that maybe it wasn’t so bad to be called “Deere” by Tennessee’s mom after all. He felt a lot of things in this case, but genuine love for the pretentious, snotty woman standing in front of him was not one of those feelings.

Tennessee peered down over the railing, her hair falling forward in a riot of curls as she tried to see who was in the foyer. “Oh, hi Deere!” she said, the surprise evident in her voice. She had on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. “Please…I’ll be right down. Mother, can you take him to the drawing room?” She disappeared from sight, probably going to go change into something more formal.

He wanted to tell her not to bother – it wasn’t nice to have her get all dressed up just so he could break her heart – but he also didn’t know how to holler that up the stairs – that wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you could holler up the stairs, he didn’t think – and so he just allowed her mother to lead him to the drawing room, as if he didn’t know exactly where it was. It was where he was directed every time he came over to visit Tennessee, as if he was the lead character in some dreadful Regency novel. No doubt Tennessee’s parents felt like they’d been born into the wrong century and country. They certainly acted like that, anyway.

“She’ll be right down,” Tennessee’s mother promised him, and then shut the doors to the drawing room behind her, leaving him in the dim lighting of just one lamp glowing in the corner.

He wandered over to the grand piano and plunked at a few keys, the rich sound belying his complete ineptitude in the realm of music. No wonder Tennessee sounded so amazing when she played the piano. A three year old would sound amazing playing this instrument. Not that Tennessee didn’t have musical talent – she did – but there was no denying that this piano was worth some serious cash.

Only the best for the Rowland family…

“Hi, Moose!” Tennessee said, slipping into the drawing room and closing the door with a click behind her. She was wearing a calf-length bright blue dress that matched the color of her eyes perfectly, with her hair up in a stunning cascade of curls that tumbled over her shoulder. She looked like she was ready for an evening out at an upscale restaurant and an opera to finish off the date.

Moose felt his stomach begin to clench harder. If he threw up, he would never live it down. He’d have to move to Timbuktu and change his name to John Smith.

Just tell her the truth…just tell her the truth…

“Oh look, you brought me roses. Yellow ones, even. Usually you bring me red ones!” she said delightedly. She took the roses from his sweaty grasp, leaving him with nothing to cling to. He swallowed down the desire to ask her to give them back, please, and instead shot her a devil-may-care grin.

“I thought it was a nice change of pace,” he said with a shrug.

“Yellow roses are my favorite!” she said with a huge smile, burying her face in their petals. “Red are fine, of course,” she said quickly. “I love them too. I just…yellow is so cheerful, you know?”

She was obviously worried about offending him, which made a bubble of hysterical laughter attempt to work its way up his throat. He’d been sort of dating/engaged to/connected with Tennessee his entire life, and he’d had no idea that yellow roses were her favorite.

What had they been thinking? Why? Just…why? “I cannot marry you,” he blurted out, and then all color drained from his face. It was what he’d been thinking, but he hadn’t meant to actually say it. He’d meant to break it to her gently, after reassuring her about how beautiful she was, and how lucky any man would be to marry her. He just didn’t happen to be that man. She shouldn’t take it personally, of course.

Yada yada yada.

But then…the words just flew out of his mouth, like a dog spotting an opening in the fence and making a run for it.

“Wh-what?” she stuttered, eyes huge as she looked at him over the bouquet of roses. “You don’t want to marry me?”

“I should’ve told you a long time ago,” he said, his heart breaking at the look in her eye. She was completely stunned by this. Of course she was stunned by this. What, did he expect her to be excited about it? He hurried on before she could curse his name or knee him in the nuts or any other number of things that he absolutely deserved. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you. I…I don’t love you, Tennessee. You’re beautiful and talented and intelligent and kind, and you’re going to make someone a smashing wife someday. I just can’t be—”

“Oh thank you!” she hollered, throwing herself at him, covering his face in kisses. She was laughing and crying as she hugged his neck tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

He stiffened up, instinctively hugging her back even as the panic began to grow even more out of control in the pit of his stomach, which would’ve seemed impossible five minutes ago but was now proving to be quite possible.

“I…I don’t want to marry you,” Moose felt obliged to point out. Somewhere, the lines had been crossed. She was going to be pissed when she realized what he really said. She might even knee him in the nuts twice for good measure. She somehow got the impression that he was finally proposing to her. No, no, no, no…this is not good!

“Tennessee,” he said urgently, clasping her hands in his, the giant bouquet of roses keeping them a good foot apart from each other, “I can’t marry you.”

“And I can’t marry you!” she announced, a huge grin on her face. “Nothing personal, of course. But I cannot marry my brother. You’ve always been there, like the coffee table or something—” His mind spun at that, his ego a little bruised at the comparison. Coffee table? Couldn’t she have picked something better? Something not…furniture related? “—and I just kept thinking that it was making you and Dad and Mom happy, so I had to just do it anyway, but I don’t love you. I’ve never loved you.”

“Never…loved me?” He repeated her comment, stunned, his mind whirling like a child’s toy as he tried to take it in. This whole conversation was blowing his mind. If Tennessee had loudly announced that she was actually a transvestite and was going to move to New York to start a one-person nudist play, he could not have been more shocked.

“Nope!” she said with a huge grin. “Never. I mean, like a brother, sure. But not like I should love my future husband.”

“Uh-huh,” he said faintly, feeling his way to the couch and sitting down with a thud. He’d spent years of his life subconsciously trying to work his way up to this moment, and had spent the last 48 hours of his life trying to imagine how she’d take the news.

This…this wasn’t it. This wasn’t what he’d imagined at all. She was smiling and laughing, not sobbing hysterically. This was just wrong.

“Are you okay?” she asked, pausing in her excited dancing to stare at him worriedly. “You did say you didn’t want to marry me, right? And I don’t want to marry you. I mean, we still have to tell the parents and God knows that’s going to go over like a lead balloon, but you and I, we’re on the same page, right?”

“Yes…” he breathed out, the news finally becoming real to him. “Yes, we are. I don’t want to marry you, and you don’t want to marry me!” He jumped up from the couch, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear as they danced and laughed, relief washing over them in waves. “I thought you were going to be heartbroken!” he finally said, pulling back from yet another hug of happiness. “I’ve been worried about this for…well, for years, even if I didn’t let myself really think about it, and…you’re not angry! I was just sure you’d be mad at me!”

“Mad? That finally one of us has the backbone to say no to this? I’m thrilled beyond words. This is the best present you could’ve ever given me.”

They grinned at each other for a minute, the elation washing over them as they both reveled in the feeling of freedom. It was a feeling they’d never really felt – never, in their whole lives – and it was intoxicating. Way better than the best whiskey on the market.

He took her hand and dragged her back to the couch, pulling her down beside him. “Okay, planning time. We need to present a united front to our parents. I’m afraid that if they get us alone, they’ll guilt us back into a relationship. Not to mention that apparently, my father was going to hold the dealership hostage until I married you.”

“Wait, you didn’t know that?” Tennessee asked, jerking her head back in surprise.

“Of course I didn’t know that. How messed up is that?! Forcing your child to marry the woman of your choice before you’ll finally hand over the reins to a business you’ve been promising that child his entire life? Hell, what century do we live in, anyway?”

She let out a little giggle at that, which quickly escalated into a belly laugh. “I don’t knoooow!” she said, weak from the laughter as she collapsed against the corner of the couch, tears streaming down her face. “I know we live in Sawyer, Idaho of all places, but it is 2018, right? We shouldn’t be a few centuries behind the times, right?”

“You wouldn’t think so, but…” Moose trailed off, wonder in his voice as he watched Tennessee let go, sprawling loose-limbed over the couch beside him. In all the years he’d known her, he’d never seen her laugh like this. He didn’t know she even knew how to laugh like this.

He didn’t know she didn’t want to marry him. He didn’t know her favorite flower was the yellow rose. He didn’t know she knew how to let out an old-fashioned belly laugh.

He didn’t know her at all.

He’d thought his heart would be hurting as they had an ultra-serious discussion and she cried and yelled and beat him over the head with her shoe. Instead, his head was hurting as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he could know a woman his entire life, and yet, know nothing about her at all.

“You are the most private person I know,” he blurted out. “How is it that I didn’t really know you?”

She sucked in a breath, the humor instantly gone. She sat up, wiping away the tears of laughter from her eyes with the backs of her hands, and then said seriously, “Honestly, you probably know me better than almost anyone else.”

She took in a deep breath, really thinking about what she was going to say, making sure she said what she meant. Finally, she continued. “I…I was taught a long time ago that what I want and think and desire doesn’t really matter, so why share it?” She shrugged. “Virginia is in her own little world while my parents don’t care what I want, so that leaves you and Georgia. I guess I just got into the mindset that it really didn’t matter what I thought, so I would just bury it down deep. Better than trying to share and being told to my face that I didn’t matter.”

Her eyes were glistening with tears, and he realized belatedly that the euphoria had dissipated. Now the real challenge was just beginning: What on earth was he going to tell her parents? His parents? This wasn’t just going to cause a little bit of frustration and anger, it was going to throw off the whole balance of the universe.

The tears began rolling down Tennessee’s face, and instinctively, he pulled her head against his chest, stroking her head as she cried out years of anger and callousness and ignorance of who she really was by a set of parents who really didn’t care.

As hard as it was to see her cry like this, Moose also realized that it was cathartic. She deserved to be able to just let it all out.

Before he could say anything – if there was anything to say in a situation like this – the door to the drawing room opened. “What on earth is going on in here?” Mrs. Rowland demanded, hurrying over and staring down at the two of them on the couch together. “Tennessee, quit your crying. No one wants to see your red eyes. They’re not at all attractive. First you two were laughing like a pair of loons, and now you’re crying. Deere, explain yourself. What did you say to Tennessee?”

He opened his mouth to defend himself, when Tennessee spoke up. “Mother,” she said, sitting up and again wiping at the tears on her cheeks with the backs of her hands. This time, though, they were not tears of joy and the gesture hurt Moose to watch, sending a pain shooting through his gut at the sight. Tennessee wasn’t one to cry easily. How they’d ever found themselves in this situation was painful to contemplate. “We have a big announcement to make. Can you go get Father out of the den? This is important.”

Mrs. Rowland’s eyes flicked back and forth between them, clearly trying to decide whether she could bully Tennessee into just telling her now, but Moose draped his arm around Tennessee’s shoulders and looked up at the woman with a bland look on his face. He wasn’t going to move until they got what they wanted.

“Well, I’m sure your father wants to hear whatever it is you have to say,” Mrs. Rowland finally sniffed, and headed out the door to hunt him down. As soon as she left, Virginia slipped in through the partially open door and hurried over.

“What is going on?” she whispered, her eyes darting between the two of them. “Laughing and shouting and crying…I thought Mother was going to go crazy, pacing back and forth at the door, trying to figure out what you two were doing.”

“Come, sit next to me,” Tennessee said, patting the cushions next to her on the couch for her teenage sister to sit on. “You’re about to witness your older sister actually using the backbone God gave her at birth. The fireworks should be…interesting.”

“Are you two…are you breaking up?” Virginia whispered, her eyes round as they darted back and forth between the two of them. Tennessee paused for just a moment, debating, and then she nodded. Virginia flopped back on the couch. “Shiiittttt,” she said in awe.

And then, “Mother is gonna kill you.”

“Probably. You can only stay and watch the show if you keep quiet, though,” Tennessee warned her. “No comments from the peanut gallery.”

Virginia mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key, then settled down on the couch in a more proper position that wouldn’t earn her a scolding from her mother. She took the threat of being thrown out seriously, and decided to stop talking before their parents even showed up. She didn’t dare risk missing the show.

Moose stroked Tennessee’s shoulders. He could feel the tension in her, vibrating as she tried to project an aura of calm. She looked up at him with a pained grimace on her face, patting him on the knee, trying to pretend as if all was well, and he let out a little chuckle. In that moment, he felt closer to her than he had in all of the years of “dating.” He could practically read her thoughts as they marched across her face.

Maybe…maybe if I’d been able to see the “real” her all these years, I might’ve fallen in love with her.

Then Georgia’s smiling face flashed in front of his eyes and he felt a little smile curl around his lips. Nope. There was no hope for Tennessee – never had been. Not with Georgia Rowland in the world.

“What are you grinning about?” Tennessee demanded, her voice barely a whisper. She was going to vibrate right off the couch with all of the nervous energy built up inside of her.

“Georgia’s smile,” he said simply.

“I knew it!” she crowed. “There was always something between you two. Like walking into—”

“Something between whom?” came her father’s voice as he strode into the room, his polo shirt neatly tucked into his slacks, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He’d obviously been disturbed from his evening routine, and was not happy about it. His wife came trailing in behind him. He glanced over at Virginia, sitting so straight, she might as well have had a steel bar for a spine. “What are you doing here?” he asked, getting more annoyed by the moment.

Virginia opened her mouth – probably to apologize – when Tennessee jumped to her defense. “I asked her to stay. I thought it would be good to have the whole Rowland family here to hear this. Mother, Father…” She drew in a deep breath. “Moose and I do not love each other. We never have. I am not going to marry him, and he’s not going to marry me.”

Moose felt a little laugh bubble up at that statement – the first part rather made the second part obvious – but Tennessee was nervous, her usually unflappable, demure demeanor gone along with any pretense that she was going to bend over backwards for her parents any longer.

“You’re what?!” her mother cried, while at the same time, her father thundered, “Over my dead body!”

“Father, it is 2018. I will choose who I marry. Moose is not that person. End of story.”

“Such a ridiculous nickname!” her mother broke in, sidetracked by her daughter’s use of it in front of her. “I never understood why you’d choose that name over the one your parents chose for you.”

“Funny,” Moose drawled, “I always thought the name ‘Deere’ was ridiculous. I guess it’s all in how you look at it. I also wouldn’t name my children after states, so…” He shrugged.

“Well, I never!” Mrs. Rowland exclaimed, her cheeks growing redder by the moment. “If this is the kind of impertinence you show your betters, I am glad my daughter won’t agree to marry you.”

“Whatever makes you sleep better at night,” Moose said with a shrug, suddenly feeling a thousand pounds lighter. He turned towards Tennessee, ignoring the shrieks and yelling of the parents, and the howls of laughter from Virginia. “I think I’ve done enough damage around this popsicle joint. I’ll take on my parents by myself. I’m pretty sure that after tonight’s performance, your parents won’t want me back, no matter what business I’m inheriting. I think we’re in the clear,” he said with a grin, leaning forward and kissing her on the cheek.

“Thanks for everything,” she whispered back conspiratorially. “And do tell me how things go with Georgia.”

He nodded his acknowledgement to Tennessee, winked at Virginia, waved to the parents who were matching shades of red, and then walked out of the drawing room. “Young man, come back here!” he heard Mr. Rowland holler, but he just kept walking.

Freedom was sweet, indeed.