Boone sensed something new in Nicole’s touch. It felt a bit frantic and a bit manic, but he went with it. He knew what Pastor Scott was going to ask her anyway, so he let her kiss him until she pulled away.

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “He wants me to sing the solos in the Christmas program.” She indicated a folder she’d tossed up on her dashboard. “I guess they wrote it just for me.”

“That’s great, Nicole,” he said, reaching for the folder. “What do you think?”

“You know what I think. I think I’m going to throw up.”

“It’s only September,” he said, flipping the folder open. “And look, your song of the day last week was Silent Night.” He tipped the sheet music toward her, but she didn’t even glance at it.

Misery rolled off of her in waves, and Boone wished he understood this particular affliction. But he’d never had a problem standing up in front of people and talking. Or singing.

“You can sing for me every night, if you think it will help,” he offered. He closed the folder and put it back on the dashboard.

“I don’t think that will help.”

He reached over and took her hand in his, glad when her initial resistance melted away and she allowed him to lift her fingers to his lips. “What will help, sweetheart?”

She turned and looked at him then, a raw vulnerability on her face he’d never seen before. “I don’t know, Boone. Prayer?”

“I can pray for you.” He smiled the gentlest smile he could. “Maybe you’d like to come out to the ranch and sing to the horses. They like it.”

“Is that what you do when you go out there on the weekends?”

He swallowed, his own fears about to come to fruition. “No.” Boone didn’t have a plan for this, but maybe blurting it out would be okay. Maybe he could be vulnerable with Nicole while she was completely real with him.

“I go out to the ranch on weekends for equine therapy,” he said, the words slow and measured, each one appearing in his mind as he said it.

Her fingers on his tightened. “Really? Therapy?”

“At Courage Reins. The horses…help.”

Nicole continued to peer at him, clearly wanting more of the story. Boone’s chest tightened, and his memories surged forward.

“They might help you too,” he said. “You could come out with me one weekend, if you want. I’m going this Saturday.” He went twice a month, and Pete had said he could probably cut back to once.

But Boone liked the therapy sessions. Liked talking to the horses like they could hear him, liked the way he felt calm for days afterward.

“I’d like that,” she said. “We’ll be late for church.”

“Just the opening musical numbers,” he said, a sly grin crossing his face. “But it’s fine. If you don’t want to hear why I’m in horse therapy, that’s fine.” He reached for the car door handle, but she practically jerked his arm off.

“I want to hear.”

Their eyes met, and Boone was struck once again with her beauty. He trusted her when he’d only told this particular secret to Peony before.

“So I came to Three Rivers because of the animal hospital,” he said. “But that was only one reason.” His brain flowed back a couple of years, and he marveled at how different his life was. Just the fact that he was sitting in a church parking lot was leagues from where he’d been in Temple.

“Anyway.” He cleared his throat, realizing this was a story and he had to do all the talking. “Another was my cousin, Squire. He needed help on the ranch, and I figured if the hospital fell through, I’d at least have that.”

“You didn’t like your family’s ranch,” she said. “How’s this one different?”

“No expectations,” he said. “And my father’s not here.” He didn’t let his mind go down that path. “There was a third reason,” he said.

Several seconds went by, with only the air conditioner blowing air on them for sound. “Go on, Boone,” she said. “I won’t judge you.”

“You might.”

She lifted his hand to her lips this time, and Boone appreciated the gesture and her words when she said, “I won’t. I promise.”

He pulled in a deep, deep breath. “I had a job in Temple. I was the large animal vet, and I’d make visits to ranches throughout the area. A herd of cattle came down with something, and I….” Rushed the diagnosis.

Didn’t get all the facts.

Thought I was so smart.

Let my pride get the better of me.

“I misdiagnosed them,” he said. “Over five hundred head died before I realized my mistake.” He pressed his eyes closed, the memories from that time rushing at him, choking him, drowning him.

Her fingers tightened on his. “Oh, Boone. I’m so sorry.”

“I couldn’t stay there. I packed in the night and left in the morning. I came to Three Rivers and stayed at the ranch for a couple of nights and that’s when I learned about the animal hospital here.”

He looked at her, everything he was feeling simply coming out of him. He didn’t know how to hold it back, and he found that with Nicole, he didn’t want to hold it back.

“My dad told me to come on home and join my brother on the ranch. We fought a little. Not much, because I refuse to engage. That’s why we don’t get along. He doesn’t understand that I’d rather run in the morning and take care of pets and cows in the afternoon.”

Nicole gave him a warm, wonderful smile. “It’s the running I don’t understand.”

Boone sucked in a breath and then released everything he’d kept bottled up in a loud laugh. She laughed with him, and the awkwardness and tension between them fled.

“Come on,” he said as he caught sight of a family hurrying inside the church. “We don’t want to be too late. Then only the front pew will be left.”

They got out of the car and walked toward the church hand-in-hand. Nicole paused on the sidewalk and tipped up toward him. He thought she’d kiss him again, which he was more than willing to do, but she simply whispered, “Thank you for telling me.”

She settled back onto her feet and looked at him. “Sure,” he said, unsure of what else to vocalize.

“I think you’re amazing too, Boone.” She opened the door to the church, and Boone followed her inside. Her words rang throughout his whole body, and he had a suspicion he’d follow her anywhere.

He wasn’t sure if the thought excited him or terrified him. He simply knew he was moments away from falling all the way in love with her, and that definitely brought a sting of fear to his heart.

Friday morning, Boone sat in his office, not much on his schedule for the day. No surgeries. Only three appointments. Autumn had definitely hit Three Rivers, and people were back in school and life was humming along.

His mom had texted that morning about the holidays, but Boone wasn’t sure what to tell her. He glanced at his phone again, wondering if he dared take the sixteen steps down to Nicole’s office and ask her to drive to Grape Seed Falls with him for Thanksgiving.

He wasn’t sure what his hesitation was. He’d shared more with her than anyone else, and she indeed hadn’t judged him for his mistakes with the cattle in Temple.

Sighing, he got up and started walking. Step one, two, three…. Sixteen steps later, he arrived in her doorway, and she glanced up at him. Her smile came quickly, and Boone wanted to dart inside, secure the door, and kiss her until he couldn’t breathe.

“I have a couple of questions,” he said. “First, do you really want to come out to Courage Reins with me tomorrow? I’d need to call ahead and see if they have a horse for you.” He paused, this first question definitely the easiest one for her to answer.

She had not practiced any of the Christmas songs with him, nor had she even brought it up again.

Nicole wiped her hand over her hair, pushing back some of the wisps that had fallen out of her ponytail. “Yes,” she said. “I think I’d like to come.”

Boone took a step into her office, then another until he could close the door behind him. If Joanne thought it was weird, he didn’t care.

Nicole blinked at him, her surprise evident in her gorgeous hazel eyes. “What’s going on?” she asked with plenty of trepidation in her voice.

“My mom wants me to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I was—” He cleared his throat, wishing this were easier. He and Nicole had been dating for a while now, but were they to the stage where he took her home to meet his family?

“I was wondering if you felt like…I was thinking…Maybe we should go together.”

“Go together to your family’s for Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah.”

Nicole glanced to the closed door. “I have to tell you something.”

Boone leaned forward, interested in anything she had to say. “All right.”

“I’ve never left Three Rivers.”

Boone sat back like she’d hit him. “What?”

“I’ve lived here my whole life,” she said, anxiety entering her expression. “And I’ve never left.”

“Well, we went to Amarillo to go to the hospital.”

“Yes, I’ve driven to Amarillo.”

“You never went on vacation?” Even though his family had been poor growing up, with most of their money going right back into the ranch, his parents had taken him to Galveston to see the Gulf of Mexico and to California to play in the Pacific Ocean.

“My mother has been sick for a long, long time, and my last sibling left home when I was only seven.” The pain behind her words wasn’t hard for Boone to hear. In the past, he might have missed it. But not today.

“So we’ll go, if you want,” he said. “We can tour Hill Country while we’re down there. It’s beautiful. We can go over to Austin if you want. Go to the Gulf.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to travel?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

He lifted his phone. “So I’ll tell my mom yes?”

“Have you told her about us at all?”

“A little,” he admitted. “I told her I was seeing someone. I’ve never mentioned how serious it was.” In fact, he’d like to know how serious they were. “If we go to my family ranch for Thanksgiving, that’s serious.” He gazed at her, desperate for a label. “Right?”

She swallowed and nodded. “I think that’s pretty serious.”

“You don’t sound happy about it.” Boone put a smile on his face. “For the record, I’ve never taken anyone home to meet my family.”

“For the record, I haven’t either.” She stood and he joined her at the end of her desk. “Tell your mom yes.”

“Yeah?”

Nicole tipped up to kiss him, whispering, “Yeah,” into his mouth before kissing him again.

Boone lost himself in her touch, glad they were continuing to move forward. Most of his past relationships had stalled at some point, sticking before moving on.

But this thing with Nicole felt like it could expand and grow for years to come, and Boone couldn’t wait to introduce her to his family.

Well, maybe not his father, and Boone had the sudden urge to protect her from him as she surely wouldn’t be good enough.

Why wouldn’t she be good enough? he thought as he stepped away and said he’d go make the phone calls and texts he needed to.

He wasn’t sure why Nicole wouldn’t meet his father’s standards, but the thought gnawed at him while he dialed Courage Reins, and he couldn’t be happier he had his therapy riding session tomorrow so he could work through some of his tangled thoughts.