Robin scraped her bangs off her forehead and pinched her fingers around the hoof. “So then, we just file down here.” Exhaustion bled through her, but she kept her smile in place and made her voice as kind as possible when she explained to the mothers and daughters standing nearby what she was doing.

The Sugar and Spice Ranch always had her care for the horses and then demo for the summer campers. She liked it, but not after the late nights she’d had with Shane for the past several evenings.

Now that the weekend was here, they were getting off the ranch and heading south to Luckenbach for a big food truck festival. Robin liked to eat as much as the next person, and she couldn’t wait to see how much Shane could pack away. All in all, she just enjoyed spending time with him—which was why she found herself yawning again when she should be focused on this trim and shoe.

The horse she worked on, a palamino named Paisley, had a bit of Robin’s free spirit, and she tried to pull her leg away. Every muscle in Robin’s body bunched, and she worked to keep the sixteen-hundred-pound horse in place.

But every horse herd had a leader, and Paisley was clearly the pack leader in this herd. She nickered her displeasure about what Robin was doing, and she said, “Just one more, girl. Hold still.”

She explained what she was doing with the nails, and she hammered the last few pieces in place. “Then we just need to file it.” She placed Paisley’s almost-done hoof on the metal piece and grabbed the file.

The sooner she got this job done, the happier everyone would be—Paisley included. She finished, and the girls and their mothers clapped. Robin grinned at all of them and answered all their questions.

Patsy, the horse coordinator at Sugar and Spice, approached in her denim jeans and a pink and white checkered shirt. Robin grinned at her and wiped the sweat from her face.

“Great job,” Patsy said. “I think this is always the thing the moms love the most about their week here.”

“You always say that, but I’m not sure I believe you.” Robin untied her apron and folded the leather.

“No, really. They’re in awe that someone actually does what you do.”

Robin had heard it all before. Her job was unique, she supposed, but really it was just nail-clipping on a huge horse hoof. “So I’ll be back tomorrow to do the rest of the horses.”

Patsy smiled at her and handed her an envelope. “Yep. It’s good to see you again, Robin. What are you up to these days?”

Robin had so much more to say than ever before. Instead of spilling all her personal secrets, she said, “Oh, you know. Same old things.”

“I heard you sold your house in Temple.”

Robin nodded, glad that was what she’d heard and not something about a certain cowboy. “Yeah. It wasn’t a good fit anymore. I travel so much, so.” She shrugged like anyone would’ve given up their comfortable home in a good neighborhood to live in a house on wheels.

“Do you like your new place?”

“I do.” She started packing up her tools, not wanting to be rude but not really in the mood for small talk.

“Did y’all hear that I got engaged?”

Robin nearly dropped the heavy file on her toe. Her steel-toed boots would’ve saved her, but still. She met Patsy’s twinkling eyes, a grin pulling at her mouth. “I didn’t hear that, no.”

Patsy waggled her left hand fingers, and Robin took them in her hand to examine the diamond. “Wow, Patsy. Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Oh, I’ve been with him forever.”

“Dante?” Surprise coated the two syllables. “But last summer, you said you were breaking things off with him.”

“I tried.” Patsy waved her hand as if such a notion was ridiculous. “But we kept getting back together.” She giggled and looked at her ring finger. “We’re gettin’ married over Thanksgiving.”

“Sounds amazing,” Robin said, finishing with her tools. She was just going to walk away. Tuck the envelope with her money in it and walk away. Instead, something tugged her back to Patsy.

“How did you know you—I mean, why Dante?”

Patsy admired her ring a moment longer. “I don’t know. I just knew we would always be together.”

“Even when you’d broken up?”

Patsy nodded. “He was just the one for me.”

“And what will you guys do?”

“Do?”

“You know, after you’re married. You have a place here on the ranch, don’t you?” Robin had known Patsy for a decade, and she indeed knew that Patsy’s family owned this ranch and that Patsy had her own house here.

“Yeah, I do. He’ll probably move out here with me.”

“Wasn’t he some sort of mechanic?”

“Motorcycles. He works in a shop in town.”

Town here was Kerrville, about a twenty-mile trip from the Sugar and Spice Ranch. Robin nodded, the details of how Patsy and Dante would live after they’d gotten married absolutely none of her business. “Thanks again, Patsy.” She gave the other woman a hug and said, “I love your shirt. Where’d you get it?”

“Online somewhere,” she said, already looking at her phone. “This is my daddy. I have to go. See you again real soon, Robin.” She swiped on the call, her face already aglow and the conversation hadn’t even started yet.

Robin watched her for a few moments as she strode away. She was tall, strong, confident. She ran all the affairs of the horses on this ranch, and there were well over fifty of them. She was engaged. She had two loving parents.

Robin wasn’t sure if she was more jealous or more relieved that she didn’t have those things. As she headed back to her truck—where she could blessedly turn on the air-conditioning—she looked at her naked left ring finger. She wondered what kind of diamond Shane could afford, and what her hand might feel like with more weight on it.

She tossed her tools and apron in the back of the truck and climbed behind the wheel, starting the vehicle so she could get some cool air on her skin.

“Is Shane the one?” she asked. Who she was asking, she wasn’t quite sure. Herself? Maybe. God? Maybe Him too. While she’d never been particularly religious, she wasn’t against the idea of a Supreme Being.

As she drove the miles back to Grape Seed Ranch, she planned her outfit for the food truck extravaganza that night, sang along to the radio, and anticipated the next time she could kiss Shane.

That happened the moment he walked through her front door, smelling like musky cologne and looking good enough to eat, even without his cowboy hat. The moment between them was flirty and fun, and Robin’s smile seemed stuck to her face permanently.

“So, what’re we eatin’ tonight?” he asked, slinging his arm around her shoulders as they walked to his truck. The cabin community sat far enough from the main homestead to make it a healthy walk, and he’d always driven over if they were going somewhere.

“Who knows?” she said. “There’s something like sixty food trucks at this thing.”

“The website said eighty-two.”

“There you go.” She waited while he opened the door for her, but she paused before climbing into the cab. “This…thing between us feels right. Don’t you think?” Robin needed some sort of validation, and she didn’t even know why. Doctor Cecily Smith had received one message from Robin, and while she had contacted her within the twelve-hour time frame, Robin hadn’t known what else to say.

Shane gazed down at her. “It feels great.” He dipped his head and kissed her, a slow union that left Robin with fog in her brain. He’d kissed her like this before, and she was starting to recognize the ways he showed her how much he liked her.

The kiss in her house had been full of giggles and fun. A “wow, I haven’t seen you for a whole day,” kind of kiss. Sometimes he kissed her quick, like he just needed one more taste before going home. Sometimes, his mouth was a bit harder, more insistent. Those kisses were filled with passion and they said, “I cannot get enough of you.”

And then he kissed her with soft lips that hung on, almost hungering for more but not taking it. This was her favorite kind of kiss, because it told her that Shane liked her.

Could he love her?

This particular kiss, as it lingered between them, certainly felt that way.

He pulled away. “So.” He cleared his throat. “Should we go eat?”

Robin kept her eyes closed, savoring the nearness of him and the way so much love swirled through her body. Her eyes popped open.

Could she love him?

She found him watching her, a strange look on his face she couldn’t identify before he turned and walked around the front of the truck. She felt woozy, like her legs couldn’t support her weight, as she turned and got in the truck.

Country music filled the silence between them on the quick drive down to Luckenbach. Robin enjoyed the fact that she didn’t always have to have something to say, that they could be together without much going on and still be comfortable.

When they arrived at the food truck festival, she marveled at the size of it. “Oh, wow.”

“Have you never been to this?” he asked.

“I’ve heard about it.” She gazed at the rows and rows of parking while Shane inched down one aisle, searching for a spot. “But I’ve never been.” She twisted toward him. “I guess what they say is true—everything is bigger in Texas.”

He laughed and swung the truck into a spot that seemed too small for even a sedan. Somehow he made his truck fit, and as they walked back to the enormous area laden with trucks, two stages for entertainment, tables, and more people than Robin had ever seen in one place, he tucked his hand into hers too.

As they sampled nachos, tacos, chili, and some of the best fried pickles Robin had ever tasted, she kept the exhaustion at bay by sheer willpower. The back of her throat itched, and she tried to quell the feeling with raspberry lemonade and then honeyed sweet tea.

The noise and swell of the crowd made her stomach swoop, as she turned down Shane’s offer of a churro. He ordered one and while he waited, he said, “You ready to go?”

She nodded, the motion making her brain slosh around in her skull. “I don’t feel well.”

He pulled her into his side and pressed his lips to her temple. “I’ll take you home.” With his steadying presence beside her, and the delicious scent of cinnamon and sugar, she made it back to the truck. He stayed by her side all the way into her tiny house, and he filled a glass with water and presented her with ibuprofen as she sat on the couch and kneaded her forehead.

“Thanks.” She managed to smile at him, realizing how close he crouched to her. The moment stilled, stopped, and her hand seemed suspended in midair as she reached out to cradle his face in her palm.

His eyes closed in bliss, and it felt like it took forever. In that lengthened time, Robin saw his love for her. Felt it all the way down inside her very soul.

And it was huge, and all-encompassing, and the very thing that normally would’ve scared her right out of town. But as he sighed and leaned into her touch, all she felt was the same love for him.

She tipped forward, whispered, “Can I kiss you even if I’m sick?”

“I’m willing to take the risk,” he murmured.

Enjoying the shape of his face in her hand, the wild, cowboy smell of his skin, and the sweet taste of his mouth, Robin kissed him in that soft, slow way so he’d know how much she adored him.

She broke the connection sooner than she would’ve liked and leaned her forehead against Shane’s. “I’m not scared,” she whispered.

He knelt in front of her now, his body between her knees, and he nestled his face in the hollow of her throat. His strong arms stayed around her as he breathed, the wisps of air against her collarbone sensual and welcome.

“I should go,” he finally said, his voice thick. “Let you rest. We’ve had a busy week.” He started to stand, but Robin stopped him with two fingers against the side of his neck. Their eyes met, and a powerful, heated moment moved between them.

“It’s been a great day,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Day fourteen,” he said, and she suddenly hated how he had the days numbered.

“Maybe I won’t leave at day thirty-five,” she said, her voice tightening and choking on the last word. She coughed, and she lifted the glass from where he’d set it on the floor after she’d taken the painkillers.

He simply watched her as she drank, took the glass back into the kitchen, and paused at the front door. “I’m headed out to the eastern sections tomorrow,” he said. “But I’ll call you when I get back, all right?”

She closed her eyes and nodded, seriously considering just sleeping right here on the couch though it was barely dark. “All right.”

She was aware of him slipping out of her house, aware of her little dog curling up on her left foot, and then she fell asleep with the hope that the medicine she’d taken would work all night.