In this video, he wore a white Resistol and his flaxen hair curled out from under it, his blue eyes framed under the crisp brim. In a few clips, Maren could see her dad on the other flank, working to help the riders safely dismount or to unhook the bucking strap. They’d been a pickup team for a little over a year at that point, but this was the first Maren had seen of the two in action.
A hot blush crept onto her cheeks, a warmth that feathered throughout her body. There was no denying the draw of a man on a horse. Watching Grady cut across the arena and the way he could pull a rider safely onto his gelding was sheer talent and true grit. Maren had always loved to watch him ride. He commanded his horse with quiet, determined confidence. It was no different at the rodeo, even with a thousand fans in the stands. Grady did his job and did it well, both when no one was watching and when all eyes were on him. He was just that sort of man.
Apparently, Maren wasn’t the only one to admire that. Looking at the number of views on the recently published video, at least 7,968 other people shared in her appreciation.
“Our boy’s a real hit with the ladies.” Maren’s dad winked as a foreign and unwelcome jealousy washed over her. “Should’ve seen the fuss they were making over him at the finals this weekend. I do believe he even received a few scandalous propositions.”
“Walter.” Maren’s mother swatted Walt’s arm.
“Won’t be the last, either.”
Maren felt sick to her stomach.
“Where are you headed, sweetie?” her mama asked, and Maren was grateful for the diversion.
“To the lake. Leland’s on his way over now.”
“Sunscreen?”
“Already got it.” Maren patted the bag slung over her shoulder.
“Don’t stay out too late.”
“I won’t,” she assured, just as a horn sounded from the gravel driveway out front.
“How come you didn’t hitch a ride with Cutter?” her dad asked.
“Not sure he’s going.”
Shaking his head like he knew something Maren should’ve, he said as she headed to the door, “Oh, Maren. If you’re gonna be there, he’ll be there.”
The anticipation clawing at her as the truck wove through the low hills toward Haven’s Hollow Lake was more than Maren had expected. She’d grown up with over half of the people that would be there. They’d spent their summers swinging from ropes into muddy waters, curled up round campfires, and spinning bottles that determined who would be the next tally on their list of teenage kisses.
But familiarity was replaced with an awkward apprehension and Maren was an absolute bundle of nerves.
“It’s good to see you again, Maren.” Leland angled his face toward her and flashed a gap-toothed smile. His red hair was longer than the previous summer and it curled up at the nape of his neck. The deep freckles he’d once had were lighter than she remembered. He’d always been skinny, but he’d finally filled out his lanky body. Like everyone else, Lee had used this last year to grow up. “We’ve missed you, college girl.”
“Missed you too, Lee.” Maren smiled back.
“Hey now.” He playfully slugged her shoulder with a fist. “Don’t seem too excited.”
“I am excited. Just surprisingly nervous. That’s all.”
“You’re not the one who should be nervous, Maren. It’s all of us who haven’t done a single thing with our lives since you left town who reserve the right to be nervous,” Lee half-teased. “Well, I s’pose one of us has made a name for himself. You see that video of Cutter?” Leland whooped a laugh and slapped the steering wheel. “Usually it’s the bull riders that get all the glory. Never seen anyone pay so much attention to a pickup man!”
“Do you know if he’s coming today?”
“Already there.”
That was enough for a thousand butterflies to unfurl in Maren’s belly. Five minutes later, when Leland’s truck pulled up to the edge of the water next to a row of mud-splattered 4x4’s and she saw Grady relaxed against the tailgate of his secondhand Chevy, her breath left her.
His shirt was off, his skin slick with sweat that glistened over his stomach and muscled chest. His hair had been recently trimmed, cropped into a cut that left just enough on top to rake his fingers through. Eyes, crystal blue, were fixed on the lake and the group of friends that splashed in the shallow water. Someone called out for Grady to join them and the perfect smile he returned when he waved them off made Maren’s knees buckle as she stepped down from Leland’s truck.
He was gorgeous, plain and simple. Undeniably so.
“The party’s arrived!” Leland shouted as he swung out from the cab, a foot on the running board. He jumped down to the ground. After walking around the truck, he slammed open the tailgate and hoisted a red and white ice chest from the back, lifting it onto his shoulders like an old school boom box. “Drinks are on me!”
There was a roar of appreciation as a dozen of their friends raced up the sand to be the first to grab a cool can. Leland instantly became the most popular guy on the secluded beach. He passed out drinks like a bartender and popped the tab on one of his own with a prideful grin plastered on his face.
It was a relief to have such a distraction. Maren had worried that her return would draw unwanted attention, but Leland managed to keep it where it needed to be: on having fun in the heat of a Northern California summer. Maren relaxed a little.
When the crowd filtered away, Grady was still standing right where he’d been when they’d first pulled up. His eyes met Maren’s. It was as though his gaze had been trained there even throughout the commotion, just waiting for her to connect with it. This wasn’t how she had remembered him, so intensely focused and intimidatingly mature. He seemed significantly older than all of the other boys out here, the ones sloppily chugging their drinks faster than their mouths could keep up. He studied her, scrutinized her, even. Then a pained look shot across his features.
“Hi,” he mouthed just as Leland grabbed onto his arm to tug him toward the water. Not until Leland dunked Grady under the waves by climbing onto his back like a monkey did he break his stare.
Maren had to physically shake her head to toss off the trance-like spell she’d fallen under.
Hours later, she found herself sitting on a fallen tree log next to Kiley Swift, half-listening to her retell her first week of work at the diner in terribly specific detail while they watched the boys toss a football back and forth, chest deep in the murky lake. Sarah, Leland’s new girlfriend, worked on her tan on a nearby beach towel and a few other girls Maren knew from high school painted their toenails, complaining as the sand stuck to the glittered polish.
As the sun tucked itself between the hills cratering the watering hole, Maren shivered and politely excused herself from Kiley’s company. Standing up, she headed toward Leland’s truck to borrow the sweatshirt she’d seen in the backseat on the way here. Her bare feet crunched over the sand that turned gravelly the further she got from the water. She curled her toes and tried to arch her feet to avoid the sharp rocks that pressed into the tender flesh. When she got to the truck, she had to pause to allow her poor feet a break from the beating.