out of Rickie, terrified the both of us, and then we woke up the whole house. Now everybody knows I was trying to sneak into your room.”
“Oh shit,” I whisper. “Is it horrible that I’m not sorry? I need to see you.”
Her eyes get wet. “I need to see you, too.”
“Get in here.” I pat the spot on the bed beside me. “Take off that coat. And those boots. I need to hold you.”
Chastity wipes her eyes and sheds her coat. The moonlight shows me the curve of her cheek and the shine of her hair as she leans down to shed her boots. And I forget how to breathe for a second, because I just love her so hard.
Maybe I’m the dumbest man alive. I don’t know how it took me so long to realize how I really feel. And now I need to tell her. “I don’t mean to complain, because you walked all this way. But could you hurry? I’m dying here.” I open my arms wide.
She kicks her boots aside and launches herself at me. I catch her against my chest and squeeze. All the tight places inside my chest finally loosen up. “Chastity, please don’t go to Wyoming. You hate it there. And I need you too much.”
A giant sob shakes her body, and her arms wrap even more tightly around me.
Don’t cry, I almost say. But that’s ridiculous. Sometimes you just need a good cry. So I hold Chastity against my body, rubbing her back and stroking her hair.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffs. “I never cry.”
“I’m just glad you’re here. I really don’t want you to leave.”
“I can’t stand the idea of leaving,” she says with a sniffle. “But Leah really deserves my help. And I don’t know how I could make it here on my own. I don’t know what to do.”
My heart lurches. “You’re not on your own. Jesus. I’ll help you figure it out. My family will help, too.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m sure you would. But then I’ll owe you just as much as I already owe Leah.”
“You won’t owe me,” I insist. “Because I love you. And I don’t want you to go. I need you too much.” I’m going to keep saying that until I’m sure she’s heard me. “And I love you.”
Chastity picks up her tear-stained face, as if she can’t quite make sense of those words. “Dylan.”
“It’s true. I promise.” I wipe a tear off her cheekbone. “I’m in love with you, which is kind of inconvenient if you’re leaving Vermont. But if you give me a chance, I’ll make it worth your while to stay.”
A beat later Chastity is still staring at me like I have three heads. I will probably have to say that a few more times before she believes me. Or—wait—Chastity needs actions, not words. So I take her face in my hands and kiss her instead.
There’s a lot of kissing after that. We both need it.
Maybe I’ve been a little slow to figure us out. But one thing is clear—we’re both very sexual people, and not just in the sense that we have a high sex drive. (Which we obviously do.) It’s a key way that we communicate.
When I unzip her jeans and push them off, I’m telling her that I need to feel her skin against mine. And when she puts her palm under my T-shirt and over my heart, it’s because she needs that connection.
We kiss and kiss until we can’t breathe. And then we lie face to face, legs entwined. “You could spend the summer right here,” I point out.
“Where?”
“Right here in the bunkhouse. If Isaac and Leah sell their place before it’s time to head to Burlington in the fall, we can stay in this room together.”
“I can’t believe they’ll sell,” she whispers. “They worked so hard for everything they have.”
“Wouldn’t be my choice, either,” I agree. “But Leah is a crusader. Her concept of home might be different from ours.”
I’m still trying to figure out what home means to me, too. It’s harder than I thought it would be.
“Connors wants the farm,” Chastity says. “He’ll put cattle in the barn.”
“Isaac has a buyer already?”
“Well, yeah. Since you and Griff don’t want it.”
My eyes fly open again. “What?”
Chastity sits up part way. “Griffin told Isaac tonight at dinner. That you guys aren’t in the position to think about it right now.”
“Oh shit.” I sit up, too. “Is that what Griff wanted to