“Don’t fall asleep!” Charlie shouted out behind him. “Five minutes!”
That was about how long West said he’d be. Eva couldn’t wait! She eyed the hayloft above them. What a perfect romantic spot! She’d lead West there and show him exactly how much she was into him. Shivers of anticipation ran through her romantic soul. She shooed the little chicks away from her feet so that she could stand, though her feet slipped over the hay. Her sandals had absolutely no traction!
Cole grabbed her to steady her. Eva turned back to him. His lips tilted up on one side in a crooked smile. She could see the creases of humor set against his rough jaw. She untangled her fingers from his. She felt a little out of breath.
“Thanks,” she said, her eyes going to those sweet little chicks. “I almost flattened our classmates.”
“I’m sure they’d be okay,” he said. “They’re pretty quick to get out of the way.”
Her tongue felt tied up in her mouth, and she made her escape before she made the mistake of trying to set him up with another friend. For some reason, he brought that out in her.
She texted West instead. Strangely, she’d almost forgotten about her plan. “I’ve got a little surprise for you. Text me when you get this.”
She hurried through the barn, passing the stalls until she reached the ladder below the hayloft. Her hands landed against the railings. This reallywaslike recess. She hadn’t done any climbing like this since grade school. Eva had forgotten that she was a little afraid of heights. She reached the top, breathing out when she glanced back and saw the ground looming too far below her. Crawling over the platform, she made her way past a tall stack of hay that concealed her view from the rest of the barn. There was a cozy little hideaway behind it made just for two.
It was perfect!
She wrote West again, her eagerness making her reckless with the speed of her texts: “You coming?”
He finally replied: “Yes.”
“How far are you?” she asked.
“Give me about three minutes.”
“Perfect,” she wrote back. “Take the ladder up to the hayloft. You won’t believe what you’ll find there.”
Me!
Eva giggled into her hand. He was going to get a surprise that he wouldn’t soon forget. She’d heard more than enough country songs to know that hay was pretty much the most romantic spot to find a cowboy.
She picked up her phone. Running her fingers through her apps, she found TalkieTalk and set it on a live feed. She wasn’t a notorious influencer for nothing! Eva had every intention of declaring her love to the world.
West would never doubt her feelings again.
“Hey, everybody,” she told the screen when she switched on her live feed. She watched the numbers jump from zero to the hundreds, to the thousands, to the hundred-thousands. It would hit over a million views soon. She smiled.
Just how she liked it. Her sponsors were going to have a heyday with this.
“I’m in an actual hayloft in Harvest Ranch,” she told her fans. “Can you believe it? Kinda screwy for anyone to findmein the country, but that’s what people do when they’re in love.”
Wait, did she want to admit that yet?
But now the cat was scratching its way out of the bag and so, she let it out all the way by admitting everything. “Oh wow, such a funny thing to say. It feels so strange, but so right. Yeah, I’m in love!” She squealed the second the words came out. “Crazy, right? I’m finally saying it out loud. But I-I think he just doesn’t know how I feel because…” She tried to work out exactlywhyhe didn’t know. “I’m too friendly sometimes,” she admitted, “so it’s hard for that special someone to know that they’re special, right? So anyway, I never want this guy that I care about to doubt how I feel about him again.” She lowered her voice, “His name is West Slade. I told him to meet me up here in the hayloft. As soon as he comes up that ladder and comes around that haystack, I’m going to surprise him with a kiss that’ll melt his face off. We’ll just see what he has to say.”
She smiled.
Sure, haters might criticize her for giving away the most important events of her life, but… she was a sharer! Eva just happened to be really open about her feelings. She’d grown a skin tough enough to handle all criticisms, and she did her best not to let the fame get to her head.
Right? Right?
After all, why was the tradition of kissing in front of everybody to finish the wedding ceremony at a church any different than what she was doing now?
She gulped, turning back to her fans. “And maybe I’m stupid for making this ‘live’ because I could very possibly get rejected, but what if? What if…hefeels the same? I can’t let my fear get in the way anymore. I have to be honest, no matter what happens! I’m ready to put this all out there. You with me on this?”
She needed a good angle for this livestream, definitely not a shot from below. Looking around the cozy little nook, she noticed bales of hay piled up on every side of her. One stack was tiered like stairs. She could put the camera up there.
Stepping up on the first bale of hay, she made her way up, so that she could reach the highest point to set up her camera. She adjusted her phone so that the screen would catch West when he came around that first bale of hay across from her. This angle also caught her best side.