Page 17 of Falling for Forever

Lydia stared at her brother with furrowed brows. She almost asked him why he didn’t go check himself, but then the answer became obvious. The second Chet was out of earshot, Jason turned to her.

“I heard some interesting rumors yesterday.” His eyes were locked on the horses, his jaw set.

“You and I know better than to put much stock in small-town rumors.” Even as she said it, her heart fluttered wildly. She could guess exactly what Jason was referring to, and she wasn’t ready to field questions about it.

He grunted, his gaze sliding toward the barn. Jason pressed his lips together then glanced once more toward Lydia. “You have anything to tell me?”

She scrunched her face with irritation and faced him fully. With one finger lifted into the air, she started into him. “First of all, if this is what I think it is, then you should know the rumors are just that. Rumors. People in this town read too much into everything. Secondly, eww. You’re my brother, Jason. I’m not going to have a talk with you about my relationship. Ever. Not until said relationship is far enough along to make it worth talking about. And even then, I’ll be announcing that I’m dating someone, not asking for permission. You want to know why?”

Jason arched a single brow. “Why?” He said it dry and flat, but she could’ve sworn there was amusement underneath it all.

“Because it’s none of your business.”

He huffed. “Tate would disagree.”

“Which is why I’ll tell you before I tell him.”

That got a chuckle out of him.

Her own lips twitched with amusement, and she moved so she could lean back against the fence surrounding the paddock. Then it occurred to her that she might have assumed wrong, and that put her heart into overdrive once again. “For the record, you were talking about Chet and me, right? The rumors that there’s something between us?” She peeked at him through a squinted eye.

Jason breathed out a sigh and dragged a hand down his face. With his chin resting in his palm he cut her a look. “Yeah. Mrs. Danby saw you kiss him at the fair. She stopped me yesterday to ask how long you two had been dating.”

“And?”

“And nothing. I just wanted to know.”

“Why?” It might not have been the smartest thing to ask, but she couldn’t help herself. She almost asked if Chet had been talking about her. But gracefully, she kept her mouth shut.

“I just worry about you is all.”

“You worry about me? And Chet?”

He glanced at her once more. “It’s not like that. He’s just… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

She frowned at that. His words made her wonder if there was something she was missing. But then Chet appeared out of the barn, distracting her from that train of thought altogether. Especially when Chet flashed her that boyish grin she loved so much.

And just like that, all the strangeness drifted away like a balloon let go from a child’s hand.

CHAPTER NINE

He’d royally messed up. That was the one thought running through Chet’s head when he arrived at yet another Dennison family dinner. It was becoming more and more frequent that he got an invite. That wasn’t the surprising part, though.

The surprising part was who had extended the invitation.

Normally, Tate was the one who insisted he come and Jason delivered the information. But when the door opened and revealed a surprised-looking Tate, Chet knew something else was going on.

“Is it okay that I’m here? Jason mentioned that I could come for dinner again.”

Tate stepped aside. “Of course. We’ll just need to get another plate out for you.”

Unease crept up his spine, but he went into the house anyway.

The Dennison family had become more of a family than his own father had been. It wasn’t his dad’s fault. The man had done the best he could with the resources he had, but there’d always been a hole in their family dynamic.

Chet stopped short when he went into the kitchen. Seated at the table already were Lydia and her sister Wren. They both glanced up, but Lydia’s focus lingered.

Immediately, her smile grew. She jumped up from the table and crossed the distance between them. “I didn’t know you were coming,” she said, pulling him into a hug. When she stepped back, there was no missing how genuine she was.