Walker pulled my necklace out from under my shirt. “What about this ring, Liza?”

I swallowed. My heart was breaking in two and I didn’t know what to do. “Walker, please. Please don’t do this to me. I’m begging you. What about Jessica?”

Walker dropped the ring and it fell against my chest. “I’m not with Jessica.”

I sucked in a breath of air. “Why?”

Walker backed away. “I broke up with her.”

I shook my head and looked into his eyes. “Walker, why?”

He began to walk out of the stall, but looked back at me to say, “I couldn’t be with her when I was in love with someone else.”

My mouth fell open and I stood there, frozen in place.

“You’d better get Tiny,” Walker said. “He’s starting to wander off.”

Walker left the barn. I tried to call to him, but all that came out were sobs. I fell to the ground and whispered his name over and over. It had happened again. I watched as the only man I’d ever truly loved walked away, leaving me alone and broken.

I JUMPED UP when Reed walked in. “Any sign of him?” I asked.

Reed shook his head. “No, sweetheart. Nothing.”

I sat back down as Courtney wrapped an arm around me. “Liza, I’m sure Walker is fine. We just need to stay calm.”

I nodded as Ava walked up and handed me a hot chocolate. I smiled weakly at her.

“I know how much you love hot chocolate so…” she trailed off.

Ava sat down on the sofa opposite of her mother and me. Her phone pinged and she grabbed it, quickly typing back to someone. She stood up and walked to the kitchen.

I took a sip of the hot chocolate and turned to Courtney. “I’m sorry, I’m the reason he left without telling anyone. This is all my fault.”

Courtney shook her head and gave me that sweet smile of hers. “No, don’t say that, Liza. Whatever happened between you and Walker is between you—”

“He’s okay.”

Reed, Courtney, and I all turned to Ava.

“What?” I asked, my hands shaking. Ava had been texting Walker.

“That was Walker. He just sent me a text. He’s with Jase.”

I stood up. Jase? “What do you mean?”

Ava rolled her eyes. “Jase has that internship in Austin, remember? I guess Walker went to stay a few days with him. Told me to tell Layton and Dad that he was sorry he left without saying anything, and that he’d be home tomorrow.”

I let out the breath I had been holding in. “He’s coming home? Tomorrow?”

Ava nodded. “Um, Liza, he didn’t want me to tell you, but I couldn’t do that to you.”

Courtney stood and kissed Ava on the cheek. “You did right, telling Liza.” Courtney turned to me, taking my mug. “Let’s take you home sweetheart, you looked exhausted.”

As I walked to my car, everything was muffled. Courtney and Reed were talking. Courtney would drive me, and Reed would follow. I sat in the passenger seat with my eyes closed until Courtney said we’d arrived. In the house, I made my way upstairs to my room. Collapsing on my bed, I stared at the ceiling with no tears left to cry. When I heard a knock at the door, I didn’t even have the energy to tell whoever it was to come in. The door opened and my mother came in. From the corner of my eye I saw something in her hand—my phone. I must have left it at home when I’d rushed over to Walker’s house.

“Uh, honey? Keith has been trying to call you for the last hour.”

I groaned and rolled over. My mother set the phone on the bedside table. I closed my eyes and thought about the night in Kentucky when Walker had held me so I could sleep.

“Walker…” I whispered as exhaustion finally took over.

I LIFTED MY arm and ran it across my forehead, wiping away the sweat that was threatening to burn my eyes again. “Mom, it’s so hot out here. Why do y’all do this?”

Courtney laughed.

“Oh, wait. Do you have your handy-dandy snake shotgun nearby, Court?” My mother asked.

Courtney walked over to the porch and pulled a shotgun down. “Hell, yes, I do.”

We all giggled and I rolled my eyes. My mother and I had gone over to Walker’s parents’ house to help Courtney with her overly extravagant garden.

“I thought the garden was Reed’s deal.” I said, as I sat on my ass and sighed.

Courtney smiled at me. “I thought you loved working in the garden, Liza. Enjoy this now, because I’m sure you won’t have it in Dallas.”

Her words stung instantly and her smiled dropped.

“Oh, honey. I wasn’t meaning anything…”

I held up my hand and gave her a smile. Looking around, my heart dropped when I saw the tree house. I thought about the countless hours Walker and I had spent up there. First as best friends, then as something more. I closed my eyes and thought about the time we’d almost made love. Maybe if we had, we’d never have walked away from each other.

THE MOVIE NO longer held my attention as I watched Walker. I loved his scruffy beard. He laughed at something on the screen and then looked at me. His blue eyes pierced mine with a seductive glance. It made my insides all kinds of crazy. His eyes fell to my lips, and I ran my tongue along my teeth. He moved over me and I slid down so that he could rest on top. He pushed his hard dick against me and I moaned. It wasn’t long before my pants were off. Soon he made me come with his expert fingers. The only reason we could fool around in the tree house was because both of our parents were in Austin at some function.

“Tell me how far, Liza,” Walker whispered against my ear. “I want you so much, but I need you to tell me, baby.”

“Make love to me, Walker. Please.”

“Liza, I wanted our first time to be…”

Walker stopped talking and turned his head. “Did you hear that?”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Someone’s here.”

Walker stood up and pulled up his jeans. He walked over to the window and then spun around. “Get dressed, Liza. My parents are back!”

“WANT TO TELL me what has you smiling over there so big?” My mother asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I grinned and I shook my head. “Nothing, just an old memory.”

Courtney laughed. “It must have been a happy one with the way you’re smiling.”

I looked back toward the tree house and said, “Yeah, it was.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. My mother knelt down and smiled. “Do you love him?”