I’m so screwed.

“Ready?” Cooper asks, bringing my attention back to him.

“For our friend date,” I remind him.

“For our date, date.”

I grab my sweater and mumble under my breath. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, buddy.”

He laughs from behind me and places his hand on my back. I lock the door and then Cooper helps me into his truck. This is the reason I don’t wear dresses. All the boys have these giant ass trucks, which require them to hoist you into the cab. I swear it’s a conscious thing.

“Okay,” he says as he gets in the cab. “No backing out now.”

I shake my head and smirk. “Drive, Cooper.”

“If you insist.”

We head down the road and make small talk. He tells me about the herd that he needs to move tomorrow and how the farm is doing. I talk a little about how excited I am for next year. After teaching third grade for the last eight years I’m finally moving to teaching fifth grade. I’m actually looking forward to school starting because this will be fun. I get to see some of the kids I had a few years ago and teach a new curriculum.

“It sounds like you’re happy,” he notes.

“I really am. I’ve been stuck in the same lesson plans and grading scale for a long time. I love the kids, that hasn’t ever been the issue, but I don’t know . . .” I trail off. “I’m bored a little. Getting to find a new way to teach something excites me.”

He smiles and takes my hand. “I’m glad we’re doin’ this. I’m glad you agreed.”

“I was somewhat coerced.”

“Same difference.” He shrugs. “Even if I get my ass kicked,” Cooper adds under his breath.

“What does that mean?”

He cracks his neck but keeps his eyes on the road. “Just that I’m sure I’ll have a visit to my house pretty soon. There’s no way Trent is happy about me takin’ you out.”

I groan. “No. He isn’t.”

Cooper’s eyes meet mine for a second. “How do you know that?”

Shit. Now, I’ve kind of screwed myself into telling him. I take a few seconds to think about what exactly I want to say. “Well, he stopped by my house today.”

“And?” Cooper presses.

“And he said as much.” I think back to what my mother always says: less is more. I’m going to stick to the facts and leave out the whole business of my letting him maul me on the couch.

“Oh,” Cooper says as his head turns back to the road. And a moment later, a loud bang sounds. The truck shifts, but Cooper gets it over to the side of the road safely. “Dammit!” he bellows. “I’ll be right back.”

He exits the truck, and I try to think of how to take back the admission of Trent coming over. I hear Cooper cuss a few times as he drops the tailgate and then slams it closed again.

This can’t be good.

I get out and head back toward him as he continues to mumble.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Blew a tire.”

“Oh, well, just change it and we can be on our way.”

He huffs. “Don’t have a spare.”

“Why?” I’m trying really hard to hold back my amusement at the situation.

“Because I had to haul hay today,” Cooper explains, obviously expecting me to connect nonexistent dots.

“And that means no tire?”

His hands grip the side of the truck so hard his knuckles turn white, and he dips his head. “It means I was in a hurry to shower and get done. It means my dumb ass forgot to put it back in. Karma for saran wrapping Presley’s car has finally caught up to me.”

And my self-control is gone. I lose it. Completely and utterly lose it. The giggling becomes so much that tears are falling from my eyes. I clutch my stomach and try to get a hold of myself, but I can’t. I hear Cooper start to follow suit, and then we’re both hysterical.

“You,” I lean forward, trying to catch my breath, “forgot the tire!” I struggle to catch my breath as I wipe the tears. “Because that’s what would happen on our first date!”

Cooper comes around and grips my shoulders as I start to get myself under control. “I’ll call my sister.”

That sobers me. “Who will what? Have her husband come out?”

He closes his eyes. “It’s better than the alternative.”

This couldn’t be any more comical. Our choices are: call Zach, who could quite possibly be with his brothers, or call the sheriff, who is the brother we’re avoiding.

My hands rest on Cooper’s chest, and I giggle again. “You have to admit this is funny.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Or a lot.”

Cooper shakes his head. “This isn’t exactly the way I thought our first date would go.”

“Really?” I joke. “What did you think?”

He smirks. “For starters, we’d actually make it to dinner.”

“That would’ve been a good start, what else?”

His eyes warm as I try to lighten the mood. “We’d have gone for a walk.”

“Well, we may be doing that as it is if we don’t get help out here.”

He nods. “Let’s make sure that part doesn’t happen. I’ll call Pres, and then maybe we can still salvage our night.”

I’m not sure what we can save, but I appreciate that he cares. I try not to let my mind wander down the path that our blowing a tire is another sign. Considering I kissed another man tonight already, maybe the universe is trying to stop me from being a little bit of a hussy.

“All right,” I acquiesce.

Cooper squeezes my arm and then heads toward the truck. I lean against the back end and shake my head. I’m pretty sure tonight should make the top list of worst dates ever. First, Trent showed up, messed with my head from all his mixed signals, and then left with such a heavy sadness in his eyes. Then I could barely breathe when I was getting ready. And sure, Cooper brought me flowers, but then this whole tire thing is unbelievable. I’ve been hesitant about dating anyone, but I hoped that maybe, this could be different for me.

Out of those things, Trent upsets me the most. There was something about the way he looked at me that I can’t shake. It’s that in all the times we’ve had our ups and downs, I’ve not once seen his eyes so sad. It was as if he were accepting our goodbye as what it was . . . the end.