Free Holding Haley (The West Contemporary Romance Series) by Jill Sanders Page A

through so many things and had grown so much that she was starting to feel like she hadn’t moved an inch since he’d left Fairplay.
    Did they even really have anything in common anymore other than physical attraction? Her mind flashed to what he’d done to her after he’d told her that story. Of what they’d done before. Her cheeks heated and her body responded to just the thought of him. She was so embarrassed, thinking that one of her sisters would see it, that she slipped into the barn and up to her thinking spot, only to find Lauren and Chase up there, looking guilty. Chase was tucking his shirt in and Lauren had straw in her hair.
    “ Well, well, well.” Haley leaned against the post and crossed her arms over her chest. “Having a little fun in the hay are we?”
    Chase laughed as Lauren looked embarrassed and started making excuses.
    “There was a . . .” She looked to her husband.
    “ Mouse,” he suggested
    “ Yes, a mouse. I saw it and fell back and Chase—”
    “ Caught it with my shirt and tossed it outside.” Chase smiled, going along with his wife’s game.
    “ Yes,” Lauren glared at Chase. “Anyway, I better get back to—”
    “ Work?” Haley suggested for her.
    “ Yes.” Lauren quickly walked out as Chase and Haley laughed.
    “ She’s no good at that,” Haley said, walking over to her thinking spot and sitting down.
    Chase just laughed. “I know, but it’s one of the reasons I love her so much.” He walked over and sat across from her. “I guess since I know her so well, I can tell when one of her sisters has something on her mind. And don’t think I don’t see that hay in your hair too.” She reached up to her hair before remembering that she’d showered at Wes’s place. Chase laughed and pointed to her. “Caught you. So, how as your dinner with Wes anyway?”
    She laughed and leaned back. “Fine.” Then she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I thought it was fine. I mean, he told me why he left.”
    Chase’s eyebrows shot up in question.
    “I mean . . .” She blushed, remembering no one had known of their scare before graduation.
    Chase shook his head. “Oh, no. You can’t hide that one from me.” He smiled. “Remember, I can read you now, too.”
    She sighed. “Fine, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else.”
    He laughed. “I promise.” When she just looked at him, he continued, “Remember, I did keep Lauren’s and my marriage a secret for seven years.”
    She smiled. “Yes, and we are all still upset at you for it.”
    “ It all worked out fine and I’m where I’m supposed to be now.” He leaned back and rested his shoulders on a bale of hay. “So, spill.”
    She took a deep breath and blurted it out. “Six years ago, before Wes signed up for the army, I thought I was pregnant. But when it turned out to be a false alarm, he joined the military and left. I thought it was because he didn’t want a family, didn’t want me, but it turns out he was heartbroken, because he thought I didn’t want a family with him.” She grabbed her head. “Wow, it sounded a lot better in my head.”
    Chase just looked at her.
    “ Okay, I know it was stupid. We were young and well . . . stupid, but we used to tell each other everything. Then,” she shrugged her shoulders again, “something that big got between us and we stopped.”
    “ Do you think you can pick up where you left off?” he asked.
    She shook her head.
    “Good,” he stood and dusted off his jeans.
    “ Good?” She stood and looked at him. “What does that mean?”
    “ Don’t think that you can start where you left off, because you can’t. You can never go back to the way it was when you were kids. Trust me. You’re two different people now.” He walked over to her and took her shoulders in his hands. “But you can start new. Take it from me.” He smiled. “If you don’t, you’ll be missing out on all the fun.” He gave her a brotherly hug and then smiled. “Now, I