Page 21 of Cowboy Falling Hard

He didn’t say anything more, and she wanted to press him. Make him tell her exactly what his angle was. What he was aiming for. Why he was here. But it seemed too self-serving. Like if she asked, he would think she was assuming he was there because of her. She couldn’t think of a way to phrase it where it didn’t sound like she was accusing him of being there just to be around her, and that seemed arrogant and conceited.

Finally, she simply said, “Why are you here?”

He was quiet for a minute, his one hand resting on the handle of the pressure washer, the other hooking around his neck.

Powell shifted, but she didn’t say anything. Normally she was very good when adults were talking and didn’t need to be the center of attention. In her mind, Orchid was begging her to continue to be quiet because she was so curious as to what Dwight was going to say.

Finally, his hand dropped from around his neck.

“I told you I talked to Miss Charlene. I told you she pointed out some things I needed to work on. She also recommended that instead of trying to impress you with any of my accomplishments, whatever they are, or anything else, maybe I should just do something where I would be spending time around you, not in a romantic sense but just...just so that we can be friends.”

He hung his head and looked away, almost as though he felt like his words were lame, like she would laugh. And maybe to someone else, they might be funny. Might be desperate even. But she was charmed.

She hadn’t looked him up online, but if the rumors around town were true, the man was a millionaire, and yet he’d taken a manual labor job and was even now getting ready to spray poop off the cement just so that he could have the opportunity to become friends with her. Not even with the promise of anything more.

That was a far cry from the impression she had gotten every time she’d been with him before. Where he was always trying to make himself look bigger and better, to push his accomplishments out there and show off what he could do.

When he said he was going to try to do something different, to make some changes, he hadn’t been lying.

“Wow,” she finally said. And maybe there was something in her tone, because his head jerked up.

“You don’t think I’m the biggest dork you’ve ever met?”

“No. No, I don’t.”

There were a few beats of silence, and then Powell said, “Miss Orchid, aren’t you going to show him how to run it?”

That broke whatever spell was holding their eyes together, and Orchid shook her head slightly, unable to believe that she’d actually been staring into his eyes like she was in high school, instead of almost thirty years old.

“Of course. He’s never used one before, he probably wouldn’t mind me giving him a little lesson.”

“Not at all. I’d appreciate it. Coleman gave me the lowdown, but it’s always easier when you see it done.”

She flipped the choke lever, grabbed the pull handle, and gave it two good yanks before the motor caught.

She pushed the choke back down and grabbed the wand. “You squeeze this when you want a stream of water to come out, and you let go when you don’t. And that’s as simple as it gets.”

“Got it.”

“If you start in this corner, you’ll want to try to squirt everything away from the wall, otherwise you’ll end up in the other corner, squirting it all back at you.”

She pointed on the cement where she meant, and he nodded his head, understanding exactly what she was saying.

“Thanks.”

She smiled, handing the wand over to him.

He took it without touching her, and to her surprise, part of her was a little disappointed.