Julie sighed with frustration and blasted Erin’s eardrum with a whoosh of air. “I don’t know. Seriously, Erin, I’m not sure what I want at this point, which is why I collected my purse and got out of there. There’s just something about Blackie that draws me.”

“What is it about him that gets to you?” Erin asked. “I mean, he’s definitely got it nailed in the looks department, but there’s no shortage of handsome men in Mystic Creek, and you’re pretty enough and nice enough to take your pick.”

Julie sighed again, which made Erin grin. “Well, he’s as solid as a rock, for one thing. He not only knows what he wants out of life, but he’s already attained it. He’s happy with his work and daily routine. And you know the instant you walk into his apartment that he enjoys his leisure hours. I saw heaps of books on his shelving. He’s got a television almost big enough for Marcus Mariota to run the ball clear to the goal line on the screen. And I could tell, just by looking around, that he cooks, does laundry, and keeps his place spotlessly clean.”

Erin frowned in bewilderment, because to her way of thinking, Julie was basically saying that the attractive things to her about Fred Black were pretty low on her own importance list. “Okay,” she said. “Go on.”

“Well, honestly?” She heard Julie shifting positions and could almost picture her with her legs dangling over the arm of her favorite chair. “I think one of the most attractive things to me about Blackie is that he isn’t looking for anyone to fix his life. It’s full just as it is. If I have a relationship with him, I’ll be a fringe benefit, not something he actually needs.”

It took Erin a moment, but she finally said, “Aha, I’m finally getting it. Derek needed you as camouflage, and you suffered greatly for that. Isn’t it perfectly normal—and emotionally healthy—for you to feel strongly attracted to a man who needs nothing from you? That’s how solid relationships should begin, anyway, I think, with an attraction that isn’t fueled by desperation. With Blackie, you needn’t worry about a hidden agenda.”

“Exactly!” Julie exclaimed with a shrill note of excitement in her voice. “I find his transparency and honesty so incredibly sexy.”

Erin smiled in spite of herself. “Well, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that, Jules. So just go for it.”

“Maybe I will,” Julie shot back. “I just want to be sure. You know?”

“I do. Absolutely.”

After the call ended, Erin contemplated her attraction to Wyatt and wished she could see her own situation with such clarity.

* * *

Kennedy sat at the long, rectangular table in the bunkhouse. The overhead light in the kitchen had dead houseflies in the glass globe, and their dehydrated corpses cast polka dot shadows on the pages of his textbook. He needed to climb up there and clean it, but between classes, studying, and working on the ranch taking up most of his time, he couldn’t work up the energy. Besides, it didn’t seem to bother anyone but him. His brother seemed to have a filter in his brain that allowed him to sift through all the things that needed to be done and focus on only the most urgent. Bugs in the light globe didn’t rank high on that list.