He knew he’d find her here.

            Just like he knew he’d find her crying.

            She had never liked to cry in front of people. Probably because she’d grown up with two older brothers who loved teasing her about being a baby. When she’d fallen off her bike and skinned both knees and the palms of her hands, she hadn’t shed one tear. Or when she’d broken her arm falling off the monkey bars. Or when her precious cat had died.

But this time it wasn’t a cat that had died.

“Hey, Catydid.” He spoke softly so as not to startle her.

She buried her face in the old sleeping bag that covered the blowup mattress that had more patches than a patchwork quilt. “Go a-way, Hu-ck. I want to be a-lone.”

The hurt in her voice made his heart ache. Of course, his heart had ached for Cadee Stockton for the last five years. Something he’d hidden as well as she hid her tears.

“Sorry, Catydid, but this happens to be my tree house.”

“Boat.” The word was muffled in the thick fibers of the sleeping bag, but he still heard it.

He smiled. “I believe it was you who said it’s just a tree house with a boat wheel.”

She took a deep quivery breath before she released it. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“Nope.” He toed off his boots and joined her on the mattress, the displaced air causing her to rise and fall like a raft on a turbulent sea before she settled against his side. There was a time when they would have stayed glued together like two slices of bread in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But after “The Kiss” at thirteen, things changed. Now, at eighteen, maintaining a safe distance was second nature. She scooted back to her side of the mattress while he shifted and tucked his hands behind his head.

This late in January, the branches of the huge oak were bare of leaves so he could see more of the night sky. Trying to distract her, he picked out a star.

“Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might . . . have the wish I wish tonight.”

Cadee sniffed. “That’s not how it works, Huckleberry, and you know it.”

He did, but he kept his gaze on the starry sky . . . even though he wanted nothing more than to turn and look into her breathtaking blue eyes that had always reminded him of the robin eggs he’d once discovered in a nest in this very tree.

“So how does it work?” he asked.

“You can only wish on the first star that appears in the sky. You can’t just pick one out.”

“Why not? It’s the first one I saw.”

“It’s not the same. The first one to appear after dark is the wishing star.”

“I don’t agree. All stars have the power to grant a wish. That’s why they’re stars. Otherwise, they’d be rocks.”

“Rocks?” She laughed and he smiled. There was nothing that he loved more than his Cadee’s laugh. “I swear you have lost your mind, Huck.”

He shrugged. “Most folks think so.”

There was a long pause, and he could feel her gaze on him. “So what did you wish for?”

He hesitated for only a moment before he spoke. “That your daddy was still alive.” He glanced over then to find tears brimming in her eyes, turning them into twin oceans of pain. For so long, he’d kept his distance, knowing that touching her would break the strong barrier they’d built between them. But now she needed comforting and there was no way he could deny her.

“Come here, Catydid.” He drew her into his arms like he’d dreamed about doing ever since they’d kissed. Her arm came around his waist, and she nestled against his chest like it was the only place she wanted to be.

She cried.

And he cried.

Then they slept . . . until they woke and everything changed forever.

Chapter One

            He was here.

Eight years ago, Cadee Stockton had been prepared for Huck Hennessy to show up at her door.

Now she wasn’t prepared at all.

She wasn’t prepared for the skinny, smooth-faced boy she’d grown up with to change into a muscular man with a mustache and sexy scruff. Wasn’t prepared for her smiling, teasing childhood friend to become the angry looking stranger who pounded on her door.

Her first thought was to step away from the window and go back to canning pickles. But she would have to deal with Huck Hennessy sooner or later. It would be better to deal with him now, than when her brothers were there.

The Stockton boys had never liked the Hennessy boys. All hell would break loose if Cooper and Callum were there.

No. It would be better if she dealt with Huck alone.

Besides, she had put the inevitable off long enough. It was time to give him the truth she’d been holding onto since he’d disappeared from town when they were eighteen.

Wiping her hands on a dishtowel, she took off her apron and headed to the door. When she pulled it open, Huck was halfway down the porch steps. He whirled and she felt pinned like a faded photograph to a memory board beneath his intense gaze. This close, he looked even angrier . . . and even more of a stranger.

Where was the laughing boy who stole her Little Debbie oatmeal snacks every day at lunch, dressed up as a Minion to her Gru, carried her to the nurse’s office when she’d broken her arm?

Where was the cocky middle school kid who teased her about her first pimple, punched out John Gomez for doing the same, and gave her an awkward hug when her cat, Pussy Willow, had died?

Where was the charming teenager who had bought her an entire box of Little Debbies when she hadn’t made freshman cheerleader, punched out Mike Rawlings for breaking up with her right before homecoming . . . and would have taken her himself if her daddy hadn’t forbidden her from hanging out with Hennessys?

She missed that Huck. She didn’t realize how much until now. The only thing remaining of that boy was the wayward strand of light brown hair that stuck up from the cowlick on the back of his head . . . and his eyes. Eyes that went from a burnished sienna to an autumn gold depending on the light.

“Cadee.”

He had said her name a million times before and it had never once made a lump form in her throat and tears burn the back of her eyes. She had the overwhelming urge to throw her arms around him and bury her nose against his chest.

To beg him to be her best friend again.

But giving in to your emotions was sheer foolishness. She’d made that mistake once. She wouldn’t do it again. Especially when, this time, it wouldn’t just be her that got hurt.

“My, my, what a surprise,” she said in a voice that only quavered slightly. “If it isn’t Huckleberry Rory Hennessy. I heard you were back in town. Of course, I didn’t believe it. I thought surely my childhood friend would stop by to see me if he were in Promise Springs.” She paused. “But then again, we stopped being friends long ago, didn’t we?”

His eyes glittered in the morning sunlight like two gold doubloons in a pirate’s treasure. She tried to read the emotion that flashed through them, but it was gone too quickly.

“Why are you in my mama’s will?”

She knew the question was coming, and yet, she still wasn’t ready for it. She steeled her features and stalled for time. “How did you find out?”

“Our lawyer, Billy, found out. Why would you keep it a secret?” His gaze ran over her from head to toe as if he was cataloging all the changes in her like she had done to him. She wished she had put on makeup this morning. Wished her hair wasn’t in a sloppy ponytail. Wished she wasn’t wearing an old T-shirt with a bacon grease stain she’d never been able to get out. His gaze returned to hers. “But you’ve always been good at keeping secrets, haven’t you, Cadee?”

It was true. When she’d turned thirteen and her daddy had wanted her to stop being friends with Huck, she’d refused to listen, keeping their friendship a secret from everyone. Her parents. Her brothers. The townsfolk. Everyone except the Hennessys. Huck’s mama and siblings were the only ones who knew how much time she and Huck spent together. Mostly, because that time was spent at the Hennessy’s house or Honky Tonk Heaven, the dancehall their mama owned in town.

But her daddy had been right. She should have stayed away from Huck.

She stared back at him, wondering how this intense man had ever been the carefree class clown who kept everyone laughing. The charming flirt who made girls giggle and drop their panties. The lighthearted friend who made all the pressures of living in an overachieving family bearable.

But it looked like that Huck was gone.

“I just never thought you’d keep secrets from me,” he said.

Cadee hadn’t planned on going off on him. She’d planned to keep a cool head and the past in the past. But damned if she could after that remark.

She uncrossed her arms and straightened. “And I just thought that my best friend wouldn’t leave town without even a simple goodbye. That he wouldn’t refuse to answer my texts and calls and then change his phone number like I was some kind of a telemarketing stalker. We were best friends, Huck, and you ghosted me. And when you came back into town, you didn’t once try to get ahold of me. All because I made a simple mistake and turned to you for comfort after my daddy died!”

There was a flash of hurt again in his eyes. But this time, it was followed by a coldness that chilled her to the bone. “Comfort? I think it’s called fucking, Cadee.”

She slapped him. She slapped him so hard his head snapped to the side. She didn’t know who was more surprised. She inhaled a startled breath while he stared at her as if he didn’t know her.

She dropped her hand. “I’m . . . sorry.”

He studied her for a long moment before he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Just answer the question, Cadee. Why are you contesting my mama’s will?”

Now was the time to lay everything out on the table. But damned if she could bring herself to do it. Not after he referred to what happened that night in such a coldhearted way.

She shrugged. “I guess because your mama wanted her money to go to someone who was there for her at the end of her life. You certainly weren’t.”

He snorted. “If anyone knows why, you do.”

She did know why. Rosie Hennessy had been the worst mother ever. She had neglected her kids and pretty much left them to raise themselves while she ran her beloved dancehall. Jaxon, Huck’s oldest brother, had done his best to watch out for his younger siblings and make sure they had what they needed, but he had only been a kid himself. She remembered Huck coming to school with no lunch or school supplies or even a jacket when it got cold. Having her mama’s caregiver gene, Cadee had latched onto him like he was a stray dog left out in the rain. She shared her lunch and school supplies . . . and even gave him one of her brother’s old Carhartt jackets to wear on cold days.

As a kid, Cadee had hated Rosie for ignoring her kids. As an adult, who knew what it was like to make a mistake and be cut off from a Hennessy, Cadee had sympathized with Rosie. Rosie had a lot of regrets.

She’d just never gotten the chance to tell them to her children.

“No matter what she did, she was still your mama, Huck. You ran off and never looked back. You didn’t even call her.” Or me, she wanted to add, but instead she let it drop. She wasn’t hurt anymore. The ache in her stomach was just because she’d been sampling too many pickles.

“So you became her surrogate kid? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“She needed someone after her stroke. I stepped in.” She’d set up a schedule for the townsfolk to drop off meals to Rosie, taken her to doctor’s appointments, and visited her at night once Camden went to bed. Some of it had to do with feeling sorry for her. Some of it had to do with missing Huck.

Any Hennessy was better than no Hennessy.

Not that Rosie had been anything like Huck. She’d been more like Dawson. Introverted and volatile. Although Huck was looking pretty volatile now. His eyes snapped and his features were taut.

“And now you’re contesting her will because you think a year of helping her out is worth much more than a childhood of putting up with her shitty mothering? Is that it?”

Tell him the truth, her guilt prodded. No matter what he did, he deserves to know the truth. But her mouth refused to speak the words. And yet, he seemed to read the truth on her face. Or maybe he’d known it all along.

He glanced over her shoulder into the house. “Where’s your son?”

The question had her entire body tightening. It was a struggle to keep her reaction hidden. “What’s it to you where my son is?”

“I want to meet him.”

With those words, she knew he knew. And she figured she knew how he knew.

The people of Promise Springs only saw what they wanted to see. No one had ever questioned her story about Camden being the result of a fling with a boy she met when she went off to college. They blindly accepted him as Cadee’s son, a sweet kid who would grow up to run the Stockton Ranch. That was all that mattered.

But Magnolia Hastings hadn’t lived in Promise Springs for years. She hadn’t watched Camden grow up and accepted him as a Stockton with no questions asked. Cadee had seen the surprise on her face when she’d looked into Camden’s golden eyes. Still, she couldn’t help wondering how the woman had made the connection so easily. She knew Magnolia was friends with the Hennessys because she and Dawson had come out to the ranch together one day. Was she also friends with Huck?

More than friends?

Cadee wouldn’t be surprised. Huck loved women. All women. And they loved him. As his closest friend, she’d witnessed firsthand all the girls he’d “dated” in high school. She had often teased him about his inability to commit, and he’d always replied with “So many girls and so little time.” It had been funny . . . until she’d become one of those girls.

Now she understood how disposable those girls had felt.

How easily forgotten.

And maybe that was why she’d allowed her brothers to convince her to contest the will. She wanted to make Huck pay for playing her just like he’d played every other girl. Maybe that was why she didn’t trust him with the truth. And why should she when he’d only be leaving again? He’d made it clear when they were kids that he never wanted to live in Promise Springs. Her keeping the truth from him would make things easier for both of them.

“You don’t need to meet my son. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.” She started to close the door, but a cowboy boot stopped her. His eyes held confusion and fear.

“Is he mine?”

Her heart raced and her palm grew slick against the door handle. “No, now move your foot, Huck, before I slam this door on it.”

He didn’t move his foot. “Your eye is twitching, Cadee. And we both know what that means. It twitched when you told Mrs. Faust I wasn’t cheating off your history test. And when you told Denny Weaver the bowl cut his mama gave him looked real nice.” He paused. “And when you told your daddy that we just accidentally ran into each other the night he caught us swimming in the river.”

She didn’t know what made her angrier . . . him knowing her so well or him storing all those memories.

Her hand tightened on the door handle. “You want the truth, Huck? Are you sure? Because if I tell you the truth, there’s no going back. Once the truth is out, you’ll have to deal with it. And you’ve proven you’re not good at dealing with anything, or anyone, that needs a long-term commitment. Proven you’re not someone who will be there through thick and thin. So I think it would be best for everyone involved if you forget this conversation and do what you do best . . . walk away and never come back.”

His face seemed to lose all color. She thought for a moment he might pass out like he had the time he came to school without eating breakfast and the gym teacher had him running laps in the late August heat. Back then, she’d rushed over and knelt at his side, screaming at the teacher to call 911 until Huck had come to, grinned at her, and said, “Got a Little Debbie on you?”

Now she just stood there and watched the emotional battle play out on his handsome features. She didn’t realize how much she wanted him to prove her wrong . . . until he didn’t.

The moment she read the resignation in his eyes, it felt like a fist had closed around her heart. It squeezed even tighter when the corners of his mouth hitched up in the boyish, dimpled smile he’d used on every other girl.

“You always did know me best, Catydid.”

The nickname was the final nail in her emotional coffin.

He tugged on the battered Hooey trucker cap she hadn’t noticed him holding in his hand and tipped the curled brim as if she was just someone he passed on the street. “I guess I’ll see you in court.”

He turned and walked down the porch steps to his motorcycle while she stood in the doorway and watched. He straddled the seat, started the rumbling engine, then turned his cap backwards before sliding on the pair of sunglasses that had been hooked in the neck of his T-shirt.

Without a glance in her direction, he drove away.

After he was gone, emotions swirled around inside her like a cyclone.

Anger and hurt because he’d treated her like a complete stranger. Sadness because the sweet, soft-hearted boy she remembered was long gone. Guilt because she did know what he’d been through as a child and yet she still planned on contesting the will.

And all those emotions were wrapped up in a much stronger one. An emotion that had almost brought her to her knees when she’d opened the door and looked into his doubloon eyes. (Promise Me a Forever Texas Love Excerpt by Katie Lane)