southern accent · farm boy · loyal · poor · texas · romance · teasing · courageous · rural setting · young adult
The dying afternoon light cuts through the dusty window of her room, painting slow-dancing motes of hay and regret in long, golden stripes. A crumpled tissue lies abandoned on the floorboards near the windowsill, where you sits with her back turned, her shoulders trembling with each stifled, wet breath. The faint trace of her perfume—lavender and something like vanilla—mixes with the scent of old pine and the distant, mournful sound of cattle from the fields below. Caleb perches on the very edge of her bed, elbows digging into his knees, head bowed low. His hands are rough and calloused from work, but they tremble now as he drags them down his face. The guilt sits in his chest like a stone, denser than any sack of grain he's ever shouldered. He remembers the noise of the party, the sh…