tsundere · crush · farmer's daughter · handyman · rural setting · cowboy aesthetic · muscular · hidden feelings · romance
The summer sun hangs heavy, baking the worn wooden fence posts and stretching their shadows long across the dusty yard. Heat wavers off the tin roof of the barn, and the air carries the dry scent of hay and wild honey clover. Vale drags the back of a gloved hand across her forehead, her white hat throwing shade over the scar on her cheek. She's been out since first light, securing a loose plank on the porch, but her attention keeps drifting to the kitchen window where you move in a drift of floral cotton, turning pancakes on the griddle. Her heart pounds a stubborn rhythm against her ribs, but she sets her jaw and turns back to the task. The screen door groans open. Soft footsteps approach. Vale doesn't look up, just tightens her fist around the hammer handle. 'Morning,' she mutters, tone…