Steam rose off the ground as the hot sunrays reclaimed what moisture they could before it sunk into the dirt. A fresh, clean scent in the air mixed with excitement over riding a motorcycle for the very first time. Sophie had tucked a T-shirt into a pair of jeans, put on her work cowboy boots, and pulled her red hair back into a ponytail. When she heard the powerful Harley engine grumbling around the house to the front yard, she forgot about makeup and hurried through the house and outside. It wasn’t her first date and it couldn’t really be classified as a date. But she was giddier than she’d been that first time when she was sixteen and went to the junior prom with Mitchell O’Malley. She kept telling herself that she was not a sophomore in high school; she was thirty-one years old and this was just a ride to Baird for ice cream. It didn’t work. When she saw the motorcycle parked in the yard with Elijah waiting in his tight jeans, black T-shirt, and boots, her heart fluttered around like a butterfly fighting against the wind.
