The room spun around me as we entered the party. A heat I had never experienced engulfed me; it was thick and permeating. My heart pounded in my ears as all eyes lifted to us. The gazes were heavy. I clung to Nathan's arm to stay upright.

"Nat," a woman with a warm smile greeted. When I looked at her, I knew she was Lee's mom; they shared the same eyes.

"Hey, Mrs. Smyth." Nathan's words came in a wave of relief, and he instinctively dropped my hand to embrace her. "How are you?"

"Rolling along." Her smile was broken, but still serene. "How are you?" She asked as she let a hand brush down the side of his face and deeply inspected him.

"Rolling along," he agreed.

"Hey," a more boisterous voice shattered the tender moment.

Nathan grasped at my hand again as the safety of Mrs. Smyth slipped away from him.

"Nat, good to see you, son." Just as Mrs. Smyth had Lee's unmistakable eyes, Mr. Smyth had Lee's demeanor and height.

"Hello," Nathan bowed his head as he spoke. "Thank you for letting me stay here," he added.

"Of course, of course. We have your house keys if you want some of your own space, though," Mr. Smyth reminded, causing Mrs. Smyth to squeeze his shoulder subtly.

"You belong here," she added. "All the spare bedrooms are open upstairs. Choose whichever one you want."

"Great, I'll go get the bags," Nathan quickly responded, dropping my hand and making a hasty exit.

"Well," Mr. Smyth eyed me. "You're the girl. I know nothing about you." His brow furrowed as he assessed.

"Hank," Mrs. Smyth scolded. "Nathan has been talking non-stop about you. How is your arm? Does it still hurt?"

"No, I'm used to maiming myself." I smiled, gathering a smile from Mrs. Smyth in the process. It was clear that Mr. Smyth had little interest in me.

"Well, let me know if you need anything while you are here. We are so happy to have you join us," she added before her gaze pulled out the window behind me. Instinctively, my eyes followed hers. Nathan was clutching the side of the truck bed with his head bent.

"I'll go," I quickly offered.

Mrs. Smyth warmly smiled again. "Take a beer. He may not live in Nebraska anymore, but he's still a Nebraska boy at heart."

I nodded and grabbed two bottles of beer before returning to the truck.

"You know, on the bucket list of small-town experiences is drinking a beer with a boy on the back of a truck," I said as I approached.

Nathan sighed and slowly lifted his head before turning to meet my gaze. "Then a beer on the back of a truck it is," he agreed, without mustering a smile.

"So, how's it going?" I nudged as we sipped our beers.

"This sucks more than I thought it would, and I thought it would suck a lot," he admitted before taking a large swig of his beer.

"I'm sorry. What can I do?" I wanted to make it better. I wanted to fast-forward to the healing for him.

Nathan looked out over the front field. "You know, the Smyth's old house was a little two-bedroom farmhouse on the other side of town. Joe and Lee had to share a bedroom. They hated it, especially Joe. I remember the first time I was there; I loved it. Everyone was so close. I went home and told my mom how great Lee's house was and how he got to have a sleepover with Joe every night. You know what she did?"

"What?" I smiled at the memory that was soothing him.

"She convinced my dad to buy the ranch next door," Nathan admitted. "She never said it was because of me, but within the year, we were living next to the Smyths. At that point, we were basically one family. Mrs. Smyth and my mom had been best friends since swing sets, so I always thought that was why we moved. But when I got older, I realized why. My parents were like that; quiet."

"Like you," I nodded.

"That's some big shoes you're fitting me with," he warned. "I can't be this town's Stewart," he admitted.

"What?"

"I can't be them. I can't do it."

"No one is asking you to be them," I argued. "It seems like the places are running fine. You can just be you."

Nathan sighed. "The house before we moved was this big place just behind Main Street so that they could be close to the businesses. It's the community center now. They gave it to the town."

"Wow, that's very," I was going to say generous, but Nathan cut me off before I could finish.

"Them. How can I be that?"

"Is that why you didn't want to come home?"

"I can't be a fabled Stewart. For like four generations, the Stewarts have done so much good and... I don't know. I feel like such an asshole. The minute I graduated, I ran as far away from here as possible. I just left the town, my family, and all this responsibility behind me. I didn't want it then and don't want it now."

"Hey, no one is asking for you to be them. People are just happy to see you."

Nathan shook off the thought and hopped off the truck. "We should get back inside. Mrs. Smyth put a lot of work into today."

"Hey," I hopped off the back of the truck after him. "Take a breath," I urged.

He looked me over for a minute. His eyes filled with what looked like scorn at me before he could strangle it away.

"Nathan," I called after him as he slung our bags over his shoulder and headed for the house. He didn't respond nor slow his pace.

I gave up and slid back up to the back of the truck. I sipped my beer slowly as I watched the breeze ripple over the field.

"Funny little twist, huh?" Lee said as he slid up to sit next to me and swapped out my beer for a warm mug. "It's my mom's mulled wine. I think you'll like it," he noted as he took a swig of my beer.

I clutched the warmth, only then realizing how cold I was. "What's a funny twist?"

"You thought I was the asshole with the spotlight when really it was your boy," he nodded to the house. "Poor bastard has been getting a sunburn since he was in diapers."

"He's scared," I explained.

"No, shit," Lee laughed.

"It's not funny," I argued.

"Nathan's parents were like my own. Trust me; there's nothing funny about any of this, but if you don't laugh, you know?"

I took a sip of the mulled wine and let it roll over my tongue. "This is really good," I added.

"Yeah, I know." Lee sucked in a deep breath. "So, I don't want you to think that I care or anything, but... how are you?" He begrudgingly asked.

"Your mom sent you out here," I noted.

"Yeah. Like it or not, I'm the closest thing you have to a friend here," he nodded. "So, how are you holding up?"

"I was good, and then okay, and now..."

"Spit it out, coffee girl," Lee prodded.

"I don't know how to help him. I want to make it better, but... It bubbled when I lost my dad, but I had to face it. My home was the city. With Nathan, it's like the accident just happened because he's been trying to avoid it. He hasn't healed at all."

"Welcome to the circle." Lee raised his beer to me again.

"Leave it to you to pick up a rando in the driveway." A guy suspiciously looking like Lee shot as he approached, clutching a six-pack.

"Joe, this is coffee girl. Coffee girl, this is my big brother Joe." Lee absently spoke as he tossed his empty over his shoulder in the truck's bed and grabbed a fresh one from Joe.

"Ana, my name is Ana," I correct.

"Pleasure," Joe nodded.

"Wait until you get to know her before making opinions," Lee grumbled.

"Manner," Joe shot as he slapped the back of Lee's head.

"So, I heard you've spent little time out of the city, and the temperature has jumped above freezing. What do you say, Lee? Time to show this girl a good time?" Joe nudged.

"Oh man, I'm not sure if she can handle it. She might get her hands dirty," Lee teased.

"I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty," I argued.

"Famous last words, coffee girl," Lee teased as he hopped from the truck. "Dibs on the wheel!"

"No way. Didn't they take your license when you ran off to be a movie star?" Joe landed a heavy punch on Lee's shoulder.

"Fuck," Lee winced.

"In you go." Joe held out a hand to help me into the truck.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Lee ripped down the driveway like a bat out of hell. I reached for the dashboard to steady myself, causing a chuckle to leap from Lee's chest.

"With Hollywood behind the wheel, we'll probably end up on a red carpet," Joe shot. "So, Ana, tell me about yourself."

"Oh, um," the question threw me off my guard. It was like a parent was interrogating me. "I'm pretty average: going to school, working at a coffee shop, getting my life blown up by a careless movie star."

"I did you a favor," Lee contested.

"How in the hell do you figure you did me a favor?" My brow knitted at the assertion.

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have met Nathan, and you wouldn't be about to walk a Nebraska red carpet." Lee's eye twinkled before taking a hard left straight into a field.

"Fuck," I screamed as I grabbed the dashboard. "What the fuck are you doing?" I asked as he ripped through the field, throwing semi-frozen chunks of the earth everywhere.

"Tearing up a field, welcome to Nebraska!" Lee yelled before letting out a whoop as he continued to loop again and again, tearing up the entire field.

He continued his work for about ten minutes as the tires slid around the mud.

"Isn't someone going to be pissed you did this on their field?" I asked as Lee finally let the truck rest, and he and Joe assessed his work.

"That's where you come in," Joe chuckled.

"Me? It's not my field," I argued.

"No, it's Nathan's," Lee laughed. "Crushed it!" He added.

"If you two jackasses think I'm getting you out of this, you are both so wrong."

"It looks to me like there are three people in the truck," Joe assessed.

"Ugh, you all are the worst," I groaned.

"The worst? How dare you?" Lee rolled down the windows as he headed to the road.

"Why are the windows down? It's freezing!" I complained.

"Mud and exhaust, best smell in the world," Joe and Lee said in unison.

"Am I going to die of carbon monoxide poisoning?" I winced.

"Wow," Joe laughed. "Just, wow."

"I know, right?" Lee agreed.

"Don't wow me!" I punched Joe on the shoulder.

"Ouch, how come you punched me? He wowed you too?" Joe complained.

"I've wowed most girls I've met," Lee added with a wink.

"Ew," I directed to Lee. "And I punched you because he's driving," I directed at Joe.

The three of us continued to bicker all the way back to the house. It felt good, like what it'd be like having brothers.

"Ana," Joe nodded as he helped me from the truck. "Good showing. Almost made me forget you were a city girl for a minute."

"For a minute! I held my own." I shoved his chest as I protested.

"Nah." Joe looked me up and down before adding, "you're too clean to be a country girl."

"I am not!" I picked up each foot to show the snow and mud covering them.

"It's fine; not everyone can be a country girl," Joe smiled, but his eye flickered behind me.

"I can help," Lee offered behind me, but I knew from Joe's face what was coming and ducked just in time to see a fist full of mud hit Joe square in the chest.

"Son of a...," Joe grabbed a clump of mud from the side of the truck and flung it back at Lee.

"Shit, shit, shit," I yelled as I tried to escape, but Lee's muddy hands grabbed my waist. "No!" I yelled out before we all dissolved into a mud-slinging fest.

All three of us were covered in mud and giggling like toddlers within ten minutes.

"What the hell are you all doing, and what the hell happened to my truck?" Nathan called from the porch, flanked by Shelly and Mrs. Smyth.

"We went mudding," I offered with a shrug, causing both Joe and Lee to laugh.

"Boys, I'd expect this from you, but to get poor Ana covered in mud on her first day here. That's not how we welcome people," Mrs. Smyth shot.

"What? They said this is how they welcome new people!" My brow furrowed at Lee and Nathan.

"Hey, that's on you for believing us!" Lee shot.

"Why the hell did you take my truck mudding? There are like four perfectly good trucks of your own you could have taken?" Nathan argued.

"Yours was too clean, bro. We did you a favor," Joe shot as we all approached the porch.

"Do not come in here," Mrs. Smyth directed. "I'll go get you some towels. Take your shoes off." She slipped away in search of towels.

"Hey, Shelly," Lee greeted in a flirty tone and threatened a hug.

"No chance, Lee," she stopped him.

"Oh, come on, a little chance," he winked, causing her to blush.

"Are you mad at me?" I murmured to Nathan.

He looked over at me for a minute and then, with a chuckle, added, "how can I be mad at a girl that just went mudding for the first time?"

"Yay," I smiled as I threw my hands around his neck, pulling him in for a hug.

"No," he protested, but it was too late. I had already covered him in mud. He melted around me. "Well, I guess I may as well join you." He let a finger pick up some mud from my shoulder and wiped it down my nose. "You look cute in mud."

"Thanks," I smiled.