Golden Hour

Editor: Hannah Fletcher Cover Design: Dirty Girl Designs by Ali Clemons Photographer: Midwestern Love Photography Models: Cameron Jensen and Cadhan Brown Formatting: Cathryn Carter Copyright © 2023 by CHELSIE HART All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. GIRL - Maren Morris Live Off - Lainey Wilson Things Will Get Better - Vian Izak Sleeping On the Blacktop - Colter Wall Whitehouse Road - Tyler Childers, OurVinyl Baby I’m Burnin’ - Dolly Parton Biscuits - Kacey Musgraves Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink - Merle Haggard Tequila Does - Miranda Lambert Nervous - Maren Morris Feathered Indians - Tyler Childers I’m So Blue - Dylan Smucker, OurVinyl Stone’s Throw - The Red Clay Strays S.O.B. - Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats Take Me Away - Morgan Wade Wondering Why - The Red Clay Strays In Dreams - Sierra Ferrell Straight and Narrow - Sam Barber Feels Like Home - Linda Ronstadt Take Me Home - Tanner Usrey Embers - Ethan Hibbs In the Morning Light - Billy Strings I Choose You - The Steeldrivers Good Friends - Maren Morris Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves June McCawley Delia Danvers Louise Tate Goldie Tate Grady Nash Kacey Uchitjil (YOU-hitch-ull) Beau McCawley Mark McCawley Deb McCawley Minnie Musgrave Um, wow. I wrote a whole ass book. That’s crazy. I remember being a freshman in high school, sitting in study hall with my notebook and pen and writing my first book. I found it a couple months ago when I was cleaning out my closet in my childhood home. It was horrid. Just awful. BUT I honestly don’t think I would have even written this book if not for that smiley face college ruled notebook filled with absolute garbage. Since then, I feel like I’ve lived a lot of lives. I’ve been a lot of different people and done a lot of different things. But writing always remained. I grew up in a town of 600 people. My dad is a farmer and I honestly couldn’t tell you how many generations of my family back you’d have to go to find a woman who worked outside of the home. It’s just cheaper that way. Where I grew up, there was a true sense of safety and warmth. Of familiarity and community. That’s what Maple Creek is based off of. It’s not flashy or aesthetic. There’s tractors parked in yards and weeds grown up around neglected trash, lots of single-wide trailers and gravel drives. It’s not a picturesque town, but the feeling you get when you’re there is the real draw. Another thing to note is that the men in this book aren’t cowboys. They’re country boys. They wear boots and baseball caps. They’re covered in dust from being in the field all day and their skin is tan and weather worn. They drive shitty trucks because they can’t afford anything luxurious and they make their women feel special by providing love, loyalty, and unwavering respect. They don’t have a lot to offer, but what they do have, they’d trade away to get their hands on a good woman. As for the content in this book, there are mentions of child abuse/neglect, a character's struggle with alcoholism, and a brief mention of weight gain. It's important to me that you know what's in this book before you sit down to read it. I To the perfectionists, to the people-pleasers, to the ones who let other people’s expectations rule their lives: Own your crazy. “Always be true to yourself, what you believe, and where you came from…you’ll need those roots sooner or later.” Dolly Parton CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Epilogue Epilogue Wilder Days Acknowledgements About the Author How do you pick up the pieces of a life you aren’t sure you ever even wanted? It’s September, and it’s been months since I’ve been home. I was holding off the inevitable. Stalling to see if I could come up with any other option rather than moving back home with my tail between my legs. But, now as I’ve got one hand on my steering wheel and I’m using the other to prop up my head against the car door, I realize that coming back home is the best plan. Resting in the comfort and familiarity of a town that has been my cheerleader for my entire life is the only thing I can think of that might keep my sanity intact. My self-esteem is already in tatters, so protecting what little confidence I have left is my top priority. Now, I’m turning a corner at a steady ten miles per hour and pulling onto the street of my favorite place in the world. The house at the end of Bee Branch Road is a little two bed, one bath craftsman that’s seen better days. But still, the drive down this road has always made my heart ache with the feeling of home. When I was little, my best friends Louise, Delia, and I would race our bikes up and down the gravel streets. We’d swerve in and out to miss the