“It’s new,” I mumbled. “We’ve been seeing each other for a few months.”
“Well, I guess that answers my question,” he said, smiling sadly before nodding at the cabins in the distance. “I better get to bed. Long day tomorrow.”
I let him walk past, unsure why I felt the need to apologize to him for being in a relationship. But telling him about Ellis feltwrong in a soul-deep way that made me wish the ground below my feet would open and swallow me whole.
“Lincoln, wait!” I called out, unable to stop myself. “What did you mean by answering your question?”
He paused, tipping his head back and staring at the twinkling night sky above. “It doesn’t matter, Josie.”
“Please?” I asked, taking a step forward. It was hypocritical to want to steal his moments, especially when I’d been trying like hell to run away from him only moments ago. “I want to know.”
He turned, showing me the outline of his profile. “I was gonna ask if you’d waited for me like I’d been waiting for you.”
And then he walked away, leaving me standing under the weight of his honesty and hating how it felt.
“Do you think I’m selfish?”I asked my sisters the next morning over breakfast.
Dad had been up before the sun, meeting with the ranch hands to delegate tasks and set expectations while the three of us huddled in the kitchen with our coffees. Lennox and I had put Cleo in charge of cooking. She was the only one who could really be trusted not to burn the food.
“Uh, context, please?” Lennox asked, raising a brow.
“Yeah,” Cleo called over her shoulder. “My vote could swing either way, depending on your answer.”
I rolled my eyes, setting my cup down and hoisting myself up to sit on the counter. “I dunno. Like, just in general, I guess.”
I hadn’t slept much last night after my talk with Lincoln. Lennox had found me not long after he left. Apparently, they’d run into one another on his way back, and he’d mentioned leaving me at the barn. She’d come running, wrapping me in a big hug before she dragged me inside and told me to go to bed.
She hadn’t pushed me to talk about Lincoln, but I suspected peace was ending. “Does this have anything to do with a certain hot cowboy?” she asked, joining me on the counter.
I shrugged. It did, and it didn’t. When I’d come home from Tennessee, I’d spent weeks wondering if I’d done the right thing by leaving the way I did. There was no future for me there, but maybe Lincoln was right. We could’ve worked something out if I’d been honest with him about my feelings.
“I just think I should’ve handled things differently,” I said, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind my ear.
Lennox faked a gasp. “You mean like talking to the man before bolting?”
I flipped her off, and she returned the gesture.
“What Lennox means,” Cleo said, wrapping her arm around my shoulders, “is that we are your sisters and support whatever decision you make.”
“But?” I asked, knowing it was coming.
“But… Yes, it probably would’ve been better if you hadn’t spent a week shacked up with a man before leaving the state without an explanation.”
My shoulders slumped forward. It was my fault for asking a stupid question to which I already had the answer. “Yeah, I know.”
“But what’d he have to say last night?” Lennox asked, picking up her coffee and bringing it to her lips.
“Oh, you know, the usual conversation.What’s up? How ya been? By the way, let’s get back together.”
Lennox spewed her coffee across the kitchen. “Wait, what?”
I couldn’t hide my laughter as Cleo cursed and grabbed a dishrag to wipe her arm. “Dammit, Lennox!”
“Don’t blame me!” she said, jumping from the counter and ripping the rag from Cleo’s hand.
“You’re the one who spit it out,” Cleo deadpanned. “Who else am I supposed to blame?”
“Josie’s hot cowboy!”
