“Good.”
“Also, I’m getting married on New Year’s Eve. You and the missus are invited.” He pauses, staring at me uncomfortably. “There stillisa missus, right?”
I yank the invitation out of his hand, refusing to answer the question. I told him that Kayleigh decided to extend her holiday stay with her family through the end of the year. But not that she’s been unusually quiet, hardly replying to my texts and refusing my phone calls because she’s tied up with family.
Have I lost her already?
Did her family convince her this whole thing was messed up? It’s not exactly a good look, dating your ex-boyfriend’s father. One who’s old enough to be her father too.
“Boss, just go get on a fucking plane already.”
“I can’t do that.” I might have claimed some sort of possessive ownership over Kayleigh, but that doesn’t mean I’mgoing to force her to be with me. If she doesn’t want to come back to the Bishop Ranch, I’ll let her go.
Even if it fucking kills me.
It’s easy to think you’re in love with someone when you have your own little pleasure bubble. But when reality charges in, popping that bubble, that’s what really matters. It happened with Rebecca. I was convinced the two of us would have this great family together, but then Dad popped that fucking bubble with his big fat check and fancy contract.
I thought Kayleigh was different.
Maybe she was only in it for the money.
Maybe—
“She loves you,” Max insists. “I’ve seen it in her eyes. The same look Natalie has for me, when she’s not pissed at me, anyway. Kayleigh loves you, and she loves you for the right reasons. I may have fucked up in this whole love department a time or two, but I’ve learned the fucking lessons. So maybe take the advice from your brother in arms so you don’t have to learn the same lessons I did the hard way.”
“What are you saying?”
“Elliot, if you don’t drive to the airport right the fuck now, I’m hogtying your ass and dragging you there myself. Go get your girl!”
CHAPTER 15
KAYLEIGH
I stare at my phone,debating whether I should text Elliot or surprise him.
When I first told him I was extending my stay in Evergreen Pass, he seemed disappointed. But he didn’t once argue or try to change my mind. And as the days passed, he continued to check in. He wanted to know if I was happy. If I was having fun with my family. He updated me on Misty’s condition. He never once made me feel guilty for not being back at the Bishop Ranch, despite my promise to return sooner.
This morning, the epiphany finally smacked me in the face.
Or well, Grandma Lola did.
I rub my cheek, the sting of her loving slap still a little tingly in places.
“This is not how a man who wants to control you acts,” she insisted. “This is a man who wants nothing more than for the woman he loves to be happy no matter the outcome. I’m only surprised he hasn’t come after you yet.”
“You’re not scandalized by the whole age gap thing?” I asked her as I picked apart a cherry muffin at the breakfast table. “Or by the fact that he’s my ex-boyfriend’s dad?” Alida has hadwaytoo much fun rubbing that one in my face. It’s all been in good fun, especially since it’s true. But still.
“Pssht! I’ve done things that would make a whore blush. If you love him, and he loves you, what else matters?”
Her words echo as I sit in the airport terminal, my finger hovering over the call button.
A text doesn’t seem appropriate after the space this man has patiently given me. He deserves more than that.
“Kayleigh?”
My head snaps up at the sound of a very familiar voice. A voice I’ve ached to hear for almost a week.
“Elliot?”
