DAISY
Iwatch Killian’s retreating form until he disappears completely from view.
Noah remains motionless, staring silently at the ground for a beat before he snaps out of it. He blinks at me, shaking his head in disappointment before he too, turns and walks away.
I begrudgingly finish the rest of my shift, including bathing and grooming the filly Noah dirtied up and ditched me with. By the time I’m done, my muscles ache and my hair in stuck to my sweaty neck.
I stop by the tack room to drop off my tools and wash up as best I can before I leave. Days like today are why I’m glad I choose to wear coveralls at work. The last thing I want to do is ruin my clothes and my car with mud and other questionable fluids.
The late February air is chilly against my skin as I climb into my car. With a shiver, I close the door and deposit my bag on the passenger seat right as my phone begins to ring.
I blindly feel around until I locate the device, Lainey’s name flashing across the screen as I swipe to answer.
“Hey.”
“Hey. How are you, Dais?” Her motherly tone instantly calms something within me.
I met Lainey Rhodes in Montana. Her parent’s had owned the ranch I was working on before they passed, leaving her brothers in charge. Lainey had made it clear that she had no interest in ever running the ranch when she married her husband, Dexter, choosing city life over country life.
After fifteen years of marriage, Lainey left her husband. Her and her two children showed up on her family ranch about a year ago and although there’s a ten-year age gap between us, we became instant friends.
We’re a lot alike in some ways. The two of us escaped to her family ranch to heal from our respective pasts and formed a bond I’ll forever hold close to my heart.
“I’m okay. How are you and the kids?”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re great. Tell me how you really are,” she pushes, and I drop my head back against my seat with a sigh.
“Well… I don’t really know, if I’m totally honest. Things aren’t great here.”
“Oh no. What’s going on?” She asks, and I shrug even though she can’t see me.
“It’s just all going to shit. Killian and I had a fight in the parking lot of the bar, and he stormed away from me. Then he showed up on the ranch the next morning still dressed in the clothes from the night before, drunk off his ass. Noah has been making my job harder than necessary, so we had a fight that led to Killian finding out that Noahcame to see me in Montana to try and convince me to come home.” I take a deep breath.
Lainey’s low whistle comes from the other end of the line. “Damn, girl. And here I thought I had problems.”
“Yep.” I connect my phone to the speaker in the car and pull out of the ranch before continuing, “and then I told Killian that I didn’t love him anymore.”
Lainey gasps. “What did he say to that?”
“Told me I’m a goddamn liar.”
“Well… he is kind of right.”
I glare at the phone. “What?”
Her chuckle is loud in the silence of my car. “Come on, Dais. I’ve never met the guy. Never even been in the same room as you two before, and even I know you still love him.”
I shake my head. “Whether I love him or not is completely irrelevant. It doesn’t change the fact that I walked out on him. I broke his heart, Lainey. He hates me.”
“Look, I’m not one to be giving relationship advice. I’m a thirty-five-year-old, divorced, single mom living with her younger brothers. But if you still love him, and I know you do, then you need to tell him. Because it’s obvious he still loves you.”
I frown. “How so?”
“Honey, he wouldn’t be fightin’ with you if he didn’t give a shit. Take it from someone who would’ve done anything for their husband to fight with them. As long as he’s fightin’, he still cares.”
We talk for a few more minutes before saying our goodbyes and hanging up.
I take the long way home, using the extra time to mull over everything she just said.
