Boone had seen it. He’d seen that I was scared.
And the strange thing is—heisn’t scared by it.
In fact, he really hadn’t been scared of any part of me, just like my dad was never scared of me, either. Just like how my dad, instead, was in awe of it.
Maybe, just maybe, Boone is a big enough man to love every part of me—the too muchness and the not enoughs. But I’d run away.
It wasn’t Boone that had left me, or pushed me, or even tried to convince me to stay. He’d just let me be me, because he wasn’t against me. He was Team Kate, and I’d quit. On Christmas, no less. I guess that makes me the Scrooge.
My eyes widen, my pulse quickens, and my toes dance in Boone’s wool socks.
“What in the world am I doing?!” I lecture myself. “Kate Everett is a lot of things, but she’s not a quitter.”
I pull out my phone, checking flights to Denver. There’s one flying out in two hours. Within minutes, I have a ticket. Then I push down on my brother’s name.
He answers on the second ring, “Hey, Katydilla. Headed to the airport?”
“Almost, but Kev, I’m so sorry to do this. I’m not coming to Oklahoma,” I say quickly as I rush to grab random pieces of clothes, throwing them in my suitcase. “I have somewhere else I need to be.”
I can practically hear my brother’s lips widen in a smile through the phone. “Atta girl, Kate.”
“I haven’t even told you where I’m going.” I laugh.
“When all this works out, there’s a property going up for sale a couple miles from us. You and Boone should move here,” Kevin says.
“Kev, I don’t even know if this is going to work out.”
“Well, when it does, Maisy Jo and I could use some babysitters,” he teases.
“You haven’t even met the guy,” I argue.
“Any guy that’s able to make Katydilla shrug off her shell isn’t going to be that easy to get rid of. I was worried for a minute. You almost did your famous tuck and roll…”
I interrupt him. “My famous tuck and roll?”
“Like an armadillo, Kate. You’re the one that was obsessed with them. When they fear getting hurt, they roll up in a ball to protect the most vulnerable parts of themselves and roll away,” he quickly explains.
Rolling away. Running away. It’s all the same thing.
But this time I’m not going to do it.
I’m going to run toward something that matters most.
Well, fly toward, and then get into a rental car that is definitely not a shoebox on wheels like Miranda hadbeen.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Boone’s cabin looks smaller as I pull up into the drive, this time in a truck with four-wheel drive and chains. I don’t exactly know what chains do, but I’d demanded the best at the Avis counter, and they must have had a detailed report of my incident with Miranda from a week ago, because they also made me take out insurance.
The sound of the truck’s engine announces my arrival before I can, and the Boone I’d been staring at on my phone screen all week is now on his porch, flesh and beard. The Boone that told me he wasn’t scared of me, that he could essentially handle my ups and downs, my too much and not enough. Now he’s leaning up against the doorframe, his arms crossed, watching me.
I open the truck door, my boots finding balance on the ground before my brain does, causing me to just stand there like a moron with no words to say when I know I need to be the one that has all the words to say.
“This isn’t Oklahoma, you know,” Boone finally says, breakingthe silence between us.
The left side of my mouth curves up in a half smile. “Must have taken a wrong turn.”
“What are you doing here, Kate?” Boone asks, not moving.
