Our night stretches well past midnight. Betty’s yawns signaling me to call the game. “You win, Mr. Hughes. I need to get this one home.”
“You be safe now,” Mrs. Hughes pulls me into her, squeezing me harder than she ever has before. I hold her back, wishing for a lifetime of this. These feelings never lived inside me with Katherine and her family. We liked each other just fine, but they never felt like home.
Beckett pulls me into his hold next, clapping my back harder than necessary. “You hurt my sister, and I’ll make sure one of your bulls pierces a lung.”
“Love you too, Beck,” I clap his back. Both of us grin like the fools we’ve always been together. He’d been the one I worried about most. We were friends first, and he’s always been protective of his sister. I wouldn’t have left her because he disapproved, but I’d have been heartbroken to lose his friendship just the same. Beckett has always been my brother, and maybe now, someday soon, we’ll make it true. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad it’s you, too,” he whispers before gathering up the game pieces and returning them to the box.
Turning, I catch the tail end of Mr. Hughes’s words to his daughter. The two embracing as if they may never see one another again. “…found a good one. Don’t get in your own way. You’re allowed to be happy again.”
My girl sniffles, pulling away from her dad before looping her arm around my back. Then we’re off.
We are different now, as if we’re finally this real entity that has a chance to grow.
Soon we will. Soon she’ll be mine in every way, and it won’t just be us.
Chapter 36
Betty
It’s been six weeks since Nash and I told everyone about us.
Most days, I can tell myself he’s really in it this time. That we’re going to make it, and all my dreams are coming true. He’s given me no reason to believe otherwise. Only I haven’t seen him since the last rodeo. His business took him back to Montana and then to a few other states.
I miss him so much it hurts. In just a few short weeks, I’d grown used to sleeping beside him every night, regardless of whose bed it was in. Then one night, he just wasn’t beside me anymore. We speak every day and video chat, but it’s not the same.
My skin misses the feel of his and the warmth of his lips on mine. The only thing getting me through is knowing he’ll be back this week.
It’s the second-to-last rodeo of the season, so there are some massive cash prizes on the table, and last chances to qualify for the big leagues. It’s the best of the best who will behere competing, including Gray, but it’s a busy time, too. The professional promotions have their own finals right around the corner, with competitions taking place every weekend.
He’s exhausted, and I feel horrible for not being there with him. He asked; I declined. But I had responsibilities here—the inn, the bar, my loyalty to Cole County.
“Hey, sweetheart,” my dad’s voice pulls me out of my wandering thoughts, each one centered on the man I love more and more each day.
We hug briefly before he rests his elbows on the fence, staring off into the distance beside me. A lazy grin pulls at the corners of his mouth, but he says nothing.
“Dad, what are you doing here?”
My dad rarely comes out to Boulder Ranch these days. He was never a rodeo guy and hates crowds. “Can’t I want to see my only daughter?”
I give him a wry grin. He’s up to something. It’s possible that my mom put him up to giving me the motivational speech he’s about to deliver, but no one gives them better than he does. If the sports season was going awry, it was Papa Hughes who was called in to bring back the team spirit.
“Of course you can.” Nudging his shoulder, we stand in silence for a long beat as the sun sets behind the trees.
The soft blue fades into shades of eggplant as the crest of orange narrows with each passing second. I’ve always loved sunsets. It was the gateway to my favorite time of the day. Only in the dark could I marvel at the universe beyond the earth we live on. It felt like the only way I could experience magic until Nash became mine.
Damn, I miss him.
“It’s beautiful out here,” my father sighs. The words drift out into the field where we watch the horses graze freely. The moment is peaceful, serene.
“It is. There’s no place like it in the world.” The words pass my lips, but in truth, I don’t know that for a fact. I’m thirty-three and I haven’t been anywhere.
“You shouldn’t say that until you actually see the world, sweetheart.” My head whips in his direction. “Yah know, that just makes sense,” he clears his throat.
My heart races, unsure if I’m hearing what my father is trying to say correctly. “My life is here,” I whisper.
My father finally pushes off the fence, turning to face me. “A piece of your life is here. It’ll always be here, Betty. But there’s a whole world out there waiting for you to explore and a man who would gladly carry you around it on his back if he had to.”
That guilt I’d pushed down a long time ago rises. The Hugheses don’t leave Cole County. I’ve bound myself to that history even when no one told me to. Even when my heart begged and pleaded for more, I denied it. I followed our roots.
