“Buck good with you while we’re gone?” Jake asks me.
I crouch to ruffle Buck’s ears. “What do you think, boy? Wanna play rancher with me?”
“Looks like more than playing,” Harper says, nodding to one of Dad’s old cowboy hats I’ve taken to wearing.
A swell of warmth spreads across my chest. “Yeah. I know it started as a drunken mistake, but it feels like I’ve got a purpose again,” I admit.
The silence that follows is immediate and loaded. Chase shoots a look at Mama. Jake arches his brows. Harper looks like she’d rather be anywhere else. Something’s up.
“What?” I ask, turning to Jake.
He gives a tiny shake of his head, then glances at Mama.
“Mama?”
Her eyes meet mine. “Coach Allen’s been calling you.”
“So? Probably just checking in.”
“It’s more than that,” she says, still hesitating. “He wants you to join the Stormhawks coaching staff.”
The words hit me like a gut punch. Coach wants me to join the coaching staff. I could be part of the Stormhawks again. For all my talk about finding purpose here, the thought of rejoining the team—even from the sidelines—sends a jolt of something electric through me that I’m not ready for. I open my mouth. Close it. Then finally I find my voice. “I… I’ve got the ranch now.” Even I can hear the hesitation in those words.
Mama’s warm hand rests on my arm. “And seeing you come out of yourself over the last few weeks has been wonderful. I want you to choose this life if it’s what you want, Dylan. But don’t choose it because you think your dad would’ve wanted you to or because you feel like it’s all you’ve got. Don’t settle. Remember—we don’t give up on what we love.”
The silence stretches again until Harper breaks it with a wave of her phone. “Mia says she’ll be here by four.”
Talk turns to plans—two weeks in Florida for Mama, Hawaii for Jake and Harper, and Chase’s media days in the city. Everyone’s going somewhere. Doing something.
Except me. I’m staying right here. And for the first time in weeks, I wonder if that’s enough. Am I throwing myself into this life because it’s truly what I want or because I thought it was all I had? I picture Fury—his progress, the pride that swells every time he takes a step forward. Football was my life. It isn’t anymore, I tell myself, and maybe I even believe it—most days. But there’s still something lingering. That last tether to the life I left behind. The way I come alive when I toss the ball with Mad. If raising horses was truly all I wanted, would one mention of an offer from Coach be enough to send me into this kind of turmoil?I’ve thrown myself into ranching, day after day, but deep down, something still feels incomplete. And I can’t help but wonder if Izzy senses it. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t said she’s staying.
I glance out the back door, my gaze falling on Izzy, like I can’t stop seeking her out. She’s by her trailer, kneeling in the dirt, arms wrapped tightly around Madison. Even from this distance, I can see Mad’s face is buried in her mom’s shoulder. Something’s wrong. And seeing Izzy comfort Mad makes me want to be out there, kneeling beside Izzy in the dirt. I don’t just want to help them—I want to be part of their unit, if they’ll let me.
I push aside thoughts of coaching football and Coach Allen’s calls and stride out the back door, beelining straight for them and catching the tail end of Mad’s hiccupped words, her voice small and sad, nothing like the determined little girl I’ve come to know.
“Maybe Dad had something really important to do,” she says through sniffs.
“I’m sure that’s it,” Izzy replies, running a soothing hand over Madison’s back. But when Izzy glances up, her green eyes meeting mine, I see her sadness. Most of all, I see her resignation. Like she already knew this would happen and hates herself for being right.
Anger smacks into me so hard I have to take a breath.What kind of father lets his kid down like this? What kind of man?It isn’t just that Hooper canceled—it’s that Mad is trying to convince herself that it doesn’t hurt when it clearly does.
I understand Izzy a little more in this moment. The sharp edges, the stubbornness, the way she doesn’t let people in. She’s been the one picking up the pieces for Madison since day one. She’s had to be everything to her daughter. And right now, all I want to do is take that pain from Madison and smooth the sadness from Izzy’s face. I want to fix it.
I crouch down next to them, nudging Madison’s shoulder with mine. “Hey, Mad.”
She lifts her face, wiping away her tears. “My dad can’t make it tonight.”
“That’s a shame, but do you want to know something?”
“What?” she asks, pulling back from Izzy’s arms as she turns to look at me.
“I’m actually really happy to hear you’re going to be here tonight because I’ve got plans for us.”
She looks up at me, tears still clinging to her lashes, but she’s curious, too. “What plans?”
“How does a barbeque by the lake sound?” I ask. “Burgers, swimming, and maybe even s’mores if you can convince your mom.”
Mad’s eyes light up. “Can Jake and Chase come too? I bet they’ll push me really high on the rope swing.”
