“If you’re going to see Coach, it has to be today. Sitting on the fence isn’t helping anyone. Least of all you.”
I nod, not trusting myself to answer.
I do miss football. It still feels like a part of me. But it’s not the stadium or the cameras or being on that field I think about most. It’s tossing the ball with Mad in the back pasture. It’s her laughter when she scores a pretend touchdown. That’s what I miss.
I’m saved from forming an answer by Buck clattering into the kitchen and galloping to me as I crouch to rub his ears. Jake steps in a moment later, his huge frame filling the doorway. His dark hair is pushed back from his face, his stubble trimmed to something that’s never quite a beard. “Man, it’s early!” He looks me over, the same unspoken question on his lips. “You heading into the city later?”
“Don’t you start,” I mutter. “I haven’t decided anything.”
“Harper said to tell you to get your head out of your ass and fix things with Izzy.”
Hurt streaks across my chest. I miss Izzy more than I care to admit. “She left me,” I remind him.
Jake doesn’t flinch. “Harper said you’d say that. And to remind you it’s probably your fault. Also, she said to ask if you want to spend the rest of your life as a grumpy, washed-up ex-pro.”
“Those her exact words?”
Jake grins. “I might’ve paraphrased.”
“We all miss having her and Madison around,” is all Mama adds as she kisses my cheek and heads out to the truck, leaving Jake to linger in the doorway like he knows there’s more for us to say.
“What would you do?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Only you can answer that. Just don’t make the call with a bottle of bourbon in your hand.”
And despite everything, I chuckle. “Thanks. You’ve been no help at all.”
Jake takes a step before turning back. “Remember what Mama says. We don’t give up on what we love.”
“What does that mean?”
He gives a short laugh, like I’m the dumbest man in Colorado. “Figure it out, cowboy.”
I wait for the sound of the engine to fade along the dirt track before stepping outside.
The first hints of fall are in the air—a shift in the wind, a scattering of orange in the treetops. The kind of morning that announces football season is here. I breathe deep as my eyes scan the paddocks. Quicksilver breaks from Moonlight, trotting toward the fence, nose lifted in greeting—a demand to be fed first. Pride flares in my chest at the sight of him.Then my eyes snag on the empty spot where Izzy’s trailer used to sit. She didn’t come back. Just sent a truck to tow the trailer a few days after she left. We haven’t spoken since our fight, but Travis let slip she checks in with him every day, sending him reminders of what to do around the ranch.
The hollow ache in my chest deepens. Every task feels strange without her beside me. I miss her eye rolls. Her smart mouth. The way she made even feed runs feel like a team effort. But the weekends—they’ve been the worst. Too quiet without Madison’s chatter. Too still. I scrub a hand over my face and wonder not for the first time if I should’ve called. I wish I had.
I drag open the barn doors and lose myself in the rhythm of feeding. The sound of buckets, the shuffle of hooves, and the greetings from the horses who are starting to feel like a part of me. Izzy could’ve called me. Could’ve stayed. She didn’t give me a second to explain. This job offer—it’s one meeting. One conversation. She can’t expect me to build my life around a mistake without a second thought.
For the first time, I try to think seriously about Coach Allen’s offer. What it would mean. A life back in football. With my team. But more than that, it’s a chance to undo the failure I’ve felt since Coach sat me down in his office and cut me from the team. It would be a second chance. A shot at proving I still belong in football.
Travis shows up just in time to save me from my spiraling thoughts. Dirty-blond hair shoved under a cap, his smile all nerves and eagerness.A face too young for the facial hair he’s trying to grow.
I nod toward the stalls. “Check the water lines and then saddle up Rusty and Bramble.”
“We riding?” he asks with an undisguised excitement that has my thoughts running to Mad.
“Yeah. I wanna measure a bit of land out by the football field. Might as well ride up there.”
He nods and heads off. I lean against the barn wall, breathing in the heady scent of hay and horses. Today, I need to decide who I am. A coach. A rancher. Maybe a man Izzy thinks is worth fighting for.
I don’t stop again until the afternoon, when my back is aching, my knee is screaming out to take the weight from it, and I’m too damn tired to be thinking of anything but the task in front of me. And right now, that task is Fury.
The black stallion stills as I step into the paddock with the lead rein. His ears prick. “Don’t be getting spooked,” I say, voice soothing. “We’ve done this before. It’s just a little walk around the paddock.”
Fury shifts his feet but doesn’t bolt as I clip on the rein and start to walk him in a large circle, talking the whole time. “You got this, see? You’re doing great. You can trust me.”
