"He didn't ask, Maggie. He just assumed I'd say yes."
"He did. And that was wrong." She picks up her fork again. "But that boy isn't your ex. Tyler left because you said no. Dean's been holed up at that base for three days probably losing his mind trying to figure out how to fix this."
"How do you know that?"
"Because Javi came in for lunch yesterday and said Dean's been running training drills like a man possessed. Top had to physically remove him from the obstacle course before he hurt himself." Maggie gives me a knowing look. "That's not a man who's moved on. That's a man who's miserable."
Good. He should be miserable.
The thought of Dean miserable makes me want to drive to that base right now.
"I don't know if I can do it," I admit. "Trust someone that much. Leave everything I've built. Start over in a place where I don't know anyone, where I'd be dependent on his family's business, where everything could fall apart if we---if he---"
"If he decides you're not worth it?" Maggie's voice is soft. "If he leaves?"
I can barely say it. "Yeah."
"That's what Tyler did to you. Made you think you weren't enough. That if you didn't bend to what he wanted, you'd lose him." She leans forward. "But that boy isn't Tyler. And you're not the same woman you were then."
"How do you know?"
"Because that woman wouldn't have told Dean no. She would have said yes just to keep him, then spent the rest of her life resenting him for it." Maggie's smile is sad and knowing. "You'restronger now. Strong enough to know what you want. Question is, do you want him?"
"Yes." The word comes out broken. "I want him so badly it scares me."
"Good." Maggie stands, brushing crumbs from her apron. "Now you just have to decide if being scared is enough reason to walk away from something real."
She leaves the pie. Leaves me sitting at my desk with half a slice and a question I don't know how to answer.
That night, Biscuit and I sit on the front porch like we've done every night this week. He's pressed against my leg, warm and solid. The mountains are dark shapes against the darker sky, and somewhere out there, Dean has already made his choice.
Yesterday morning. His extended deadline was yesterday morning. Maggie heard it from Javi who heard it from Top---the Pine Valley gossip network in action.
My stomach twists.
"What do you think, buddy?" I scratch behind Biscuit's ears. "Am I being smart or stupid?"
He licks my hand. Unhelpful as always.
Tyler. Denver. The weeks after he left when I felt like I'd failed some fundamental test of commitment. When I convinced myself that if I'd just been willing to sacrifice everything, it would have worked.
But it wouldn't have. Because Tyler didn't want a partner. He wanted someone who'd follow.
Dean wants---
I stare at the mountains. What does he want?
Come with me. To Iron Creek.
We'd be together.
I love you.
I pull out my phone. No messages. No calls. Three days of absolute silence, which is somehow worse than anything he could have said.
Yesterday morning, he signed those papers or he didn't. Either way, he'll leave Pine Valley.
Either way, I lose him.
