Skye wasn’t interested.He was losing all his girls.Dropping his head, he let the pain of leaving, of saying goodbye crash over him.As he stood there, his heart shattering, he felt something nudging his hand.
Skye had walked up to him.Stroking her head, he teared up.The horse dropped her head to his shoulder.For long minutes, he stood quietly as he said goodbye, before he turned around and walked back to his truck.
As he drove through the gates for the last time, he rubbed his chest.His body was way too small today for all the emotions churning inside.Fortunately, he had roughly 669 miles to clear his head.
*
By Sunday night,Willow was settled in the apartment the gallery had rented for her in Seattle.It was a lovely place within walking distance of the gallery.
Pulling on a coat, she stepped out on the balcony overlooking the city.She’d had her phone on silent all day, but she knew she should talk to her family members.Her mother had phoned several times already.So had Hayden and Becket.Cooper was quiet, though; he knew she needed space.
Seattle was a beautiful city, especially during December.Greg Davis and his wife, Eden, who was also his assistant at the gallery, had invited her for dinner with a promise to take her to see some displays of Christmas lights in the city, but she’d declined.For one, she wasn’t very hungry and also, she’d never be able to watch another garden of lights without thinking of the walk she’d had with Hunter.
Her body was breaking open, her heart breaking.She had no idea what to do with it.Embrace it?Ignore it?Cradle it?It was difficult to feel excited about her exhibition when she was hurting this much.All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sob her until she could somehow feel whole again.
Inhaling a shuddering breath, she looked up at the sky.How did she leave her heartache on hold for later when she’d be alone?
It was cold, but not nearly as cold as it could get on the ranch in Montana.The city lights were too bright; she couldn’t see the stars.The only sliver of light she could see in the sky was the waning crescent moon.
She loved visiting cities all over the country, but she could never live in one.Her heart already missed the wide-open spaces of Montana, the reassuring presence of the mountains, her family.But tonight, missing Hunter, the big cowboy who’d told her he cried easily, who’d kissed her like nobody else ever had, who’d made love to her so passionately, so ardently she could still feel his hands stroking her as he’d made her fly time and time again was a throbbing, unrelenting pain.
Rubbing her forehead, she walked back inside.Surely this emptiness, the deep ache inside of her would settle in time?Maybe not soon, but some day?
As she closed the door behind her, her eyes fell on the ring still sitting pretty on her finger.How was she going to get it off?Gritting her teeth, she tried again to slip it off, but it wouldn’t move, not even a tiny bit.
Her phone rang.Her heart lurched, but it was her mother, not Hunter.Of course he wouldn’t phone.It was over, as they’d decided.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom.It’s a very nice apartment.I’ve been to the gallery already.Greg has done a great job displaying the paintings.He’s scheduled a few interviews with newspapers and television channels for me, so I’ll be busy until you guys arrive on Friday.”She knew she was talking way too much and too fast, but she didn’t want to answer her mother’s questions about Hunter.
“Willow,” her mom said gently.“Hunter was here, he told us the engagement is over.The two of you looked so happy, he never took his eyes off of you, what happened?”
She didn’t have to ask what her mother was talking about.“Oh, Mom, it’s a mess,” she whispered.
“Talk to me.”
Inhaling deeply, she sat down on one of the coaches.It was time to tell her mother the truth.“You remember the Christmas Stroll?”
“The night Hunter asked you to marry him?”
“That’s the thing, Mom.That was not what happened.He never asked me to marry him.”
“I don’t understand.What do you mean?”
“Well, he wasn’t asking me to marry him, he was asking why I never wanted to get married.”Her mother was silent as she explained what had happened.
“…and so, we agreed to have a fake engagement.”
“So let me get this straight.Because I would like to see you get married, have babies and be happy, you and Hunter pretended to be engaged to keep me quiet?”
When her mother spelled it out like this, the whole thing sounded even more ludicrous.“Well, yes.”
“And now it’s over?Hunter is back in Colorado and you’re in Seattle?”
“Yes, it’s done.Mom, I have to go, thanks for calling.”
