Ryder chuckles. “Only if you promise me you’ll never change.”
“As long as you promise to never change me.”
“I promise.”
Going up on my tiptoes, I kiss him. “Then so do I. Let’s go home, baby.”
THE END
Epilogue
PAPER RINGS
Ryder
“Yeehaw!”Sticking my fingers in my mouth, I let out the loudest whistle I can muster. “Get it, girl!”
Beside me, Duke chuckles as he covers his ears. “Since when can you whistle that loud?”
“Since now. That’s her!” I elbow him and point to the gorgeous brunette making quick work of the cloverleaf in the arena. “That’s my cowgirl. Look! Look! She’s turning a damn fine barrel. Wow.”
Ava, who’s standing on my other side, leans her head on my shoulder and grins. “Of course she is. She’s incredible.”
“She’s also getting laid on a regular basis,” Mollie adds with a sly grin. “Helps keep the hips open, you know?”
I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. “She been bragging about me again?”
“Apparently there’s lots to brag about,” Sally replies.
I hold my breath as Billie rounds the second barrel. Her hair is flying everywhere. Her body moves gracefully in time tothe horse’s movements, the two of them working together in coordinated, athletic rhythm.
Billie rounds the barrel with expert precision, and I realize a beat later that the joyful yell that fills the arena is hers.
Turning her head, she flashes me a smile as she dashes toward the third and final barrel, her horse kicking up sprays of bright brown earth.
Her smile. The happiness I see there, and the relief. The pride too.
The love.
She fucking did it.
Joy cracks open my chest. I holler like an idiot, my eyes stinging and my heart thundering. I give myself over to the thrill of the moment as Billie rounds the third barrel and finishes the race.
Not only did she finish. Her official time puts her in the top three.
Ava is sobbing. Duke curls an arm around my shoulders and pulls me in for a hug. Junie and Ella and Dean are somehow piling on too, and we’re all screaming, the arena breaking out in thunderous applause.
I feel a strong clap on my arm, and I glance over my shoulder to see Colt smiling down at me. He has tears in his eyes.
“She did good.” His words are barely audible over all the noise. “Congrats, brother.”
Before—when I came to see Billie race for the first time months ago—I would’ve put up a dam against the rush of emotion that courses through me.
I remember doing exactly that as I watched Billie ride that night like her life depended on it. Totally free. Totally fearless. She experienced it all, the exhilaration and the disappointment and the pain, but she didn’t let that stop her from doing what she needed—wanted—to do.
Turns out,mylife depended on accessing that kind of courage. I was stuck in survival mode after my parents died, and while there was safety in living that way, there was none of this.
Joy.
