I stiffen. I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I got too caught up in the fantasy of ‘what ifshe wants what I want?’and didn’t think any further than my own desires. Not the rejection—or the possibility she’s a ghost from a past I refuse to return to.
Sitting back, I glance down at the ring, feeling my heart warm with absolution. “Shouldn’t I find her, though?” I ask carefully, took to him from the corner of my eye. “Shouldn’t I show her I can be her husband?”
“You don’t even know her,” Tucker replies with a sigh. “Seriously, Ford. Stop thinking with your dick for a moment. For all you know, she isn’t the woman from the bar. She’s just someone you wish she was. And is that fair to either of you?”
My stomach sinks as I stare into my reflection at the bar back. The old, unpolished mirror warps my features into something I don’t recognise.
Maybe I am trying too hard for a woman who might not be the one from before.
Maybe she’s not the ghost of my past I want to revisit, but a nightmare waiting to happen.
And yet…my heart tells me that isn’t the case. It’s my heart that yearns for just another glimpse, a hint of hope, a flash of what could be. Like Vegas was just a stepping stone to what could be.
But I know Tucker will never understand. My brother gave up on romance a long time ago.
“You’re right,” I mutter, finishing my beer. “She’s just a stranger I need to forget.”
For his sake, he doesn’t need to know I won’t stop trying. Not until I see her again and know the truth.
Is she the woman from the bar? Or is she from a past I’ve done everything to forget?
TWO
OLIVIA
The reservation for Wild Vista Ranch glares at me as I chew my lip.
Two nights in one of their single-room cabins. A little out of my price range—the whole place is, honestly—but if two nights is all I can afford to track down thisFord Greysonand get our marriage annulled, then that’s all I need. I know I could just walk in, go to the visitor centre, and ask for him. Maybe get on my knees and beg him to sign the paperwork.
But there’s a small part of me that thinks he might be my baby’s father, and I need the two days to figure out if he is. I can’t shake how familiar he is now that I’ve seen his face again. Not just from Vegas, but from before.
“Are you sure you can look after him?” I ask, glancing over at my new sort of sister-in-law.
Winnie scoffs, waving a hand. “You know I have a small army of siblings. And those siblings have children. Oh, and I’ve looked after your own niece and nephew more than once now. I’ve got this little guy.”
“The last time I tried leaving him alone, I ended up passing him off to my aunt so we were still in the same house,” I mutter, crossing my arms.
“Yeah, I know,” she says softly. “But you’re in the next town over and it’s two days. You need to focus on finding this guy and getting him to sign the papers. You don’t need to worry about me looking after Christopher. I’ve got him.”
Initially, I’d hated the idea of my sister moving to the middle of nowhere Colorado with her twins. She, on their behalf, inherited property in the town from a relative of their bio-father, who died after they were born. And after her disaster of a divorce, she and the kids had needed a fresh start.
Of course, no one could have expected that fresh start included her falling in love with a grumpy mountain man and him changing his entire life for her and the children. Winnie, being his sister, actually kind of pushed them together.
So, it’s not that I don’t trust her. I really do, because she somehow brought my sister to the love of her life, and I know she genuinely cares.
It’s myself I don’t trust.
“What if he doesn’t sign the papers?” I ask quietly, dropping onto the edge of the bed. “What if he tries for a divorce?”
“Half of nothing is nothing,” Winnie says honestly, cocking her hip and putting Chris on it. “And even if he tries, you could go for anything he has. Just because he works on the ranch doesn’t mean he doesn’t have assets elsewhere. He’d have to be careful about that.”
“Right, but I probably look like a total…” I can’t finish the sentence, not with Chris looking at me with his wide, dark blue eyes. He doesn’t get them from me or anyone on my side. They are a distinct and clear inheritance from his father, a man I haven’t been able to find.
Winnie sighs and sits with me, Chris immediately grabbing at my dark brown hair. With a small smile, I pull him onto my lap. “I don’t want this to go any further than it has to,” I whisper. “I need to find Christopher’s dad.”
“You still think this guy might be him?” Winnie asks.
I’d almost forgotten she knew the history of my one-night stand. Met a guy at one of those tacky western themed bars. Initially, I stole his cowboy hat—bad, I know—and took it with me to ride the bucking bull. He’d watched from the sidelines, grinning like a handsome fool, and it had felt like we were the only two in the bar.
