Sierra’s brows shot up. “So?”
“You always said you were going to get out of Goldfinch. Where’d you end up traveling to?” I’d resisted asking the question for this long.
I had to know where she’d been all those years, why she never reached out to me. I thought after the last time I’d seen her that maybe we were…something, anything. I didn’t know. Maybe I was just a dumb kid with his heart on his sleeve and stars in his eyes, but the way she’d looked at me that night made me believe she felt the same way.
Sierra took a slow sip of her water before placing it back on the table, her eyes averting to the ice clinking around in the glass. “Everywhere. I wanted to see everything I could.”
Everywhere but home.
“What was your favorite place you traveled to?”
She rolled her lips between her teeth. “It was this little town in Colorado called Cedar Bluffs. It reminded me a lot of Silver Creek, actually. It was small and close-knit, but the environment was rare. Everyone tended to mind theirown business instead of getting involved in the gossip mill. It was nice.”
I was sure she loved that. People in Goldfinch loved to talk. I couldn’t exactly blame her for leaving after everything that had happened and the way the town reacted. Finding solace in a small town where who you were didn’t matter was probably a nice reprieve.
“Would you ever want to go back?” My question came with a subtle tone ofAre you planning on leaving again?, without actually saying it outright.
Her gaze flicked toward the ceiling this time. “Hmm… I’m not sure. Probably not. There’s still so much out there I haven’t seen, but I don’t know, maybe…” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t know if I’m ready to settle, but part of me wants to. Part of me wants to stop?—”
“Here are those Cokes. Your food’s on the way.” Shellie interrupted Sierra’s sentence, but I thought I had an idea of what she might have been trying to say, or at least what I hoped she was trying to say.
Part of me wants to stop running away.
“Well, I remember you always said you wanted to make it to Houston, Cheyenne, Pendleton, and Vegas. You’ve done Houston and Cheyenne.”
She’d been at Cheyenne Frontier Days a couple years ago, and I thought I’d imagined her out in the arena. I wasn’t able to work up the courage to approach her out of fear that I’d somehow scare her away. Honestly, if Pancho hadn’t run up to me that day in Goldfinch, I didn’t know if I would have had the guts to talk to her a month ago.
It wasn’t that I was avoiding her. In truth, whenever we were in the same place over the years, all I wanted to do was reunite with her. But I think a small part of me knew that, for Sierra, coming back had to be on her terms. Shehad to be the one to choose to stay, and I wasn’t going to take that power away from her. Even though the notion was painful, I was willing to be patient and meet her wherever she was. Be whoever she needed me to be.
“We’re on our way to Pendleton now,” I pointed out. “All that’s left is Vegas.”
She nodded, finally making eye contact with me, her emerald eyes shining with emotions. I hoped pride was one of them, because if nothing else, Sierra should have been very proud of herself and how far she’d come.
“Hey, Sierra?” I murmured, low and so soft I wasn’t even sure she’d be able to hear.
“Hmm?”
“I’m really proud of you.”
“Could we just get the check?” After we’d scarfed down our food—without too much conversation because we were both starving—I flashed a smile at our server, and she nodded, rushing away to grab the bill.
When she came back, she placed it on the table. Sierra reached for it, but I stopped her, placing my hand atop hers before handing my credit card to Shellie.
“Aw, how sweet. I justadoreyoung love. You two look so good together,” Shellie gushed as she took my card and whisked away before Sierra could correct her, “Oh, we aren’t a couple,” already falling off her lips.
Her cheeks flamed, and her eyes widened.
I shrugged, mischievous thoughts rolling through my mind. “Can’t deny it, Skip. Wedolook good together.”
Shellie brought back my card faster than I’d ever seen,and she gave us her thanks for coming in. “You and your honey drive safe now.” She winked.
Sierra ignored Shellie’s statement, pushing back her chair to stand as I added a tip and signed the receipt. “Let’s get back on the road or we’ll end up getting to Oregon super late.”
“I can drive the next few hours so you can get some sleep,” she offered after I yawned on our way through the parking lot.
“Okay, yeah sure. That’d be great.” A memory resurfaced, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give her a hard time. “Just don’t crash, okay? I don’t think I can take the fall this time.”
“Hey!” She scoffed, tilting her chin upward like a petulant child. “You promised you wouldn’t hold that against me!”
