Cole was charming…until you found out he was a lying cheat.
It takes me four tries to get the stupid flannel on the hanger straight, which is humiliating for a woman of my organizational caliber.
And I leave without saying a word.
I open my email and read the offer again. I think about how my mother used to say a woman should always be able to leave with what she came in with. She’d meant money, but I think it applies toa lotof things.
I drive back up the mountain.
Beck is on the porch when I pull in. He's in his rocker with his foot up and a coffee mug in his hand and he watches me park.
I get out and cross the yard slowly. My boots feel as if they have weights in them. Riot lifts his head over the paddock fence to track me as I walk, and evenhelooks worried.
I climb the porch steps. Beck shifts his foot down off the crate so I can sit on the railing across from him.
"Hey," he says.
"Hey."
The wooden planks creak under me.
"Just say it, darlin’," he says, quietly, as if he knows me that well already.
"I got a job offer this morning."
His face doesn't move. "Okay."
"As a head trainer at Walker Performance Horses in Texas. It's…" My voice wavers a little. "It'sthejob, Beck. It’s the one I’ve been waiting for. They want me there in three weeks."
He nods. He sets the coffee mug down on the side table, carefully, like it's full of something more important than coffee.
"That sounds like a hell of an offer. You gonna take it?"
I take a deep breath. "Yes. I'll finish out the rest of my time here, and then I'll go."
“Congrats, Laurel. That’s amazing.” He drops his elbows down onto his knees.
“Thank you.”
He clears his throat. "But I do need to tell you something.”
I nod, my heart pounding.
He looks straight up at me and his eyes are so brown in the morning light it’s breathtaking.
"I love you,” he says.
I blink back at him. This time, it’s not a cute slip.
"I'm not just saying that 'cause you're leavin’,” he says. "I know what it looks like, me sayin' that to you after barely a week. And I know what this town's gonna think. But I had to tell you what's in here." He taps his chest, just once.
My throat is on fire.
"So if Texas is what you want—if that job is the one—you take it. That part's not even a question." He swallows. "I'll visit. I'll fly down on weekends. We can make it work, Laurel. That's what people who love each otherdo."
People who love each other.
He's making it so easy. He's holding the door open with one hand and reaching out with the other, and all I have to do is step through.
