‘Hey,’ she laughs, moving one arm so she can playfully punch my shoulder. ‘It’s my job.’
‘I bet you say that to all the guys you stalk.’ Something sticks in my throat though, to imagine Bailey interviewing someone else.
‘It’s my job,’ she says again, oblivious to the way a green-eyed monster is jumping around in my chest. ‘Anyway.’ She rolls her eyes for good measure. ‘You came back.’
I nod once. ‘After my old man died, I tried to keep true to his wishes. I stayed on the ranch, helpin’ Cole, putting one foot in front of the other, you know? I kept waiting for it to feel like my life, like where I was meant to be.’
‘But it never did?’
I shake my head. ‘I love it there. It’s the only place I want to be, in the future. But not now. Not when I can still be doing this.’
‘How does the rest of your family feel about it?’
‘Mad as all hell, at first. But Cole, he met this girl—woman—Beth. They’re married now.’ I smile when I think of Manhattan, my sister-in-law. ‘Like two freaking peas in a pod. I never knew Cole even had a soft side till she came along. Anyway, she got him to back off, let me go.’
‘So he’s okay with it now?’
‘He puts up with it. Barely.’
She laughs again, and I ignore how much I like it. I ignore how much I like knowing I can make her laugh, because she tries to fight that side of herself.
But when she looks up at me, something shifts in her expression and she sobers. ‘That accident was pretty bad.’
‘Yeah, I’ve seen the footage.’
‘You don’t remember it?’
‘Not really. I got a bad concussion when I hit the ground.’
‘Which time?’
I flash a grin. ‘I remember slices of it. Like quick images. The lights, the smell of clay, the sound of the crowd, the scuffle of boots, the pain, the sensation of being in the air, but it’s all kinda disjointed, like maybe it happened to someone else.’
‘It was awful.’
‘Yeah. It’s a risk.’
‘Even knowing that, you still love what you do?’
‘I don’t really feel like it’s a choice. Just like you with ballet. It’s not what I do. It’s who I am.’ I move my hand to push against my chest, just like she did, then drop it to her hip, holding the curve of her there. ‘One day, I know I’ll have to walk away from it, and I hope to god I find something new that makes me feel like this.’
‘You sound sceptical.’
That’s not my intention. In fact, none of this is. This is the kind of conversation I don’t have with anyone—except maybe from time to time with Beth, who has a way of seeing through my bullshit like no one else. Even Ash doesn’t get deeper than skin, because I don’t want her to. Hell, Ash is one of the people I work hard to keep outside my fences, because I know if I let her in, there’d be a risk. I can’t say what that risk is, only I know it’s there. So things with us were always light and easy, just like this is meant to be.
‘Anyway.’ I mentally take a step back. ‘I’ll work it out, when that day comes. Plenty of time between now and then.’
She eyes me thoughtfully but doesn’t say anything. The song slows down then stops, a pause before a new one starts. We just stand there staring at each other, my eyes locked to hers, hers not shifting away, until her whole body pulls back and her hands drop to her sides.
‘I should get going,’ she says, with a clearing of her throat.
Disappointment spears me but so does relief. It’s easier if she goes, easier if we don’t let this get bigger than Ben Hur.
‘Sure thing, darlin’,’ I say with a wink.
She reaches out and flicks my arm, her smile easy and natural. God, I love her like this. ‘I’ll be out of your hair in five minutes, cowboy.’
She turns to scoop up her clothes, and disappears into the bathroom. I smile to myself as I take a handful of fries off her plate and push them into my mouth. On the counter, my phone begins to ring with a FaceTime call. When I see Cole’s name on the screen, I swipe it without thinking and ease down into the chair.
