The hours that followed stretched longer than any he had known in years. Sleep wasn’t an option even though he set the alarm on his cell. He dozed infrequently on top two padded benches he pushed together in the empty airport VIP lounge. He stared at the ceiling as time moved slower than it should have, his mind refusing to be quiet.
He replayed everything in his head; from the moment they left inthe emergency room until the day their careers separated them. Then their attempt to work it out, the distance, the silence ... what a mess. They both had made the same mistakes. It was up to him to fix it. He should have asked her to move to Montana with him.
Because their relationship was new, he was afraid the stress of her starting fresh without the art connections she had already developed would prove too much of a strain on their relationship.
So, he didn’t.
He was a fool for not asking. He wanted her in his life until the day he died.
He dialed her number and it went straight to voicemail.
“I’m coming to you,” was the message he left.
And he meant it.
When the sky finally began to lighten and the sun began to rise, he was on his feet, ready and waiting.
CHAPTER 25
Randi awoke before dawn at the ranch.
The reception she had received was as if she was a daughter returning home. For a moment, she lay still, unsure what had stirred her. Then she remembered. She reached for it quickly, her breath catching as she saw the last notification, missed call, and final voicemail from Brew’s number.
Her phone rested beside her and her breath hitched as she listened.
His voice filled the quiet room, closer than it had been in weeks.
“I know what you’ve done,” he said. “I know where you’re headed. I’m coming to you.”
The message ended, but the warmth it left behind didn’t. Herheart filled with joy, and she jumped from bed dancing happily.
Randi sat there for a long moment with her fingers curled lightly around her cell as something steady and certain settled inside her.
Then she smiled and moved.
It only took her a matter of minutes to pull on a pair of eats, zip-up a matching hoodie, and pull her hair into a high ponytail. The house was quiet as she descended the stairs, walked toward the kitchen, and prepared a pot of coffee so it would be ready for the others when they rose.
With cup in hand, she stepped out into the cool early morning air, the sky still holding onto the last traces of night. The world felt suspended in that quiet space between darkness and light, where everything seemed possible.
Her feet carried her without thought to the place she had come to love most.
The meadow stretched wide before her. A soft mist hovered low over the ground, drifting in delicate layers across the open field. The first hints of sunrise began to break along the horizon, casting a pale glow that slowly awakened the land
The mustangs were already there.
Quietly grazing, moving in slow, deliberate rhythm as if the world had never known anything but peace and unaware of anything beyond that moment.
Randi stood at the edge of it all, her hands wrapped around the warmth of her coffee cup seeping into her hands as she took it in. She stepped forward, watching them.
Breathed it in, her mind sighed,the feeling this place offers, the life you’ve chosen you want with thiswonderful man. Hold onto it. Never take it for granted.
The sun slowly began to peek in the distance over the Pryor Mountains, and the ranch’s resident roaster welcomed the new day … it’s repeated cockle-doodle-do renting the air.
Behind her, the ranch stirred quietly to life and lights slowly flickered on.
Voices of ‘Good morning’ carried faintly.
On the porch, Brew’s family trickled out the front door, inhabiting a comfy rocker, with coffee cups in hand, their expressions a mixture of anticipation and quiet knowing.
