Her breath caught as his words fully sank in.
“They brought home toyou, Summer.”
Understanding bloomed inside her chest.
She nodded. “They built a life that let them come to me.” She almost choked on the sweetness of those words. She shook herhead. “I never resented my parents for having a new life. I love when they visit. They parked the RV nearby for weeks after Ben was born. Dad fixes things around the house whenever he’s in town.”
Vander stroked his fingers through her hair slowly. “They built their whole life around making sure you had support.”
She stared at him as another realization struck. “So did you,” she said slowly. The ache in her chest cracked wide open. All these years, she’d carried around hurt like proof she wasn’t worth sticking around for—that everyone would abandon her.
“Even after I broke things off with you, you didn’t stay away. You came to the bar. Made sure I got home. You were protecting me long before there was some psycho truck driver after me.”
Pope’s gaze held hers steady in the darkness. “Leaving you was never what I wanted. I just had to make myself worthy of you.”
She cupped his face and wouldn’t let him look away. “You were always worthy. But maybe I didn’t think I was.”
His lips softened into a smile. “I guess we’re made for each other.”
She pressed her lips to his in a tender kiss. “We are.”
He held her for long minutes, both of them digesting their confessions in the dark. “And another thing,” he murmured into her hair.
She tipped her head back enough to look at him.
“You never got the fun parts of life.”
A watery laugh bubbled up. “What fun parts?”
“You never got to enjoy RV life or run off on vacations. But if we’re together, we can. We’re in this together, Summer. I love you and Ben. I want to give you those things.”
She giggled. “Even if that means pulling over to see a statue of a giant dinosaur or the world’s biggest pancake?”
He chuckled, loose and carefree.
Suddenly, she could picture all of it. Ben laughing in the back seat. Vander with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on her thigh.
They wouldn’t be surviving—they’d be living.
For the first time in a long time, the future stopped looking like something she merely endured.
It finally started looking like somewhere she wanted to go.
Chapter Seventeen
Walking into the barn felt very different now.
Pope stopped in the doorway, expecting to hear Flint in his stall, eager for Pope to lead him out.
Flint was gone.
The absence hit him harder than he expected. For months, that horse silenced the noise in his head. All those early mornings he worked with Flint, breaking his bad habits and helping to train new ones into him had meant so much.
He gave a small shake of his head. Flint might be gone, but the emptiness didn’t feel quite as sharp as it would have a few weeks ago.
“A guy brought his daughter by yesterday looking for you.”
Pope turned at the voice and found Truman leaning in the doorway holding a coffee cup. Ranger stood at his side.
