Page 118 of Slow Hands Cowboy

He honestly didn’t know what to say to that. It was the most logical, rational thing anyone had ever said on the subject.

“They didn’t bother to raise any of us. They weren’t role models. I choose not to inherit anything from my dad, nothing that isn’t material anyway. I’ll take this. Everything else, that was just him giving us issues.”

“Yeah, well. I’m afraid that I have too many of them. She’s better off without me.”

“Oh, Walker. That is so tiresome. You don’t really think that, do you?”

“Yeah, I do think that. I think she’s better off without me. Because... I’m... I’m just... I’m just still that kid. I’m that kid that had to shoplift food. And I’ll lie about it, and I’m not going to ever be able to outrun that past. And I’m never... I’m never really going to be good enough. Because I’m always just going to feel like... me... me. And I don’t like myself very much.”

Then his little sister did about the most surprising thing she could have done. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. “Walker, you’re the best. And if you tell anybody that I said that, I’m going to bite you. But I love you, and I admire you so much. Cody is amazing, and he made my life so much better, but you, you made it fun, Walker, you always have. And I love you for it. To me, you’re not just good enough. To me, you’re the best.”

She stepped away from him, and he felt dumbfounded. Emotion that he didn’t quite know what to do with built in his chest, and for the second time recently, he felt his eyes start to sting, his throat getting tight. “Maybe she feels that way too, and if she does... then you need to go get her back. Because if you can’t see yourself, then you need someone who does. I think she sees you. You see her now, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice rusty. “I do.”

“Then you let her decide. You let her decide if you’re good enough. Because it’s not really you talking right now, is it? It’s our mom. It’s the dad you didn’t know. Those are the things that make you not feel good enough. But hell, idiot. We love you.”

She didn’t leave. She stood there, next to him.

And suddenly, he remembered his childhood just a little bit differently. The charm, the smiling. Some of it had been for Lila. To try and make it so she wasn’t scared. To try and make things seem normal. And just maybe everything hadn’t been all bad. So maybe neither was he.

“I love you, kid,” he said, wrapping his arm around her. “I’d really like to be the man that you and Cody seem to think I am.”

“Walker, everything you’ve ever set your mind to, you’ve done. So just do it.”

His chest burned with conviction. Desire. With the need to overcome all of his issues so that he could have her. Love her.

But if she didn’t want him now, it would be fair.

He’d been awful to her.

He’d broken her heart.

If she wanted to break his now she’d be well within his right to do it, and the idea of her saying no now…it almost destroyed him.

But she had risked it all to say she loved him.

He had to be willing to do it the same now.

Fear didn’t get to win.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

She stayed with her mom until it was time for her to drive back up for her fundraiser. Marlowe and Lila had called multiple times to reassure her that everything was fine, and great and wonderful.

She’d spent a little bit of time discussing her planned speech with Lila. She’d had a plan before she and Walker had — well, whatever she might call it, before they’d imploded? — and she was sticking to that plan.

She’d intended to talk about the Grayson family and give him credit for the food and clothing pantry idea, but since some of it involved talking about the Graysons past, she’d wanted familial permission to do it.

Lila had been enthusiastic.

They all know where we came from. Feel free to talk about it. I hope it makes them all squirm a little bit sitting in fancy chairs on our ranch.

She kept going over and over the speech, and it felt a little robotic, but it was better than crying.

Addison felt…better, but in a strange way. Her heartbreak wasn’t better. But she felt like her mom’s care had pieced her back together in a very specific way she hadn’t experienced since childhood. Mended her in such a way that she could handle all this, at least for tonight.

It being the Painted Ridge Resort, of course everything was stunning.