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I nod and rub the back of her hands with my thumbs. “He’s going to be fine. He just needs a few days’ rest and then he’ll be back on the trail in no time.”
“I’m glad it’s nothing serious. When you weren’t with the wagon train yesterday, I thought maybe something bad happened.” She shifts closer and rests her head on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry I missed seeing you off.” I breathe in the scent of fresh air and sunshine that clings to her hair. “I worried I might not see you again before you left Nebraska.”
Riley peers up at me from under her dark eyelashes. “There’s something I need to tell you. I should have told you before but…” She takes a deep breath and my heart stops.
This was just a fling.
There’s someone back home.
“I’m not heading back to California,” she says.
“You’re not?” Something dangerously close to hope and exhilaration mingle in my chest.
“Nope.”
“For like, a few more days? Or a week?”
“I’m not sure when I’ll be there again,” she says with a shrug. “But when I go back, it’ll only be for a visit. My family’s moving to Nebraska. That’s why we’re here.”
“So, you’re staying here?”
“Well, not here, here,” she says wryly, glancing around at the dirt dance floor. “My parents bought a house in Clearview.”
“Whoa, hold up.” It takes me a moment to process everything. “You’re moving to Nebraska?”
“Yeah.”
My feet shuffle forward, closing the distance between us again. “Clearview, Nebraska?” I say.
She nods.
Clearview is only twenty-five miles or so from Darby, which is a whole helluva lot closer than California. Maybe hoping for something more with Riley isn’t so unrealistic after all.
“I should have told you before, but at first, I was still in denial. And then things were so uncertain between us, I wasn’t sure it mattered. Then when I realized there was something between us, every time I tried to tell you—”
“I’m really glad you told me now,” I say, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“You aren’t upset?”
“How could I be upset that you’re staying in Nebraska?”
Riley slides her hands up to my shoulders and twines her hands behind the nape of my neck. “I’m really glad you’re here.” She glances around. “Wait. How did you get here?”
“The pioneer way,” I reply with a grin. “I took mules.”
“You’re a pretty good dancer after all,” Riley says as we finish our second dance. “Jake had me worried I’d lose a toe or two.”
“I’m not that bad,” I say. “I just needed the right partner.”
Riley grins up at me. “We do make a great pair.”
We do, which is why I need to square things away with my father sooner rather than later. I take a deep breath and drop my hands from her waist. “Save me the next dance?” I ask. “There’s something I need to take care of.”
“Hurry back, cowboy,” she teases.
As if I needed the extra motivation.
