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My world ended the day a cop pulled down the long dirt drive, stirring up a dust storm with his tires.
“Let me guess,” she spouted off. “You’re going to hit me with some vague cowboy fortune cookie saying that will give me an epiphany in the middle of the night, two months from now.”
I wasn’t a Hallmark heroine who was banished to a small town and was destined to learn the true meaning of Christmas and the evils of corporate life after being wooed by the local lumberjack.
“It’ll clear, you know,” Christian said out of nowhere. “What will?” He slowed up and looked over at me. “The dust storm.” I stared at the chestnut hairs of Dottie’s mane. “What are you talking about?” “All the shit that gets stirred up and clouds your mind. Eventually it’ll settle. You’ll be able to breathe easier.” He looked ahead. “Doesn’t make it better in the moment. Dust storms happen. It’s okay to close your eyes and stumble through.”
The slow rock of my hips with each of Dottie’s strides was soothing and hypnotic. There were no sounds except the soft grunts of the horses. I wasn’t religious, but this felt like church.
“I want to be the person that people go to when there’s a problem. I want to be the one who gets the calls in the middle of the night to fix something that’s going wrong. I want to be the one that holds everything together. I want to be irreplaceable.”
yeah 🥲
“I just want you to be honest with yourself. With me.” “I am,” she shot back. “No,” I barked, cutting her off. “If you were honest, you wouldn’t be so fucking wishy-washy—wanting me and then pushing me away. I’m done with that. If you were honest, you’d admit you’re miserable doing what you’re doing. But that’s on you. If you want to be miserable, then be my guest. You want so badly to be right that you can’t even tolerate the thought that maybe, just fucking maybe you and I could have something good. So yeah. I’m asking for it, Cass. Because I’m not a coward.”
“You know what we do when there’s a dust storm?” His lips were soft as he pressed them to my forehead. “We stand at the windows and watch, because being near something that powerful and uncontainable is worth the risk.”
I glared at Christian. “You said they’d never know.” He shrugged. “They do now. But you know what?” “Hmm?” Christian tightened his arms around me. “The world didn’t end.”
“I needed you.” The knot in my chest eased when I pulled her into my arms. “I’m certain of a few things. I know the sun’s gonna rise tomorrow. I know that my brother’s gonna wake up. And I know that you’re gonna have my last name. I’m just letting you try it on for size.”
“You told me to put that hat on when I wanted to be yours.” She tossed her hair to the side and dropped it on her head, eyes sparkling in the darkness. “And I want to be yours.”
“There are three things I know for certain,” he said as he stood and sifted his fingers through my hair. “The sun is gonna rise tomorrow. My girls love you. And you were meant to be ours.” And I believed them too.
