“Of course not,” Angus said.
“Look, I’m not going to mince words,” Boone said. “These women are protesting to our advertisers. They’re saying the show is objectifying women and that they’ll organize a national boycott if things don’t change. It took a lot of work to hammer out this agreement and get them to back down. Hell, it would be best if Angus married Leslie, but at the very least he’d better do a convincing job of giving her a chance, or we’re hooped.”
“How convincing?” she demanded. Was she really supposed to sit there and watch Angus flirt with another woman? She was already losing him. She’d seen the pain in his face when she’d told him the reasons she went home. It was bad enough she and Angus were arguing—that he thought she’d chosen her parents’ money over him. Now Boone had found him another bride?
“Convincing,” Boone repeated firmly. “I know this isn’t ideal, but we’ve all had to make sacrifices for the community, and now it’s your turn. If Angus wants to marry you at the end of the month, he can. But until then he’s going to spend his time with Leslie. The needs of the community trump your needs.”
Everybody’s needs trumped her needs. Win struggled to get her emotions under control. “Angus?” she asked, pleading with him silently to tell Boone he wouldn’t do it.
But Angus let out a ragged breath. “Boone’s right,” he said. “I did agree to it, and I’ve got to do what’s right for Base Camp.”
“Win, this isn’t about either of you, so don’t take it personally,” Boone said. “We’re locked into this. Angus dates Leslie for a month, or we lose it all.”
How could she not take it personally? Angus was going to spend a month with another woman. Win swallowed the frustration that was thickening her throat. If she lashed out now, she could lose him forever. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her before Boone arrived. “Okay. Fine,” she forced herself to say, blinking back the angry tears that stung her eyes. She didn’t know how she’d stand waiting another month to be with Angus. Every day she’d been without him had been misery. “I understand. I’ll wait for you,” she told Angus. “I love you.”
He didn’t answer right off, and Boone gestured toward the door. “We’ve got to go. Win, Riley and a few of the others are here to sit with you until you’re discharged, okay?”
Angus was leaving right now?
“Okay,” she managed. She hated how wobbly her voice sounded. She’d told Angus she loved him, and he hadn’t said it back. Had she messed everything up?
Angus hesitated, but he still didn’t speak, and she thought he was wrestling with his thoughts. In the end he touched her hand. “Lass—” But then he broke off, shrugged unhappily and followed Boone out of the room, leaving Win to cover her eyes with her hands and press back the tears that wanted to fall. This was a nightmare. Last night she’d thought all was well, but now she’d ruined everything, and Angus would spend a month in close company with another woman—a woman who hadn’t turned her back on him and run away.
She couldn’t blame him if he chose to be with someone else—
Riley, Avery and Nora filed in, and Win scrubbed furiously at her face, trying to erase the traces of her tears.
“Win!” Avery flung herself across the room and hugged her. “I’m so glad you’re back!”
Win clung to Avery gratefully, but when she noticed the way Riley and Nora hung back, she straightened once again, trying to pull herself together. Angus wasn’t the only one who’d need proof that she meant to stay this time. She’d abandoned everyone at Base Camp and put their community in danger by doing so. She couldn’t expect them all to welcome her like Avery had.
A nurse popped in. “You’re all set to go now. Here are your discharge papers.”
Win completed the paperwork, then looked around for her clothes. The old-fashioned gown she’d worn last night was a little crushed, but it was serviceable, she supposed. She longed for the wardrobe she’d had when she left but assumed those gowns had been donated or thrown out, so she was surprised when Avery pulled out her favorite, a green one with white piping.
“I don’t think it will fit,” Win told her sadly, touching the fabric.
“I gave your gowns to Alice last night. She sent this one back this morning.”
“You kept my clothes?”
“I knew you couldn’t stay away,” Avery said with a smile. “Come on, let’s go home.”
Riley and Nora let Avery take charge. They packed into one of the community’s trucks a while later, with a few members of the crew on board, too. Their silence unnerved Win. Normally, Riley was almost as cheerful as Avery tended to be.
Time to start mending fences, Win decided.
“I need to apologize to all of you—”
“I think it’s Angus you need to apologize to,” Nora told her pertly. “He was crushed when you left.”
“I know. I had my reasons, but I wish now I’d stayed.” The truck turned and trundled down a familiar rode, and Win couldn’t believe how the landscape evoked such a visceral response inside her. She’d already grown to love the way pastures spread to the horizon, dotted with cattle, mountains in the far distance. She wanted Chance Creek to be her home, and she’d thought when she got on the plane in California last night she’d be able to settle back into the life she’d left. Now she knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Her friends were angry with her, and they had good reason to be.
“Can you tell us what happened? People often have reasons for what they do that aren’t clear at first to others,” Avery said with a sideways look at Nora.
“We don’t want to jump
