When Cassidy Mae sought me out after unpacking, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I was happy, the other—nervous. She’d avoided me for the last few days so whatever she had to say had been building up since we last talked. I thought about all my options. Trying to come up with every possible scenario of what she would tell me about why she was avoiding me and how we could never be together. I opened my mouth to speak when she cut me off.
“I won’t deny that there’s an attraction between us… that I can’t ignore.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline when she said it. I couldn’t believe she would actually speak the words out loud.
“But we can’t act on it, Beau. I still don’t know if someone is looking for me. I haven’t heard from the unknown number again and I won’t risk you getting hurt just to be with me. If we were in a different situation and a different time, I’d consider it. But the truth is, we aren’t and I care about you too much to let anything happen. We can only ever be friends. That’s what I need from you right now.”
I listened to her silently without interrupting the whole time she spoke. Hand on my chin like I was weighing every word spoken from her tongue. When she had ceased speaking, I figured she’d said her peace.
“Is that everything you had to say?”
She nodded her head, quivering her bottom lip. She was nervous about what I was going to say, but she needed to believe every word that came from my lips.
“Good. Now, let me tell you a few things about me, Cassidy Mae. I fell in love with you that first day I saw your pretty green eyes and black hair. I thought to myself, someday I’m gonna marry that girl. And then I watched that same beautiful, smart, and brave girl riding a twelve-hundred-pound animal in a 15.6 second barrel pattern and let me tell you, I was a goner. I wanted to ask you out so many times when we were in school together and every single time I got up the courage, I lost it and I’ve been kicking myself for all these years.”
I leaned over and raised my hand to cup her cheek. “Fate saw fit to bring you back to me one way or the other and here’s the thing, Cass, you can think of us as friends as much as you want to. If that makes you feel better. I’ll allow it, but one of these days we’re going to be so much more. Because here’s the truth. We aren’t just written in the stars, babe. Our story is written in the sand of this old dusty arena here. Has been since the first time I saw you ride with Reagan, and always will be, darlin.”
I held up my hand and shook my head as she went to protest my words.
“I’ve been waiting for you forever, darlin’, so if that means I gotta wait just a little while longer then so be it. We have the rest of forever together.”
She shook her head and looked at me like I’d lost my damn mind. Sometimes I wondered if I had.
“Beau…”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you still love him and I’ll back off. I’ll be your friend and we’ll go back to the way things were. It’s the last thing I want, but I’ll respect your decision.”
There was a slight hesitation in her tone, but the words that crossed her lips were absolute. “No, I haven’t loved Andrew for a while now. I can’t love a ghost. He’s gone and he’s not coming back, ever. And even if he was alive, I couldn’t love someone who thought it was okay to belittle and beat his wife…”
I choked on her words. I’d known he was physically abusive, which was extremely clear in the way she shied away from everyone. To hear her actually admit out loud she’d been beat burned me up inside. Like a fire being lit inside my very bloodstream and fighting its way out to light up the air around us and consume me. It was a good thing that the bastard was already dead… or I’d probably kill him myself.
“Good, then starting today we’re going to be an us. No going back. We’ll deal with whatever comes together, Cassidy Mae. I’ve finally got you after what feels like forever and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m pleased as punch over it. I’m a kid in a freakin’ candy store thrilled. I’ve been in love with you since I was young and I realize that twenty-five-year-old me isn’t going to be the same kind of kid love, but I promise you it’ll be even better than we imagined. It’s only ever been you. I never wanted anyone else. And what I feel for you hasn’t disappeared an ounce since you left. If anything, it’s even stronger seeing the real you, the fighter, and survivor. You keep saying you’re not the same, and I believe you. I think you finally might be figuring out who you are and what you want out of this life. What you want. Not what anyone tells you what you should want.”
Her expression paled and she audibly swallowed as she took in all I said and realized what I was hinting at.
“Now when you say you never wanted anyone else…”
“Not the way I want you. I’ve been with women, sure, but that was just to learn how to satisfy you. I’ve never had a real relationship with anyone.”
Her face scrunched in confusion, “But you didn’t know if I’d ever come home. You were just going to wait for me forever?”
“Let’s not think about that,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m just sure glad that ain’t my reality and that fate knew you’d be coming home to me.”
I watched as her mouth opened
