Page 92 of Tame Me

At first, going to the farm had been fun, but as my childhood progressed, each trip had become a taste in slave labor as we helped Uncle Terry with a variety of never-ending jobs. It was only when Dad’s brother passed away that the school vacation trips ended.

As I stared at my reflection, I knew what I’d always known . . . country life was not for me. And as my eyes flicked from Billy’s enormous grin to my own look of distress, I came to a brutal decision.

I had to tell Billy now, before it was too late.

Chapter Twenty-Five

But as I turned to Billy’s beaming face, I knew it was already too late.

‘’Billy . . .” It must’ve been the way I said it because his shoulders sagged, and his smile melted. “I’m so sorry.”

My chin dimpled as I stared at the sadness in his eyes. “I can’t live on a farm.”

He reached for my hand. “But how do you know?”

“My uncle had a farm, and my brother and I spent school holidays there when I was a kid.”

“This won’t be the same. You’ll love it, I know.” His voice had changed; the pitch was higher, pleading.

I sighed. “But it’s not just that—it’s the isolation. I love living near the ocean and knowing that a coffee shop or restaurant is not far away. I couldn’t go back to the country. I’d be miserable, and that would tear us apart.”

“I could move here.”

I covered my mouth, shocked at his offer.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I shook my head. “Oh, Billy. The farm is your life. I see it in your eyes when you talk about it, about the animals, about your parents. You couldn’t live here. It would crush you.”

He reached for my hand, and we squeezed our palms together. “We’d make it work. The two of us. We have something special.”

I looked to the ceiling, and when I squeezed my eyes shut, a tear trickled down my cheek. Billy thumbed it away, and after a deep breath, I lowered my gaze to look at him. I swallowed back the enormous lump in my throat.

I needed to be strong. This was best for both of us.

Our lives were too different, we were headed on different paths, and if we carried on, one of us would end up miserable. This needed to end before it was too late.

No . . . it needed to end today.

My heart tore apart at that decision, but deep down, I knew it was the right one.

With our fingers woven together, I led Billy to the bed and sat him down. I took off the hat, placed it on the cover behind him, and sat at his side. “I’m sorry, Billy. This . . . us, it would never work. It’s been beautiful, special, the most incredible journey, but it has to end. We were never meant to be together.”

“What were we meant to be then, Jane?”

The anger in his voice caught me off guard, and when I shifted to look at him and saw tears welling in his eyes, I wrapped my arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder. Great racking sobs tumbled from me.

My tears spilled down his back, and I could barely breathe. But Billy didn’t move. He didn’t put his arms around me—he just sucked air through his clenched teeth, fighting what I assumed were tears.

Sucking in several shaky breaths, I pulled back, determined to finish what I’d started.

I wanted a relationship that was one hundred percent perfect.

What Billy and I had was not.

I sat on the bed and flicked tears from my eyes. “I’m sorry, Billy. I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted it to be fun. But I know we went so much further. Too much further.”

“There’s never too much when it comes to love.”

His words pierced my heart, and I closed my eyes, nodding. “I know. I’m sorry.”

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