Page 60 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

“My dad has extra ear protection in the shed.”

“Oh good. So as far as adventurous activities go...”

“This one is occurring in a well-controlled fashion. No worries.”

“I wasn’t actually worried. I know you would never do anything to put yourself or the girls in danger.”

He looked down at her, the exchange between them feeling weighty. Significant.

“I wouldn’t,” he said.

The girls were behind them, and so she didn’t take his hand. But she did bump her shoulder against his, and he looked down, smiling. She smiled back.

“I like you.”

He looked a little bit like she had hit him in the side of the head. “I like you too.”

It felt pale in comparison to what she was actually feeling, but she didn’t know how to say the other things. She didn’t know what else to say.

It felt sharp and dangerous still. And this was the problem with never having been good at math. Order of operations was something she struggled with. She wanted to kiss him now. In front of everybody. Because there was a significant part of her that had already realized she had to go all in. That had already realized there was no going back. That had already realized she would never be able to quit him, never be able to forget him.

And there would be no protecting herself from any manner of heartbreak.

She would be heartbroken to lose him. Whether she told him she was in love with him or not. Whether she said she wanted everything or not.

Whether she did the important work of extricating herself from her marriage, and then tried to do some healing on her own, she was always going to come back to him. So she might as well... She just might as well.

Put herself out there. But there were ways that she needed to go about it. She knew that.

So she just smiled, and she kept like as the word, even though it wasn’t enough. Not even close.

When they got up to the gravel pit, she and the girls put on ear protection and hung back while they took turns shooting things. Targets, yes, some kind of jelly target that healed itself. And also water jugs. Which did not heal themselves, but exploded grandly.

Mikey was very invested in the spectacle, and Sadie pretended to be just a little bit too cool. But ended up enjoying it all the same. Wendy could tell by the small smile on her face.

She felt a rush of euphoria right then. This could be their family.

Don’t rush ahead of yourself and start glorifying all of this. They’re just people. And they’re not going to fix the difficult situation you’re in.

No. That was what she had to be extra careful about.

Boone wasn’t a crutch. He never would be. He was more than that.

And she felt...scared. It reminded her of old times.

She didn’t like it.

But she really did want him and all these things that he came with. That wasn’t so bad, was it?

She knew all these things he could do for her. All these things he had done for her.

And yes, she was working for him, but it wasn’t the same.

She wanted to think of something she could do for him.

He felt so much responsibility toward everybody in his life.

And she didn’t want to be just another responsibility to him. She wanted to be something more.

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