Page 70 of A Forever Kind of Rancher

“So you’re just going to leave it at that? It’s hard for me to believe he doesn’t want to be with you after... He cut all ties with me over this.”

“Boone has his own issues. And I’m not going to talk about them to you. I’m just letting you know the status of the situation. If it changes, and I hope to God it does, I’ll let you know. But you and I need to be very clear with each other. And we have to figure out how to parent the girls. Because if Boone and I do end up together, there doesn’t need to be a story from them or from you about how I tried to replace you. Not in their lives. You’re their father. I want them to forgive you. I want them to have a relationship with you. Because the one good thing we did was them.”

“It was. It is. I promise you, I’m going to do a better job. And I’m going to prove to them they can trust me as a dad.”

“Good. For now, I’m staying in Lone Rock. I’m happy there. I need to find another place to live, but the girls are doing well at the school.”

“I’m all the way in Bakersfield...”

“Not all year. And maybe you’ll see fit to move, I don’t know. Houses are cheaper up here anyway. You can get something big.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. Well, I need to go because I have to drive back, and I have to get the girls from school. But I’m glad we could talk, Daniel.”

“Me too.”

“Maybe now that we aren’t together anymore we’ll be able to do that.”

She said goodbye to him, and she didn’t feel any pull to go back.

She hadn’t thought she would, but it felt healing and clarifying to face him.

It was the right thing. She’d done what she needed to do for her daughters.

For herself.

When she got into her car and started back to Lone Rock, she cried. Because she still didn’t have Boone, and she wanted him.

This was heartbreak. It was a strange thing. Her marriage had dissolved only a month earlier, and her heart hadn’t been broken at all. It was losing the possibility of Boone that had done it. But at least she knew she could survive that.

She didn’t have to be afraid of anything. And maybe in that small way, Daniel had done her a favor. He’d set her free from fear. And it was like that thread that had held her together—that thread she thought had held her together—all these years had suddenly vanished. And she didn’t feel so much like a patchwork quilt now. She just felt whole. And like herself.

She knew that every choice she made from here on out wouldn’t be because of fear.

It would be because of love.

That was a gift. And if it was all she took away...it would have to be enough.

Chapter Thirteen

“I need an intervention,” Boone said.

He looked at Kit and Jace and Chance and Flint, sitting in chairs in a half circle, and folded his hands.

“Okay. For what?” Kit asked.

“Dumb emotional shit. Go. Fix me. How are you all in love? Tell me.”

“Because there was no choice,” said Chance.

“None whatsoever,” said Kit. “I wanted Shelby for years, and once I could ever—

“I convinced myself that I didn’t want Cara,” said Jace. “But I was lying to myself.”

“Great. How did you not lie to yourself? I’m familiar with wanting somebody for years. And not having them. Shelby was the same as Wendy. She was married to somebody else, so tell me how you fix it. Because you need to help me fix it.”

“Wendy?”

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