Page 70 of Cowboy Don't Go

Shay looked down at the phone, then dialed his cell. Her heart was pounding. Thudding against her temples.

Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.

But the phone just kept ringing until she heard his voicemail.

Hearing his voice on the message, she almost hung up, but instead, she took a deep breath. “Cooper. It’s me. You probably don’t want to talk to me. But I wish you would. There are things I need to say that I can’t say on a voicemail. So, please. Call me back. I—Please call me.”

She hung up and exhaled sharply and turned to look at the pie again. She could just sit here. Wait for the pie to cook. Wait to gather her nerve. Wait for Cooper to ride off into the sunset.

But—no.

That wouldn’t do. Not this time. “Be brave, Shay.”

She reached for her car keys. Across the room, Ryan’s bobblehead Yoda grinned at her from the kitchen shelf. “There is no try,” Yoda famously said. “Only do.” She pulled her coat from the coat-tree and shrugged it on.

But before she could go, Liam appeared at the door to the kitchen. “Hey, did Ry take Kholá out? She’s not in the pen.”

Shay looked out the window, confirming that she was nowhere in sight. “He wouldn’t. She’s not ready.”

Cami returned and said, “I brought him home. He did say something about fixing things. I thought he meant with his horse.”

Liam called upstairs for her son. “Ryan? You up there?”

Nothing.

Alarm pricked at Shay. “Where would he go?”

“He’s been missing Cooper,” Liam mused aloud.

Cami, Liam, and Shay’s gazes collided. “No,” Shay breathed. “Their place is three miles away across a dozen pastures. Or worse, roads.”

Without another word, she headed out the door.

“I’ll stay here in case we’re wrong and he’s just out for a ride,” Liam called after her.

Cami followed Shay. “I’m going with you. Watch the pie, Liam!”

Liam watched them from the door. “Priorities.”

“He’s not out for a ride,” Shay muttered as she and Cami hopped in the truck. “He’s going to fix things with Cooper.”

*

Cooper was on his knees, weeding out the front garden bed to get it ready for showing. It had been a hard decision to sell, but his dad just wasn’t up for the work this place would require of him. And as Cooper himself had decided to leave, there was no point in keeping it anymore. The ranch had served its purpose and now that was over.

All of it was over.

He yanked at the long grass and wispy dandelions taking their last gasp of good weather before the ground froze. Already, a chill had moved across Montana and most houses had fires going in their fireplaces, scenting the air with fragrant wood smoke. He’d built a fire for his father, too, because it warmed him after his last infusion of immunotherapy when all he wanted to do was curl up and listen to a book—because sometimes reading was even too much. But that phase only lasted a day or two and then he’d feel better.

The doctors were optimistic about his recovery, and he was responding well to the new drugs. It didn’t hurt that Sarah was watching over him, too, or that the possibility of their future was giving him hope.

Cooper yanked on a stubborn weed and when it finally gave up the ground, he fell over on his ass. For a long time, he didn’t move. He just sat there, wrists on his knees, staring at the beautiful Absarokas, awash with yellows and oranges from the aspens and larches, alongside the golden meadows contrasting with the evergreen pines higher up. He would miss this when he left. He’d miss his father, too, but now they were certain Ray’s name would be cleared at last. Cooper felt like he could start his own life again in earnest. Maybe he’d go back to school. Maybe he’d just train horses. All he knew was he couldn’t stay here.

He felt at loose ends after what had happened with Shay. She’d had every right to be upset with him for not telling her the truth about everything, but somewhere in his fantasy about the whole thing, he thought he’d have a chance to make it right. To prove his intentions were good. But the whole twist with Tom Hardesty’s blackmail had sabotaged that and now his chance was gone. As the days passed, without a word from her, he’d given up on the idea that she’d see him for who he really was and not as the enemy.

Liam’s begging him to return to the Hard Eight, though, wasn’t going to change his mind. Being there, around her—without her—was impossible. So, he had to go. But he would miss them. Ryan, Liam, Sarah, and Cami, too. He understood now why Shay had been cautious about telling anyone about them. Because Ryan’s pain was on Cooper now, too.

But he felt like his heart had been ripped out. And somehow, he’d have to live with that.

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