Page 72 of Cowboy Don't Go

“I won’t.”

“Good!”

He leaned into her as he brushed past her and whispered, “Just don’t mess this up, Mom.”

She watched him walk back toward the truck, her nearly grown boy who sauntered like a man, who was trying to fix her messed-up life. Who would’ve guessed that at fourteen he would be the adult in the room, not her?

Maybe Cooper. Turning back to him, she moved closer. “Hi.”

“Shay?” He nodded, watching Kholá yanking up grass in his yard.

“I’m sorry about this. Ry was just trying to . . .” She threw her hands up, unable to say it out loud.

“Yeah.” He hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans. “And you’ve gotta give the kid credit. He did make it all the way here on that horse without dying.”

She snorted. “Thanks to you. He learned a lot from you.”

“He made a good choice with that horse. She’s a keeper.”

She nodded, watching him covertly as he petted the filly. She glanced at the For Sale sign. “So . . . You’re leaving?”

He nodded. “Texas, probably.”

“Oh.” Her heartbeat drummed in her ears.

“For the best.” Cooper shrugged. “Yeah, so, if you want to send the trailer over, I’ll load her up—”

“No. I . . . I think . . . that might be a mistake.”

He snapped a look up at her. “You don’t trust me to load her up?”

“No. Texas. I think going to Texas would be a mistake. For you.”

Now he was staring right at her. Almost looking through her. “Why’s that?”

Shay took a step closer to him. “Because two wrongs . . . you know the old saying . . . don’t make a right. Because it would be wrong to just up and leave for Texas because I lost my temper . . . said things I shouldn’t have. Things I . . . really wish I could take back.”

“You . . . do?”

“I called you. Did you get my message?”

He looked surprised. “No. You did? When?”

“Not as soon as I should have. But when I finally realized that I’d foolishly pushed away one of the best things that’s happened in my life, and I knew I had to make it right somehow. And I couldn’t say it in a voicemail.”

He dropped his hands to his sides. She could see the pulse in his neck pumping against his throat. “What exactly are you sayin’, Shay?”

She swallowed hard. “I’m saying I was wrong. About you. About my father. About the things I accused you of. I was shocked about what happened, mad that it was out of my control, and hurt that you hadn’t told me everything. That’s no excuse. I know you didn’t just walk into my life without a past. Without your own stuff to deal with, like your father. But it was a button for me, you keeping it from me. Partly because of my past. But really because I was scared. Scared of trusting what I was feeling for you—what I still feel for you. These last four days have been awful and—”

He straightened. “Wait. You still have feelings for me?”

She glanced back at Cami and Ryan standing outside the truck, watching. Now she met Cooper’s piercing look. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I do. I love you, Cooper. And I’m so sorry for not listening to you and trusting you. I wish you could . . . find it in your heart to forgive me . . .”

Those eyes of his, those mossy-green eyes that seemed to look right though her assessed her anew and she couldn’t tell at all what he was thinking. How he was taking this. He tilted an almost curious look at her, a small lift at the corner of his mouth. But still, he remained silent.

She shifted her feet. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you? Please say something.”

He pulled her toward him and kissed her then. Kissed her fully and deeply until she felt her knees buckle a little as he held her up. Thank God was her only thought. At the sound of Ryan cheering near the truck, he finished kissing her, holding her close.

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