Page 5 of The Cowboy's Unshakeable Love

“Why?”

“Because I like seeing you happy, and it doesn’t seem to happen all that often.” There, he’d said it, now he’d just have to see how she reacted.

She didn’t say anything for a good few minutes, but he knew that she wanted to. He waited.

“I do okay,” she said eventually.

“Yeah but, darlin’, you could be doing so much better than okay.”

He felt her gaze on him but kept his attention on the road.

“What do you mean?”

He shot her a quick smile. “You feel like you’re cooped up at Callie’s place while you recover, but it seems to me that you keepyourself cooped up in your life in Georgia – when you know that she’d love it if you moved out here to be closer to her.”

He wondered if he’d pushed too far when she turned away and stared out the window. After a while she turned back to him.

“You don’t get it, Travis. Of course I’d love to be closer to her, but I made myself a promise. Life was … hard when she was a kid. Her dad walked out on us, and I didn’t have anyone else. No family – they disowned me when I married him. We were only kids. We both dropped out of high school when I got pregnant. He wanted to do the right thing by me, and he tried for a while but … but that’s not the point.

“What matters is that Callie had it tough growing up. I didn’t give her much of a life. I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough. When she moved to Nashville, I knew she was going to make something of her life – and she has. All she needed was to get out on her own and she was always going to be a success.”

She sighed. “As soon as I wasn’t around to hold her down, she made it big. I promised myself that I’d keep it that way. I love that girl with all my heart, and the best I can do for her is let her be, to live her life.”

Travis shook his head sadly. “I know it’s not my place to say – but I won’t let that stop me. I reckon the best thing you could do for her is move here – be part of her life, that’s what she wants. And whatever things were like when she was a kid, you couldn’t hold her back now if you tried. And I know damn well that you’d never try. At the risk of making you mad at me, I think you’ve got it all screwed up in your head, darlin’. You didn’t do anything wrong – you set her on the path to the life she has now. You couldn’t walk her down that path as far as you would’ve liked, but you sure as hell didn’t hold her back.”

This time, he didn’t expect her to answer, but he was glad that she looked thoughtful as she turned to stare out the window again.

Chapter Two

After Retta paid for her haul of T-shirts and trinkets from the third store they’d been in, Travis expertly maneuvered her wheelchair outside, back onto the sidewalk. She looked up over her shoulder at him, and all her breath caught in her chest when she found him smiling right back at her – those big, blue eyes of his twinkling.

“Where to next, m’lady?”

She laughed. “I think it’s time we went back to the truck and headed home, don’t you? You’ve gone above and beyond this afternoon – and I appreciate it. I don’t want to take advantage.”

He came around the wheelchair to stand in front of her and winked. “You won’t hear me complaining about it if you want to take advantage of me.”

She shook her head at him. “You’re just a big old flirt, aren’t you?”

He nodded happily. “You got me. Have to tell you, though, flirting’s usually as far as I go, but for you, I could be persuaded to go a lot further – if you wanted me to.”

She held his gaze for a long moment before shaking her head again. “We talked about this, Travis. You know how things are for me.”

He blew out an exaggerated sigh. “I know that you’re still clinging to some old, outdated ideas that might have served you well when you were a young, single mom. But I’m telling you, darlin’, they’re only holding you back now.”

She frowned. “Holding me back how?”

“From getting on with your life – from actually living it. I get that Callie was your focus when she was a kid, but she has her own life now. I reckon it’s about time you think about living yours again.”

“I do! I live a decent life. I know it might not look that way at the moment – not while I’m just hanging out at Callie and Kolby’s place doing nothing. But it’s because of my damn leg. I can’t do much of anything until I’m back on my feet. When I am, I’ll go home. Back to my life. I have my job, I have friends, I have my own little house. It’s not much – you’ve seen it – but it’s nice.”

“You know I loved your little house; you have a real touch for making a place feel like a home. And I wasn’t saying that you don’t have a life – just that you could be doing a lot more living if you’d let yourself.”

She held his gaze. She wasn’t going to ask him what he meant. She was ninety-nine percent sure that she already knew. He meant that she’d be happier if she had a man in her life. She swallowed. He’d offered himself for the position when they first got to know each other.

At the time, she’d thought that he was just a big old flirt who was looking for a quick fling. And she’d been tempted. She’d dated a few men over the years, but she’d never gone out with anyone more than a handful of times. She might have gone out with Travis if he wasn’t so close to her daughter’s husband but …

He gave her a rueful smile. “I’ll drop it – for now, but I’m not giving up.”

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