Page 57 of Second Chance With a Cowboy

“I guess, but what if she decides to give it all up—then what am I supposed to do? Just sit around and wait for her to leave me?”

Ford leaned back in his saddle, his brow furrowing as he studied Chevy’s face. “So, what’s really eatin’ at you here? Is this really about her taking a job or is this more about you being afraid she’s just gonna leave you anyway?”

Chevy shrugged.

“I get it,” Ford told him. “I know that feeling of not being able to trust that somebody is going to stick around for you. And it’s probably even stronger right now with just having a new half-brother show up that our motherdidstick around for…well, sort of, I guess…but my point being is that you can’t let what our mother and your shitheel of a father did run roughshod over your entire life. You’re a good man, Chevy. And contrary to popular belief, not a total idiot. Do you love this woman or not?”

“You know I do. I’ve never stopped. You saw how losing her broke my dang heart all those years ago. But that’s why I can’t watch her throw this chance away. I love her too much. I would do anything for her.”

His brother cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, even risk another broken heart?”

“Anything.”

Ford shook his head. “Look, this isn’t about her being worth doing anything for. It’s about you pulling your head out of your ass and realizing you’re worth something too. She obviously loves you. Anyone can see that. And I think we can all agree that Leni Gibbs is one of the smartest people we know, so she wouldn’t have told you she was staying if she didn’t mean it. You have to trust her too.”

“Shit.” He leaned forward, resting one arm on the saddlehorn as he scrubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “So, I really screwed this whole thing up, didn’t I?”

“Sounds about like it, yeah.”

“Guess I need to figure out a way to fix this. I just hope she gives me a chance to tell her what an idiot I was.”

Ford pointed to something behind him. “Since there’s only one person I know who drives a fancy blue Tesla, I’d say it looks like your chance is high tailing it down the road right now. If I were you, I’d go catch her.”

Chevy turned to see Leni’s car kicking up dust on the gravel road—the road that led to the highway.

Aw hell. Had he made her so mad that she was leaving town?

His brother’s words had made sense to him. But in that moment of watching the woman he loved driving away from him, he knew that he would do anything to be with her.

He leaned forward, spurring the horse on and she flew across the pasture, almost as if reading his mind and knowing she had to catch the blue car.

“Leni!” he shouted her name as he and the horse galloped up alongside the Tesla.

He didn’t know if she heard him yelling through the open sunroof, if she’d caught the motion of the horse next to her, or if maybe she’d just sensed him. Whatever it was, she slowed the car, just as he spotted the downed section of fence Ford had been working on and steered Jolene toward it.

Scattered rain drops hit him in the face as the horse ran through the open section and up onto the road, galloping harder to catch the car.

Leni pulled over onto the shoulder, cut the engine, and opened her door.

The sky opened, and a soft rain started as she stepped out of the car. He galloped up to her and swung out of the saddle. Dropping the reins, he ran to her and swept her into his arms, holding her tight against him as the rain fell onto the dusty road around them.

She looked up at him. “What are you doing?”

“Chasing you down.”

“Why?”

“To tell you that I’m an idiot.”

She offered him a wry grin. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I will. I’ll tell you that I’m in love with you. Still and always. You’re theonly oneI’ve ever loved. And I just got scared.”

“I’m scared too. But I know what I want.”

“And I know that you’ve weighed all the pros and cons and that you don’t make decisions lightly. And of course, I know that you can make your own choices.”

“Yes, I can.”

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