Page 80 of Inheriting Miss Fortune

After thanking him politely, I made my way back to my office and closed the door.

I needed to call Dev and tell him I wouldn’t be flying back to Majestic with them.

My hands shook as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

“Hey, how’d your meeting go?” He sounded happy and light, like he’d ended up getting a decent amount of sleep despite the rough night.

“Hard to say. I mean… good in that I got a lead on a wealthy new client…”

“Wow. Excellent. But…?”

I tried to figure out how to tell Dev I was being pulled off his case. “He dangled a big fat carrot to get me out of the Scott business,” I admitted.

There was silence for a beat on the other end of the line. “Does this mean you’re not coming back with us?” Before I could answer, he muttered, “Of course it does. What was I thinking?”

I wanted to jump in and reassure him. “I… but of course I’ll…” The truth was… there wasn’t a reason for me to return with them to Wyoming. My life was here, and his was there. He wasdoing great with Lellie and no longer needed my help. He had friends there if he needed support.

He didn’t need me.

“I guess I’m… I guess this is it, then,” I finished, not appreciating the way the statement ended like a question.

Dev surprised me by letting out a rumble of laughter. “This isn’t it.”

“It’s… not?”

“Not unless you want it to be. I do want to get back to Majestic to check on Trigger and two of my breeding mares, so I’ll bring Lellie by later to say goodbyefor now, but… I can have Kenji arrange to fly you out to Majestic in time for Zane’s concert in a couple weeks. That is… if you’re interested?”

He acted like this was no big deal. Like we were already together and simply discussing logistics.

“Yes,” I blurted, my heart doing an embarrassingly happy jig. “Of course. But I can buy the ticket myself. Kenji doesn’t have to?—”

“He’ll send the plane for you. It’ll be quicker than connecting through Denver or Salt Lake.”

I could hear the sound of Lellie fussing in the background while Dev told Kenji what was going on. When he came back on the line, he sounded more serious. Intentional. “I’ll be okay.”

I wasn’t sure who exactly he was trying to convince.

Me or himself.

Either way, it definitely didn’t feel like it would be okay. It felt like we were papering over a fault line that was about to rupture.

TWENTY-TWO

DEV

I’d woken up with Lellie’s warm, pajama-clad body in my arms and the scent of Tully in my nose. When had I ever felt so content and complete?

Unfortunately, I’d forgotten about his need to be at the office early, so when I got Lellie up and brought her downstairs, I was disappointed to find him gone.

“Is he coming back with us to Majestic?” Kenji asked. His hip was propped against the counter by the coffee maker as he took a sip from a steaming mug.

Bam, right to the heart of it. It had occurred to me last night, while I’d been enjoying the easy company and stories of Katie and baby Lellie, that there would be no real reason for Tully to return to Wyoming with us when we went.

And I was ready to go.

Not only did I feel uncomfortable leaving Trigger while he was still recovering, but I had two mares in the final stages of high-risk pregnancies. I knew Way would take good care of all of them, but I itched to be there myself.

And Lellie deserved some stability. She deserved a new normal instead of days in which her schedule was completely fucked like it had been yesterday.

---