Page 72 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

“Do you think you might be ready to make our announcement before then? Then we could attend that together. I could tell my parents about us.”

“Maybe,” she said. “Let me get through this next week of getting everyone settled into their new roles, and then we’ll see where we are.”

“All right,” Henry said. She didn’t detect any degree of disappointment, though. “Well, I guess I’ll see you when I see you then.”

“Yeah,” she said, and the call ended. She immediately texted him,INACH, and Henry texted back,INACH <3

It didn’t mean everything was okay between them. In fact, Angel doubted very much that it was, but Henry spoke his mind with her, and she spoke hers with him. And she had to believe that somehow it would be okay—if Henry could make it through the conversation with her daddy without losing his cool—or his job.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Henry looked at the full moon and decided it was the biggest star in the sky and that he could wish on it.

He did so silently from the back porch of his cabin instead of on his way to see Angel that night. He thought it wise to maybe put a little bit of distance between them until after he’d met with her daddy.

Pure anticipation drove through him, for he had no idea what Bard would say to him. At the bottom of Angel’s steps that morning, he’d said, “Your daughter is a beautiful woman, sir,” and then he’d left before Bard could rip his arm off and feed it to him.

He hadn’t heard from the man yet, and he wondered if this was part of Bard’s strategy to torture him to death—or until Henry showed up at the farmhouse with his hat in his hand, apologies streaming from his mouth, and promises to break up with Angel.

She hadn’t said what she’d told her father that morning when he showed up with the scent of bacon emanating out of a brown bag, and Henry hadn’t asked.

She’d gotten his leave approved for next week, and his family had all cheered for him. He said he’d be there Thursdaymorning, bright and early, where he’d leave his truck at Courage Reins, load into his daddy’s truck, and they’d all immediately head for Waco.

Momma didn’t like leaving anything to chance, and though John wasn’t graduating until Friday, she wanted to be in town with plenty of time the night before. Henry sighed as he sank into a patio chair and watched as clouds passed in front of the moon, dimming the light.

His phone brightened with a text, but Henry didn’t want to look at it. Angel had messaged that she needed a cowboy hug, and he texted the same thing back. But he’d since told her he didn’t think he should come tonight. She’d accepted his text without argument, but that didn’t mean she liked it. Or maybe she did. Henry wasn’t really sure right now.

He knew one thing: their relationship was only two months old, and he sure didn’t want to cap it now before he had a chance to really know if he could fall in love with her and she could fall in love with him.

Henry had been in plenty of relationships that didn’t make it past the first date. He had some that had made it a month or two, and he’d had a few that had made it to six or seven months. None longer than that.

Almost all of that was his fault, he knew, but he also acknowledged that he’d changed. His phone bleeped out another text, and Henry sighed in irritation as he looked at it. He found a photo coming up, and as it crisped and came into focus, he saw his brother’s handsome face full of stars and sunshine, joy and happiness.

A pretty woman with dark hair pressed her cheek to his, and she held up her left hand with a glinting, glittering diamond taking center stage.

Henry’s heart stopped completely for a moment, then fell to his bare feet and rebounded back to his chest in the most painful way possible.

Paul had just gotten engaged.

Save the date for November tenth!Paul said.Brielle and I are getting married that day!

Henry swallowed, not really jealous, but totally jealous at the same time. Thankfully, happiness poured in over that a moment later, and he lifted his phone to answer.

HOLY COW, he typed in all caps.SHE SAID YES!He added a few exclamation points, one of the rare times he thought more than one should be used, in reply to his brother.

He wanted to ask if they had decided where they were going to live once they got married, but he wasn’t sure if she was still with Paul and if it was a sore subject or not. Last time he’d asked about it, Paul said he was just going to try to get through the proposal before he brought it up again.

“Surely she wouldn’t say yes if they didn’t have a plan,” Henry said to himself, but he didn’t know that. He didn’t know Brielle, as he’d never met the woman.

Paul texted,You can meet her when you come next week for John’s graduation.

Can’t wait, Henry said, though all that did was remind him that Angel had told him she wouldnotbe coming to his brother’s graduation.

And really, it had been stupid of him to ask anyway. Stupid, and foolish, and out of complete desperation had Henry asked Angel to come to John’s graduation with him. He’d known she wouldn’t be able to, but the thought of going alone had been more than Henry could handle in that moment.

He’d texted her that he needed a cowgirl hug, but since she lived alone and he did not, he always made the trip to her house to talk through the things which bothered him. She’d slowed himdown, gotten him out of his head, and then sent him on his way with a kiss goodnight.

The truth was, Angel White rescued Henry on a daily basis. Whenever he felt like he was drowning in dirty water, she appeared to pull him out. When she felt like that, Henry knelt on the side of the pond and reached for her to bring her back.

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