Page 67 of Just One Summer with the Grumpy

I tried to say yes, but my mouth wouldn’t obey my command. Suddenly, every inch of my body hurt.

Chase appeared in the sky, his face hovering with the clouds. He tore his sunglasses off, looking positively dumbfounded. “Daphne?”

I lifted my hand to my head. This had to be a concussion. No way would Chase be here otherwise, floating above my face.

“I tried to catch you, but I couldn’t fly,” I murmured. “You forgot your car.”

He glanced at the farmer, who shrugged, and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling an ambulance.”

An ambulance. That would be fast. I could definitely catch up to Chase in one of those.

Wait—Rosie.

I sat up and looked around before the entire expanse of sky rushed to my head once again. Rosie stood in the middle of a field, happily munching away, still wearing the saddle.

“She’s sitting up, so probably no spinal injury,” the farmer pointed out, then smiled kindly at me. “That was pretty good form you had there. Just make sure to put your weight in your stirrups and lean forward first, then back when you land. Worked for me when Champion and I were jumping, back in the day. You two okay, then?”

I stared at him, willing his words to make sense. If there were two of us, that meant he was either talking to me and Rosie…

Or Chase was actually here.

“Thanks. I’ll take her home,” Chase said, offering the farmer a friendly wave. Then he looked me up and down once more, as if unconvinced of my health. “That was quite a fall. I saw it from my rearview mirror. Did you hit your head? Where are you hurt?”

My head did hurt, but so did the rest of me. As a test, I managed to get onto my knees and then stand all the way. My legs held firm, if a little shaky. “I’m fine.”

He shook his head in wonder. “What were youdoing?”

I motioned toward his car, parked haphazardly on the sidewalk with one door open and the hazard lights blinking. “Trying to catch you.”

He eyed Rosie. “On a horse.”

“My dad took the truck, and I don’t have a car,” I told him. My brain still felt fuzzy, but he needed to hear this. “I’m sorry for lying, but I’m done with that. The truth is, this is who I am.” I motioned to the town around me and my wonderful horse and the farmer driving his tractor away while looking back at us over his shoulder. “I’m muddy and jobless and broke. I’ve been kicked out of my apartment, and now I live with my parents. I make poor decisions when faced with men I never intended to love. Sometimes I think I’m chasing my dreams when I’m actually running from my past. But regardless, I’m absolutely, head over heels, upside down and right-side-up in love with you, Chase Everett.”

I heard his breath catch. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, then he said, “What about Ty?”

“I left him on my doorstep in New York after he offered me Veronica’s ring. I don’t know where he is now.”

Chase’s eyebrows rose. “When you left the island without Ty, I didn’t allow myself to hope. But then he dumped Veronica and went after you. I assumed I’d find you married.”

And he’d driven all the way here anyway. I didn’t mean to let it, but hope swelled in my chest. “Why did you come, then?”

He placed a hand on my face and cradled my cheek in his palm. “I’ve been misunderstood for most of my life. I know how that feels, yet I didn’t give you an adequate chance to explain yourself. So when you left Ty behind . . . if there was the tiniest chance you weren’t taken, I had to try.”

His touch made my brain even foggier. How he did that, throwing my senses into a blender, I would never know. “But you were so angry on the island.”

“I was. At first, I thought you’d lied about Veronica, thought even she couldn’t stoop that low. When I confronted her, she immediately got defensive and finally admitted that her dad had arranged the whole thing. I think she fled shortly afterward. I barely slept that night. Then a call from the stockholders in New York woke me up. Our stocks had shot up since the day before, setting all kinds of records, and they couldn’t figure out why. The resort’s website nearly crashed from all the traffic. As of last night, we are completely booked for the next three dry seasons. Tanner’s text about making his video was the only clue I had as to why.” He chuckled. “It took me far too long to realize you’d arranged that.”

“It was the least I could do, and Tanner was more than happy to help. He already had plenty of footage from previous visits.”

Chase looked at me in wonder. “After how I treated you, any other person would have stomped away and cursed my name to the sky. But you didn’t tank me or my company, Daphne. You saved us like I thought you would—just, in true Daphne form, in a much more creative way than expected.” His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing my skin.

“It was just as much for me as you,” I told him. “I needed to take responsibility for my own life and choose to take the reins. I had to stop reacting to what other people decided for me and start making the decisions for myself.” I gave him a rueful smile. “But I’m confused about something. How did you find me here?” I’d never given him my address, and my parents’ information wasn’t listed.

“I took the next flight back to New York. I have employee addresses on file so I went straight to your apartment, but your roommates said you’d moved out. So I went to the office after midnight and found it in some of Blythe’s records.” He made a face. “That woman was so disorganized.”

The emergency contact information.Right.

“All flights to Arkansas and nearby airports were booked, so I drove through the night to get here. And when your mom said you were staying over. . . ”

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