Page 41 of Last Chance for Her Rancher Boss

“Yeah…” Nash said. “Yeah, prom.” He wasn’t looking at her anymore, like he was too guilty to keep looking her in the eye.

“Nash, you were so mean,” she said, tears finally welling up in her eyes. This was the first time she’d talkedabout it in all these years. She wasn’t even used to thinking about it all that much. Saying it out loud felt like she was falling from an impossible height.

“Nash, you were cruel that night,” she said, and Nash practically flinched at the accusation. “Why did you just ditch me there? If you really didn’t want to go at all, then why weren’t you at leastniceabout it? I would have understood. Why did you…”

Why did you have to destroy everything?

Meg didn’t say the last part out loud. She couldn’t; the lump in her throat wouldn’t let her. But Nash looked like he knew exactly what she’d been about to say. He hung his head, his hands clenched into fists by his sides.

“I… I didn’t want you to stay in Fordswell just because of me.”

It looked physically painful for him to say. But Meg still wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

Nash took a deep breath and threw himself into the deep end.

“You were already so close to staying here when you had so many better opportunities. If I’d told you how I felt, you would definitely have stayed. I wanted to make sure you weren’t deciding your whole fate on some stupid kid like me…”

Meg had to take a deep breath as that soaked in. Upset turned to anger. All throughout school, her entire childhood and through her teen years, her parents had micromanaged her choices for her, trying to push her to do what they thought was best. Theoneperson she had trusted was Nash. And here he was, admitting that he had done exactly the same thing.

“So…” she said, feeling like her whole body was frozen. “You knew what was best for me. Just like everyone else.”

He didn’t look at her. Good. So he was ashamed. As he should be.

“I was a stupid kid,” he said softly.

“Yes. You were. What’s your excuse for the last few weeks? For not coming clean from the moment I showed up on your ranch?”

“I didn’t want to lose you,” he repeated.

“Not the point.”

“I was scared.”

“So was I.”

“I’m so sorry, Meg.”

“Me too.”

She took a few steps back, like she was backing away from a rabid coyote or something, not wanting to spook it.

“I need…” Meg had no idea what she needed. She needed to not be here. She needed a time machine. She needed a million different things, all of them impossible. “I need to go.”

“Meg…”

“No,” she said, looking at him with her jaw set. “No, you don’t get a say in what I do. You’ve had enough influence over my life, thank you very much.”

With that, time sped back up to its normal pace. She turned and left the barn, not once looking back.

CHAPTER 14

MEG

Meg sat in her truck, parked on the side of the road, staring out the window at nothing in particular. Her first instinct had been to just keep driving, following the road in front of her and ending up who knows where. As long as she wasn’t on the ranch anymore. It would have felt good to run away. It would have been cathartic to just avoid all of this for as long as possible. But unfortunately the rational, practical side of her brain chimed in as usual.

She was exhausted, she was emotionally spent, and if she wanted to stay somewhere other than Fordswell, she would be driving well into the early morning. So, yeah, this was one of the worst scenarios she could have ended up in, but Meg had to admit that driving into a ditch at midnight because she didn’t want to be here was worse. She would be responsible, because that was what it always came down to, wasn’t it? Meg being the responsible one. Meg doing the right thing. Meg doing it all on her own. At least for tonight she would stay in a hotel where she could eat, sleep and shower.

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