Page 69 of Cowboys Can't Kiss

“Good. Now let’s see Agnes before she’s too drugged up.”

He confidently walks alongside me into my aunt’s room, who positively beams when she sees our hands still locked.

“Well, well. Jackson Sutherland, as I live and breathe. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen you.”

Jackson leans in for an awkward hug with my aunt while I stand with my jaw on the floor.

“Sorry, Agnes. I got busy with the garden and rodeo. You said you had help.”

“Back the fuck up. How do you two already know each other?” I point to Jackson. “And why didn’t you say anything?”

Despite being in pain and about to head into a major surgery, my aunt still gives me shit like the 16-year-old punk I once was.

“I have friends you aren’t aware of, young man, and don’t be taking it out on Jackson. He used to come and clear the snow for me.”

“And then you’d feed me brownies.” Jackson smiles so warmly at my aunt that I almost can’t look away.

“Well, someone needed to eat it when I baked. My nephew wasn’t always around to enjoy it.”

Pulling up the chair next to my aunt’s bed, I plop into it in shock.

“Are you telling me Jackson has been this close to me for…what? Years? And I didn’t even know?”

Jackson smiles at me. More than happiness lives in that smile. “It’s fate, baby. I told you.”

“Is this the man you thought you made a mistake with, Riley? The one you told me about over Scrabble when I won withdick.” She snort-laughs and winces, and I ignore the heavy stare from Jackson.

“Yeah. The same one. I guess I don’t need to introduce him and hope you approve.”

“Nope! Jackson is a good boy. He brought me strawberries one day in February. Right off the plant, he said. Your first batch, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. You were my test subject.” He chuckles as he places his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll bring you more once they spring you from here. We’ll catch up.”

“That would be lovely, Jackson.”

Jackson leans down and brushes a kiss across my cheek. “I’ll just be down the hall. I’ll give you two some privacy,” he whispers before wishing my aunt well and leaving us.

“Well, that’s Jackson. Who you already know and he’s…probably the man I’ll spend the rest of my life with.”

My aunt reaches her good hand to me, and I gently take it.

“He’s a good man, Riley. His dad used to own the tractor dealership on the highway. He helped me out a time or two when you were still in high school. He cleaned the driveway in the winter and always made sure we were okay. By the time Jackson started helping me, you’d moved away, and he usually stopped by after snowstorms. He’d borrow someone’s tractor and do the lane before shovelling all my steps. He even cleared paths to the gas meter and cleared away the vents.”

This isn’t shocking for him to do, because I know Jackson is indeed a kind soul. But damn. My aunt has known him for years and I never once met him. Maybe there’s something to this fate thing after all.

“I went to see him at his last rodeo. I told him I’d been wrong and…” Puffing out a breath, I find my aunt’s glassy eyes. “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met and I can’t believe I almost lost him because I was stupid enough to say I don’t date cowboys.”

“But it’s fixed now? You’re together?”

“I think so. He’s amazing. Gabe is here too, but you already knew that. He came yesterday.”

She smiles. “Yes, Gabe was here. Lovely man. He needs to work less.”

“I’m working on that, but you know how he is.”

The nurse arrives to announce that it’s time to move to the operating room and my aunt squeezes my hand. “Stop worrying, Riley. I’ll be fine and we’ll figure it all out. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

---