Page 23 of The Rancher's Unrequited Love

"When you use that tone," Ethan murmured, "it's usually bad news."

"I was going to talk about Guilia."

"Knew it," he deadpanned. "Bad news."

"I disagree. One year ago, you couldn't even say her name in my presence. So in my book: good news."

Ethan's lips twitched, and her heart ached at the sight of it.

If only...

If only loving was just about making a person smile.

But it wasn't.

"So about Guilia..."

Ethan's gorgeous face turned expressionless.

"I just wanted to say," she went on doggedly, "I've always believed - and I still believe this - that she only has to see Hartland, and she'd get it. You just need to figure out a way to get her to finally say yes and come here. I really believe all she has to do is see Hartland," Anah said earnestly, "and she'd get it. She'd understand what your dream is, and then that's it."

Ethan still didn't speak.

"You'd live happily—-"

Ethan cut her off with a sharp look. "Stop it."

"Ethan—-"

"Enough, Anah. I mean it." Did she really think he wouldn't be able to see how much all these words were costing her? Maybe she was right, and he was no longer the same man he was before. Maybe something really had changed, and that was why agony no longer ripped through him every time he had to think or talk about Anah.

But even so...it wasn't fucking enough.

And that was why he never wanted Anah to hurt herself the way she was doing now.

"It's okay, Ethan," Anah whispered.

But it wasn't okay. How it was between them had never been okay, and they both fucking knew that.

Ethan breathed hard. "I wish..."

"I know."

And so she did,Ethan thought dully.

This was Anah, after all. His little Anah, who even at sixteen had been able to read an entire story simply by looking into his eyes—-

Just like she was doing now.

And the story, even to this day, remained painfully the same.

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. And the girl's name was still not Anah.

Chapter Ten

MORE WEEKS PASSED.Kady and Slade were now a couple. Ethan had to fly back to Jackson Hole for work, and it was there he remained when Anah celebrated her nineteenth birthday. His absence would've been devastating...if not for the fact that it was his texts she woke up to each day. Granted, the text messages were all forwarded ones - everything from memes to GIFs and even the odd chain letter or two - but she cherished each and every one of them nevertheless. She knew, without being told, it was Ethan's way of letting her know that he and Guilia still hadn't gotten back together.

As spring came to an end, Hartland's mayor Oliver Winterbourne II scheduled an emergency town hall meeting that had his fellow billionaire residents trooping to the library. Apparently, a film crew had requested to shoot in Hartland for three months, and at its helm was a critically-acclaimed director who was likely to be troublesome if the town were to reject his request for no valid reason.

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