Page 159 of Forever To Me

I blink. “Viral.”

“Like crazy viral.”

A pit forms in my stomach. I know what’s coming next. I can feel it. The same way you can feel a storm rolling in before the first thunderclap. I stand up fast, pacing. “Okay, how viral are we talking?”

Will pauses, and the hesitation immediately sends alarmbells through my head. Finally, he coughs awkwardly. “Ten million views.”

I stop pacing. The room goes deathly silent, except for the sound of my own blood roaring in my ears. I open my mouth, close it. Try again. “Where did it come from?”

Silence. A long, guilty silence. Then Will says, “Your kid’s account.”

I freeze. I actually lose the ability to move for a full five seconds. Then, finally, I explode. “I’m sorry—WHAT?!”

Will sighs. “Mack. She posted a video of you and Violet singing. And, uh… let’s just say the internet has feelings about it.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut. “Of course she did.”

Because of course it was Mack. Of course, my teenage daughter, who has zero concept of the words privacy, discretion, or restraint, decided to single-handedly catapult my entire life into a public spectacle.

Will chuckles, and I can hear the smug amusement dripping through the phone. “Yeah, buddy, people are thirsting over you. I got a call from People Magazine. Women are referring to you as ‘Cowboy Daddy’ in the comments.”

I groan. “Stop.”

I sit down and immediately regret my entire existence. “I hate this.”

I’m standing at my cabin’s kitchen counter, trying to drown my sorrows in coffee, when I hear a truck pull up fast outside. “I gotta go, Will.”

Then there’s banging on my door. I sigh, already knowing who it is before I even open it. And sure enough, Ollie and Jack stand on my porch, looking way too smug for my liking.

Jack smirks. “You okay, buddy? You’ve been real quiet lately.”

Ollie nods. “We heard you were having a moment.”

I scowl. “I don’t need a wellness check.”

Ollie sniffs the air, then nods at the empty whiskey bottle on my table. “Uh-huh. That definitely looks like a man in peak mental health.”

Jack tilts his head. “So, what’s the plan? You just gonna sit here and brood until the internet finds another cowboy to obsess over?”

Ollie grins. “Or are you actually gonna fix things with Violet?”

I sigh, staring at my coffee. “I don’t know.”

Jack crosses his arms. “Well, you’d better figure it out, because people are gonna be showing up to this town looking for their grumpy, guitar-playing Cowboy Daddy.”

The realization hits me like a freight train straight to the chest. I swallow hard, my throat tight. My mind replays every single moment between them—Mack and Violet laughing in my kitchen, Mack stealing her fries at dinner like it’s second nature, the way Mack looks at her when she’s not even aware she’s looking at her.

Violet isn’t just some temporary person in Mack’s life. She’s family. And Mack sees her that way.

Goddamn it.

I run a hand down my face, blinking hard, trying to shove down the emotion clawing its way up my throat. I knew Violet was important to me. I knew she meant more than just some fling, more than just a woman who came into my life and made it better.

But I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Mack does too.

Ollie leans back in his chair, crossing his arms with a smug grin. “Judging by the way you just short-circuited, I’d say that hit home.”

Jack, ever the instigator, smirks. “That’s gotta sting a little,huh? Knowing you completely screwed this up with the woman your daughter already sees as family?”

---