Page 14 of Simply Yours

He had let go. Delegated. Changed. And it hadfelt good.

What would it be like to toss one more thought out the window?

“Miss Barnes?” His voice came out steady as he reached her, snatching his cowboy hat off his head and holding it to his chest in a rare show of deference.

Matthew’s response was immediate, elbowing Luke and smirking. “Uh oh. We should go. The hat’s off, bro…”

“It’s serious,” Luke agreed.

Jason barely heard them. His focus was on Caitlin—who, to his surprise, didn’t look the least bit amused by his arrival. If anything, she looked irritated – at him. Sure enough, Matthew and Luke walked off together, chuckling, leaving him there with her, floundering.

“Can I help you with something, Mr. Baird?” she said, almost icy.

“I think you can call me Jason…”

“You started it by calling me‘Miss Barnes.’”

“Welp, I’m finishing it now.”

“Consider it finished then,” she snapped, “Good day.”

“Yes, itisa good day – and I thought you might like to dance,” he retorted, realizing that she was giving him a hard time, like he’d done something wrong. “Do you have a problem?”

“You sure do.” Her expression didn’t soften. If anything, it hardened.

“Really?” he retorted, drawing back in surprise. “What, pray tell, is my problem?” And then, to his utter shock, she jabbed a finger into his chest.

“You,” she hissed. “You are your own worst problem, Jason Baird.”

“I know,” he replied simply and caught the surprise in her face, seemingly taking the wind from her sails. “I’m learning that, and it’s been a lot to swallow lately, but I got a whopping dose of humility served up to me this last week. Do you have siblings?”

“No.”

He chuckled. “Be glad for it. They’re great, but they can be meaner than a rattlesnake sometimes.”

For a second, just a second, something shifted in her gaze—a flicker of understanding.

Jason had spent his whole life carrying the weight of his family, of the land, of a legacy that sometimes felt more like a prison than a blessing. He was… free – and didn’t know what to do with himself. He had always worried, worked, sweated, and labored since he was eighteen, working hard on the farm with his father – and then tackling double the workload alone.

Now, he wasn’t.

He wanted to live, to enjoy life, to be a part of the world, and dang it – he wanted to dance.

He turned to Caitlin, the stubborn, sharp-tongued woman who had once been a blur in his past but was now standing before him, flesh and blood and memories he hadn’t known he still carried. He extended his hand, fingers open, palm up, an offering.

Bowing slightly, he met her eyes, willing her to say yes.

“Miss Barnes,” he said, his voice quiet but certain, carrying the weight of something deeper than a simple invitation. “Caitlin, may I have this dance?”

She hesitated.

A flicker of something unreadable passed through her gaze—wary, unsure, maybe even afraid. Jason felt the breath in his lungs tighten. He hadn’t expected her to look at him like that, like she was searching for a reason to trust him and not quite finding it.

Her throat bobbed in a swallow. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, tentative.

“I would like to dance,” she admitted, glancing around as though she expected the moment to shatter, “but only if you’ve yanked that yardstick you’ve had firmly planted for years outta your rear end.”

Jason blinked, then let out a surprised chuckle.

---