Page 67 of Stay for Me

She shook her head. “Leaving Beau was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, Diana. It nearly killed me the first time. I just got him back, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting him go again,” she rasped, her voice suddenly brimming with emotion. “I just—I need to find out if there’s a way I can have both: the newspaper and Beau.”

I smiled, satisfied. “Good.”

A minute later, my phone was against my ear as I waited for Denver to pick up to the phone. It was a rare occasion I had to call the satellite phone, usually only doing it for emergencies. When Denver was out in the pastures, I learned quickly it was wise to leave him alone. He had a ranch to run, after all. That job was hard enough. The phone rang six times before someone picked up.

“Hallow Ranch.”

I closed my eyes as the world around me began to fade, the voice on the other side of the phone breaking me all over again.

Two weeks.

I’d spent the last two weeks doing everything in my power to forget the way he looked at me, the way he held me, the way heshatteredme. I buried myself in work, took three new clients, skipped a multitude of meals, binged twice in the late hours of the night, and even spent three nights in some fancy hotel in downtown Denver in a poor attempt to escape the pull this cowboy had on me.

“M-Mags,” I stammered, leaning back against the counter.

What the hell was he doing with the satellite phone?

His jagged voice changed then, from bored to alert. “Diana? What is it? What’s wrong?”

Not this again. I couldn’t do this again.

I opened my eyes and looked up to the ceiling, my heart pounding in my ears. “Where’s Denver?”

“Wrangling a bull,” he answered, his voice growing dark. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, clearing my throat and making the mistake of looking at Abbie. Her head was tilted to the side, a look of confusion and wonder painted across her features like the mural on the wall. Then, her eyes narrowed, and I looked away from her. “I’m here with Abbie at the flower shop, and she needs to speak to Beau.”

Mags was silent.

No damn surprise there.

“Why are you at the flower shop?” he asked, clearly not giving a single shit about Abbie’s needs.

“Because I can be,” I snapped before I could stop myself.

He ignored that. “Beau is with the herd.”

“And where are you?”

“Not with the fuckin’ herd, Firefly.”

“Stop calling me that,” I spat, hanging up the phone. I let out a sound of frustration, slamming my cell onto my stack of folders before sinking my fingers into my fresh blow out, tugging at the roots.

“Holy crap,” Abbie breathed.

My head snapped up, and I jumped back when I found her in my space, her eyes wide, jaw slacked.

“What?” I asked, playing dumb and hoping she couldn’t see right through me. I looked to the wall, then back to her, then to the front door, and then…back to her. Her brown eyes were wide, a pull in them I couldn’t fight, seeking the truth. She reared back, the silent truth hitting her, and my stomach dropped to the floor.

Was I really that easy to read?

She stammered as I shook my head. “I—I—you—”

Before I could think, I slapped my hand over her mouth. “Don’t,” I begged, my voice cracking as tears stung my eyes. “Don’t say it. This is the first day in over two weeks I haven’t shed a tear over that cowboy.”

Abbie’s shock melted away then, pity in her warm eyes. She reached up, setting her hands on my shoulders. After I let my words settle between us for a moment, I dropped my hand, my face twisting with grief. “Abbie,” I rasped.

“Oh, babe,” she murmured.

---