Page 69 of Stay for Me

He muttered something I couldn’t understand before he clipped, “Called to make sure you were okay, Diana. Nothing more.”

Nothing more.

“Why would you do that?” I asked sharply.

“Because no one at Hallow Ranch has seen or heard from you in two fuckin’ weeks, and for all I know, your dumbass of an ex could be hanging around,” he answered simply.

Lucas was not “hanging around.” The day after Chase and I had our talk, he was escorted to the edge of town, given his car keys, and told to “fuck off” and to “never come back.” It was unofficial, off the books, but so far, effective. I hadn’t heard a peep from him or my parents—thank God.

“I—”

“You missed Harmony’s birthday.”

I froze, my eyes on the concrete. “What?” I whispered.

He said nothing.

“When was her birthday?” I asked, guilt hovering over me like a vulture. Mentally, I was flipping through my color-coded planner, knowing all the birthdays for this month were written in orange, double underlined and circled. Harmony’s, I remember, also had a sticker beside it.

“Last week. Valerie told everyone you couldn’t make it.”

Now I was the one who was silent.

“Diana, we need to have a conversation,” the cowboy said then, his rough voice unusually soft now, reminding me of all the other times he’d been gentle with me, like I was the most precious thing in the world.

That was the last thing I wanted. I didn’t want to have a conversation with the man I was hopelessly in love with.

But I had to move on.

“Go ahead,” I offered, a lump in my throat now. I moved closer to the building, hearing some locals walking down the sidewalk behind me.

Mags, being Mags, got straight to the point. “What happened between us doesn’t need to ruin your relationships with everyone else out here.”

I pressed my lips together and leaned against the building, my head bent. “I know that,” I whispered. “I just needed some time.”

More silence.

“Seeing you, after what…” I trailed off, looking down the sidewalk as I took a deep breath. “It would’ve pushed me over the edge, Mags.”

Nothing.

His silence hit my nerves just right ,and before I could stop it, another confession escaped, riding on a broken whisper. “I feel like a fool.”

“You have no idea how honored I am to know you feel that way about me,” he finally said, his words gentle and honest.

A tear landed on my cheek, and I wiped it away quickly. I didn’t know what else to say, so I chewed on my bottom lip, ignoring my heart crying out for him.

“Kills me, Firefly,” he murmured.

My eyes closed.

“Fuckin’ kills me.”

“Stop,” I begged. “You can’t—you can’t call me that.”

“Never again,” he vowed.

That hurt worse.

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