Page 62 of Choosing the Montana Cowboy

He wrapped an arm around his wise daughter and rested his cheek on her crown. God, he wanted to believe Madison. Wanted it all to be true. He knew the road ahead wouldn’t be fast or easy, but the more he thought about his daughter’s words, the more he believed them to be true.

Natalie was different, and she was definitely worth risking his heart for.

“How about you run inside and get my wallet, kiddo?”

Chapter Twenty-One

Natalie sat onher front porch Tuesday evening, sifting through items she’d salvaged from the basement and reminiscing. Outside, temperatures had cooled back down into the mid-seventies, with enough of a breeze to keep the heat—and any lingering sewer smell—at bay. The insurance adjustor had passed her information onto a local remediation company, which stopped by earlier this afternoon and scoped out the work needing to be done. If she was lucky, everything would be professionally cleaned or replaced by the end of the month.

Now if only putting her heart back together could have that same short turnaround.

Yesterday, her heart had run the full gamut of emotions—anger, shock, denial, fear. Today, it just hurt. She could tell from Sam’s texts that he was struggling with the abrupt ending to their time together, too. And while she wanted so badly to tell him not to worry, she’d be there soon enough, that wasn’t a promise she could make, not when she didn’t seem to own her own darned schedule.

That particular frustration had prompted her to send an email to her boss first thing this morning. It was time to stop trying to please everyone else and instead advocate for herself. Yes, she’d been highly flexible with her schedule these past few years, and she appreciated that he considered her one of his go-to employees, but she was looking to put down some roots and travel less. He’d written back, thanking her for her honesty. The rest of his email had helped further ease her concerns.

Well, on the job front, anyway. She still wasn’t sure how things were looking on the relationship side of things. Before today, Sam had been texting her all throughout the day as he was able. Today, he’d sent a briefGood morning, sunshinetext and had gone silent ever since.

Maybe he’d gotten busy. Maybe they’d had another emergency—was that a common occurrence out west? Norah hadn’t seemed overly shocked by that whole sinkhole thing. Heck, maybe Natalie staying close to home was the safer, smarter path to choose after all.

The trouble was, Indiana no longer held the path that called to her heart. She was thinking a little bit differently today.

After emailing with her boss, she’d taken a gift card to her uncle, thanking him for all his help this past weekend. He insisted she shouldn’t have and that it was no trouble; she hugged him tight and told him to have fun shopping with Aunt Sara. Natalie stayed and shared stories from Montana, then headed home to get back to cleaning and sorting.

And, admittedly, waiting for Sam to text or call—neither of which happened.

Julianna had called midday, however, which turned into a surprisingly pleasant conversation. Not only had she done as Natalie asked and spoken to Steven about her former boyfriend’s possible interference with the River Bend Resort project, she’d also gotten with their IT department and pulled Brice’s old emails and digital files. There had been more than enough evidence to prove that the Marietta project had been undermined, so that wouldn’t be held against Natalie as a failed project.

That had explained Steven’s email from earlier.

Even more surprising, Julianna had offered to drive up from Indy and help with the cleanup. Natalie had nearly fallen over with surprise. She’d promised to let her sister know if she still needed help by the weekend, and then made plans to get together after she returned from Greensboro.

Who knew? Maybe a little workplace drama was enough to shake up their sibling relationship and get it headed in the right direction.

“Whoa. Okay, I’m gonna want to hearthatwhole story,” Cyn said when she’d called on her afternoon break. “I’ll bring over wine after work. Probably be around six.”

Natalie had laughed. “Sounds good. And don’t cook—we’ll order takeout.”

“Pfft, we’ll get our meals delivered. You’re not in Montana anymore, girl.”

As if Natalie needed yet another reminder.

Though, the more she thought about it, the more certain Natalie was that her not being in Montana was what was holding her back from being happy at home. Not the cleaning, not the mess. She was missing Sam and his family and the scenery and, yes, even the horses—from a distance, of course.

Dang it, Sam needed to hurry up and text back so they could have this conversation already. The waiting was starting to eat at her nearly as much as the question mark hanging over their future.

Yes? No? Maybe?

On a sigh, she plucked another box nested within a bigger box—seriously, this was bordering on ridiculous with all these darned boxes—and peered inside. Natalie smiled as three small hand-painted Christmas ornaments came into view. Her grandfather had made them for his three children, but when he passed, Natalie had asked for them. These, she was going to keep somewhere special.

Would she get to see Sam and his family before Christmas? Goodness, she couldn’t imagine there wouldn’t be time before then. What she didn’t know was if he would even still want to see her by then.

Natalie’s gaze went to her cell phone for the dozenth time this hour. Still no update from Sam. Where was he, anyway?

“I reckon I shoulda called first,” said a deep voice from her front walk, “but that’s not something I’m used to doing where I come from.”

*

Sam had hisUber driver drop him off a block away, wanting to surprise Natalie. He’d watched her as he’d approached, drinking in the sight of his city beauty. Lord, he’d missed her.

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