Page 128 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
“No.” Rose sounded confused. “Why would JJ—”
“Nothing. No reason.” She winced. But what did it matter? It wasn’t some great secret that something had happened between them. It wasn’t as if Rose and the others back at the ranch didn’t already know there was something going on there.
Not anymore.
So why was she still waiting desperately for his phone calls? Why was she forever checking to see if he’d texted? Why did she keep hoping against hope that she’d see him again in her office’s reception area, or waiting outside her apartment door?
It was stupid. Futile. He’d left—
No. He hadn’t left. She’d sent him away.
Guilt and shame mixed with heartache as she and her little sister sat in silence on the phone.
Rose sighed when the silence grew too long. “Truth is, as I prepare for motherhood and think about the daunting task ahead of me, it’s starting to make me realize how much you did when you were only a kid yourself.” Her voice started to tremble with tears. “And I never thanked you. I never appreciated you the way I should have. You held us together. You sacrificed so much and I… I really love you.” Rose sniffed, and Dahlia started losing the battle with her own tears. “I just hope you know how amazing you are.”
Dahlia couldn't speak. Tears slipped down her face, her insides rattling with emotion.
Sucking in a breath, she suddenly blurted, “When are you and Dex planning on getting married? Just the little courthouse one.”
“Oh. Uh… maybe the weekend after Emma and Nash’s wedding? We don’t want to encroach on their special day, and I was kind of waiting to see if you…” Her voice trailed off, and Dahlia easily filled the space.
“Tomorrow, at work, I’m gonna ask for a few days off so I can come back and be a witness for you and Dex, okay?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to hold you back from your life. Your marriage. I just want you to be happy. I really love you too, Rosie.”
They broke into this weird wobbling, laughing kind of cry, sounding ridiculous as they dealt with all this emotion together.
Then Rose sucked in a breath, and her tone grew wary. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Well, now that I’m a grown-up and all, you know you don’t have to keep sacrificing your own happiness anymore… right?”
Dahlia sighed. “Rosie, I didn’t forfeit my life for you. I’m happy.”
“Are you?”
She opened her mouth to respond but couldn't.
“I guess…” Rose’s voice grew timid. It often did when she was challenging someone. “Well, I… I want to understand.”
Dahlia’s insides went cold. “Understand what?”
“Whatever it is you’re trying to prove? Can you seriously say you’re happy in New York? I mean… what’s keeping you there?”
“It’s my home.”
Rose let out a soft, disbelieving laugh. “There’s this great saying that home is where the heart is. And I don’t think your heart’s in New York.”
Dahlia plucked at the blanket, torn between the urge to stubbornly argue… and a desire to be convinced. “What would I do in Aspire?”
“I don’t know. Be my daughter’s aunt? Be my sister? I mean, I don’t want you to move for me. I want you to do what makes you happy. If staying in New York is what you need, then go for it. But… if your heart’s someplace else, then you need to follow it.”
There was truly no subtlety in what Rose was trying to say. And if Dahlia were a different sort of woman, a different sort of sister… she might have given in to the not-so-subtle nudges to talk about her relationship with JJ.
But what was there to say? She’d gone and fallen in love, but she didn’t trust—
