Page 54 of The Runaway and the Rugged
“You aren’t sick, are you?” Her concern was genuine, a little dramatic to say the least but it wasn’t like me to make rash decisions like this.
“No, I’m not sick, I feel fine.” I smiled as her hand slowly fell from my head and laid back down into her lap.
“Then what do you mean you’re staying here until further notice? As in Hideaway Haven Ranch, Dusty Meadows, Texas?”
I swallowed hard.
“Yes.”
Her eyebrows slammed together firmly.
“Wait,” she said through a hesitant laugh. “You’re just trying to be funny, right? You aren’t actually planning to stay here?”
My palms, now clammy with sweat, clasped together in my lap while her piercing gaze scanned me like lasers searching for the truth.
“No, I’m not trying to be funny…”
Her eyes had widened to the point they no longer looked tired.
“How on earth did you come up with that plan?” she questioned incredulously. “A ranch? In the middle of Texas? Where you almost got married? Why the hell would you want to stay here!?”
She didn’t appear upset, but more so confused and taken aback.
“You can stay with me, Millie. I thought you would have already known you’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”
Of course I already knew she’d let me stay with her, and that was one of the many reasons why she was the best person I knew. She’d do anything for me just as I would for her.
“And I’m so grateful that you’d let me stay with you, but I can’t,” I admitted, her eyes not once straying from mine. “I can’t go back home. It’s all I know, and honestly, I’m so tired, so damn exhausted that I feel like it's all I’ve ever known. I need to stop living for others and take control of my own life and for once, I feel like I might be able to take the reins, even if that means being somewhere new…” I leaned forward with sincerity thick in my expression. “I need new, Clarke.”
Her eyes glimmered a little too brightly to be considered misty. She wasn’t a crier, but she appeared to be on the verge.
“And this is about as new as it gets.” I chuckled, hoping to sway her in my decision, but she looked hesitant to accept it. “Open spaces, a small town, a place I can call my own until I get on my feet…”
“A hot single dad cowboy who told you that you’re more than welcome to stay on his ranch?” she added as the corner of her mouth gradually lifted, sparking my face to go red hot.
“That’s definitely not a reason why I’m going to stay!” I defended a little too loudly that even I found it hard to believe my words. “He’s simply a kind and considerate man, who happens to be a dad and lives on a ranch.”
She raised an eyebrow in skepticism.
“And has offered me to stay in the cabin while I work to get back on my feet.”
This time, her other brow lifted parallel to the other.
“Oh, so it wasn’t your idea to stay, it was Garth’s?” she asked, and instantly I knew what I was about to be up against.
“No, of course it wasn’t… it wasn’t just his idea.” I scoffed at the ridiculous idea although it was partly true. “He simply just offered me a place to stay and in return I helped around the ranch, doing… ranch things.”
She laughed.
“Ranch things? What’s the first thing you know about working on a ranch?”
I inwardly groaned.
“Obviously nothing, but I’m willing to learn.”
“Scooping up horse shit? You’re okay with that?” She continued to laugh knowing I’d never even cleaned up dog crap a day in my life.
“Yeah, I mean, if they can do it, I can too, right?” I shrugged past the terrible tremors that the vision had left me with.
