Page 76 of A Montana Secret Admirer
“A whole year, huh? Man, that’s gonna be great. I loved living in Georgia. The winters are better than they are here.”
Her heart constricted. Reese was leaving? For a year? Her stomach knotted and twisted painfully. The air in her lungs seized up, and she couldn’t breathe. She was even beginning to feel lightheaded. Her hand reached for the edge of the entrance to the barn, and the movement must have been enough to capture the attention of Caleb.
His eyes darted to her, then the look of regret and concern filtered across his face. Reese whipped around to look at her, and their eyes locked for a life-ending moment.
No, she wasn’t moving to Rocky Ridge for Reese. She’d told herself that truth over and over again. But then why did she feel so sick to her stomach? Why couldn’t she shake the feeling that she was going to lose something precious to her?
“I’m… I gotta go, man.” Caleb clapped his cousin on the shoulder. He gave Serenity a sharp nod on his way out, leaving her alone with Reese and the hardest decision she had to make.
As much as she wanted to tell him that she was moving here, she wasn’t sure that was the best move. This training program was important to him. And from the sounds of it, he’d known about it for a while. Not only that, but he’d kept it from her. He hadn’t thought she needed to know—and what did that really say about how he felt about her?
She swallowed thickly and forced a smile that made the muscles in her face ache. “You got into the training program?” Her voice sounded weak, even to her. “That’s… great!”
“Serenity—” There was pity in that voice. Or was it guilt? She couldn’t tell. Her ears were ringing, and her face was flaming like someone had set fire to it.
Shaking her head, she pushed aside her own selfish thoughts. She would not take this away from him by asking him to stay and see where their budding romance could lead. Clearly, it was more of a fling than she’d wanted to give it credit for. He’d had fun this summer, but he had plans. Maybe when he got home?
“You’re going to love it,” she said softly. “I’m certain of it.”
He took a step toward her, and she let him cup her cheek. “I was going to tell you about it?—”
“You don’t owe me anything, Reese. This is your life.”
He dropped his hand immediately, and she didn’t dare look too hard at him for fear of what she might see.
“This is what you always wanted,” she whispered.
“Maybe we could…” Reese trailed off, and she shook her head.
“We had fun, right? You and me? It wasfun.”
He frowned but didn’t argue with her.
“And we both know the statistics of something lasting long distance. Especially with it being so casual.”
This time, his mouth fell open like he was going to say something, but then he snapped it shut as if he thought better of it.
She attempted to clear the lump in her throat and glanced over her shoulder toward the house. Now was not the time to tell him that she planned on staying. She didn’t want to make him feel guilty—because she’d made the choice without the promise of anything from him. She’d planned on moving even if things didn’t work out. And knowing Reese, he would probably blame himself for her uprooting her life and the lives of her sons. Then he’d end up staying and resenting her for it.
Serenity brushed her clammy palms down her jeans and fought back the emotion bubbling to the surface. “Let’s enjoy the time we have left. When do you leave?”
He rubbed the back of his neck as if battling something he wanted to say to her. Then he heaved a sigh. “Sometime in the next two weeks.”
“Two weeks,” she parroted. “That’s not much time.”
“No… it’s not.”
She smiled brightly, but it was forced, and he could definitely tell. “Then, let’s plan one last big hurrah, yeah?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” His own smile didn’t reach his eyes, and the way he said that one word tore at her already shredded heart more than she would ever admit to anyone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Two weeks cameand went faster than the first week that Serenity had been at the ranch at the beginning of the summer. Reese couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that had taken up residence in the pit of his stomach as he went about his daily routines. He couldn’t get it to dissipate even as he prepared to leave.
No matter how off this whole thing felt, there was one universal truth.
Serenity hadn’t asked him to stay. And she had insisted they couldn’t try long distance. He’d wanted to promise her that they could make that work. Technology had made so many strides since they were children that it was easier than ever to keep something going. It wasn’t like they couldn’t see each other through video chat.
