Page 60 of Secretly Loving my Cowboy Best Friend

But as soon as his annoyance with Holland had passed, he knew exactly what to do. It was so obvious that he was frustrated at himself for not seeing this way forward before. But he guessed not seeing what was right in front of him was kind of par for the course for him right now.

“Thank you all so much,” Austin said so exuberantly that the women in the room exchanged glances, unsure how to react. The question was clear on their faces. Had they really already helped him?

Austin dropped a kiss to his mom’s cheek because she’d been the one to guide him to his next step in winning back Sofi before he headed for the back door where his truck was parked.

“Where are you going?” Holland called after him, curiosity getting the better of her.

Austin paused just before opening the door. “To ask the Tías for help.” He tried to hide his grimace and it didn’t help that all of his helpers looked at him with varying degrees of pity. Well, except for Holland, who was beaming.

“Ohh, that will not be fun,” Holland said. “The Tías hate you right now.”

The fact that no one contradicted her told Austin all he needed to know. But they were the only ones who could help him now. So he was off to see the Tías.

For better or worse.

* * *

“That boybetter not be thinking he can just show his pretty face around here like nothing has happened,” Tía Melinda muttered as Austin stood just outside of the Castillo residence. Thankfully his mom was right and he knew more about Sofi than many men knew about their wives, including Sofi’s family’s schedule. And he knew for the Tías, Sunday afternoons were reserved for rummy. After attending Sabbath services, of course.

Darla stood in the doorway, barring Austin from entering. Tía Rosa and Tía Melinda hadn’t even gotten up from their seats. They’d never treated Austin this way before. They were always the first to come hug him and kiss his cheeks.

If he hadn’t already known he’d majorly messed up, this would prove it. But at least Tía Melinda had said his face was pretty . . . that had to be a relatively good sign, right? Austin needed all the points in his ledger that he could get.

“You’re lucky the boys aren’t here,” Tía Rosa added, not bothering to look up from her cards.

“I know I messed up big time,” Austin began, wishing he could remember the speech he’d rehearsed on the way here. But seeing the Tías angry was so different from knowing they would be angry. Austin had never upset them like this and it was terrifying, to say the least. But enduring their wrath was worth it. For Sofi.

Darla clucked her tongue as if Austin’s statement was obvious.

“I know I can’t say anything to make last night better. I shouldn’t have gone out with that other girl. I definitely shouldn’t have practically ignored Sofi for a month. When she came to my house and told me she loved me, I didn’t know how to process it. I knew I loved her, and that I would always love her, but it scared me to my very core to think about the kind of love she had for me. Because I knew I didn’t deserve that love. No one deserves all of Sofi. She’s too incredible for any man on the planet.”

Austin eyes began to well with unshed tears. Even with all of the emotion he’d felt these past couple months, he hadn’t cried since his father had passed two years before. He couldn’t even remember the time he’d cried before that. But saying these words, feeling the truth of them, telling the women Sofi cared about the most that he might have lost her forever, he couldn’t help his rising sentiments. He blinked away the moisture and looked from Darla to Tía Melinda to Tía Rosa. At least they were all looking at him now.

“So I spent weeks being way too in my head. I sold the wrong horse to a buyer, a mess that Logan will never forgive me for, I walked around like a zombie trying to figure out what was up and down. My whole world tilted with Sofi’s declaration. I knew I couldn’t lose her, but I also wasn’t sure how to become the man worthy of her.”

“Then you went out with another woman,” Tía Rosa interrupted.

Yeah, he wasn’t living that one down anytime soon. Not that he should be forgiven. But it would be nice to complete a thought without being reminded of his own stupidity.

“I’m getting there,” Austin promised. “It took some time, but I finally understood that to become worthy of Sofi I needed to appraise myself. My shortcomings. I know that I lose my temper too easily so I had my brothers try to annoy me and I had to keep from reacting.”

“How did that go?” Darla asked.

“Not so well,” Austin admitted.

“I also know that Sofi hates how I allow clutter to build up. So I started trying to keep my house neater. I began swearing less, drinking less, fighting less.”

“Those are things many men come into relationships with, Austin,” Tía Melinda pointed out.

“I know,” Austin said. “But I didn’t want Sofi to have to just deal with me and my bad habits. I would be getting the ultimate prize with Sofi. I wanted her to have the same. It’s what I would have expected from any other man who tried to marry Sofi.”

Darla’s mouth dropped open as Tía Rosa gasped. Finally he had everyone’s undivided attention.

“You aren’t trying to date Sofi, you want to marry her,” Tía Melinda worked out. She was now standing at the table where they had been playing their now-forgotten game.

“It’s the only option with Sofi. I’m not going to date her if we aren’t headed for the altar. We know each other too well—we don’t have to date to see what the other is like. I know every part of Sofi and it took me too long to realize this, but I love every part of her. I was never able to imagine my life with a woman because I’d always had Sofi right there. Everything I needed. But I didn’t realize that until we spent that time apart. I thought I wasn’t prone to loneliness but really it was because with Sofi I was never alone. I thought I wasn’t the kind of guy to want a woman around all the time, but Sofi had always been there. She was the most perfect part of me and I was blind to it for so long.”

Tía Rosa opened her mouth.

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