Page 38 of Forbidden Love

“You feel light-headed?” Tyler asked, amusement tinging his voice.

“A little,” I admitted. I reverted to the teenage girl hidden inside me who crushed on my brothers’ best friend. Over the years, I thought it was the fact that he was forbidden that attracted me, but now that we were hanging out, there was more to it than my brothers not approving.

“We’d better sit down then.” His hand drifted down my arm, and his hand curled around mine as he led me to the chair I’d been sitting in earlier.

I dropped his hand as we sat next to each other.

He popped open the beer and handed it to me. “To our future partnership.”

I clinked my glass against his and drank the obligatory sip. He’d made our relationship sound like a business proposition, which it was.

We leaned back in our chairs, propping our feet on the table in front of us and cradling the beers in our hands as we talked about anything and everything. What college was like for Tyler and his brothers. How he’d immediately moved back home to be near his family. He’d loved working for his father and, unlike Sam, didn’t have any hidden desires to start a new branch of the business. He was content with being a foreman.

“You’re happy in Telluride with your family, and you love your job, but have no desire to do anything else?”

Tyler rested the glass against his thigh and, with a nod, said, “That sounds about right.”

“For me, something feels unresolved. Like I should want something more. I just don’t know what.”

He shifted in the chair, dropping his feet flat to the planked deck. “You traveled the world, and now you’re back. You’re figuring out what you want in life, but it feels like you should already be content with what you have.”

“Are you content with everything?” I asked, genuinely curious about him.

Tyler gazed at the sky as he talked. “I love being near my family, spending time with them. I love my nieces. Sam and Mac will expand their families to have more children, and I’m looking forward to that. I was feeling a little unsettled. But then I decided on buying a property to build a house.”

“That’s amazing, Tyler. Congratulations.”

“I still feel a little unsettled. Like my life is too good. Or it’s not enough.”

“I moved back home because I was upset and off-kilter. I’d just lost my job. Without a job and a sponsor, I couldn’t stay abroad. I felt unmoored. Like there was nothing tethering me there. But for you, there’s nothing that says you can’t be content with what you have. Maybe this is it. You’ll be happy spending time with your family and working together.”

“That’s kind of anticlimactic. I already have everything I want and need.” He smiled, but I sensed he wasn’t sure about that.

“Maybe you feel uncomfortable because your life is so good. You think something bad has to happen to outweigh the good, but life doesn’t have to be like that. There is no truth to the idea that something bad has to happen when life is good. It can just be good.”

Tyler smiled over at me. “Stargazing makes us philosophical.”

“Apparently,” I said as we laughed together. When we sobered, I said, “No. But seriously. You’re seeing everyone go through these big life changes, and you’re feeling a little left out. That’s all it is. Once things settle down, and you’re busy building your house, you’ll be fine.”

“You’re right. I’ll be busy enough with my projects at work and my house.”

“Can I look at the blueprints, or do you already have everything figured out?” I asked him, eager to see what he was building.

“I haven’t gotten that far. I just know I want a two-story colonial with a huge back deck to look at the stars. It won’t look like this since the house is in the valley, but—”

“It will be beautiful.” I smiled as he met my gaze, and something passed over his face. I couldn’t say what the emotion was, but it sent a pang through my heart.

We talked until midnight, and then I walked him out. This time, he pulled me in for a hug and held me as if he were breathing me in. When he let me go, I felt like something was missing. Like I was supposed to grab on to the moment, but I didn’t.

I let him walk away because whatever was missing in Tyler’s life wasn’t me. I didn’t belong in Telluride forever. It was the home I visited now and then, but it wasn’t where I’d settle down. But this time, when I said it to myself, it didn’t ring true.

CHAPTER 11

TYLER

Later that week, I was checking my work email when I received a message from Kylie with a spreadsheet listing the different parks and schools that had requested dugouts, including how many fields for each, and whether there was space for one. Then she’d listed them in order of the ones she wanted to help first. She’d started with travel and recreation softball teams that didn’t have the same funding as the baseball teams that were supported by various organizations already.

I was impressed. The number of fields she’d visited this week must have kept her busy, and she’d compiled a useful amount of information. She was a natural at organizing things and presenting them in a manner that was easy to digest.

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