Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
“He loves you. After all these years he never found anyone else, and neither did you.”
“I tried.”
“You did, but Tyler saw through the façade and figured out what I’ve always known. You’re in love—you’ve always been in love—with someone else.”
I close the magazine and trail my finger over the model on the glossy cover. Models always look so sullen these days. She looks how I feel.
“I am,” I admit. “Being with him again was everything. But Grady is also everything, and I… I took fourteen years of Grady away from him, and I can’t give him another child. He deserves to be there for the birth of a child, to carry him or her around on his shoulders, to teach a kid how to dribble a basketball. To ride a horse.” I close my eyes. “He would have been a great dad.”
“He’ll be a great dad. To Grady. And for God’s sake, Avery, if he wants more children, the two of you can adopt.”
My phone buzzes then. “It’s Jarvis. I should take this.”
“On a Saturday?”
“The FBI waits for no one.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Jarvis.”
“Hey, Marsh. How’s Grady?”
“Home and on the mend. He’ll be annoying me within a few hours, bored.”
“I guess then you haven’t you checked your email?”
“Not yet.”
“We’ve got a new assignment. In Dallas. We leave Monday morning.”
Dallas? “I can’t do it. Grady needs me.”
“I thought you brought him home today.”
“I did. But…”
He’s healing well, and Mom is here. Maybe a new assignment is just what I need.
“All right. I guess I’ll see you at the airport Monday.” I end the call.
“The airport on Monday?” Mom asks.
“Assignment in Dallas.”
“Another? So soon? You sure it’s the best time?”
I sigh. I’m not sure of anything anymore.
My mother gets into my face then. She doesn’t play the mom card a lot, but I see it coming.
“You listen to me, Avery Lee Marsh. You are getting on a plane to Montana tomorrow morning. You’re going to Bayfield, and you’re going to tell Chance you love him.”
“Mom—”
“No buts. I had a hand in separating you two all those years ago, and damn it, I’m not going to sit idly by and let you give up on this second chance. Grady’s in good hands with me.”
“I know that, Mom. But…”
“What did I just say? You’re taking a decision away from Chance. The decision to be with you even if you can’t give him more children. I had a hand in keeping him from Grady, and I won’t let this happen a second time. Let him decide, Avery. You tell him you love him, and you let him decide.”
30
CHANCE
* * *
“Fuck, man, I can’t feel my shoulders.”
Miles stands in the barn, sweat dripping down his brow. His shirt is as soaked as mine. He rubs a shoulder and winces.
“Yeah, I can’t throw any more bales of hay. Fuck, you make me feel old.”
Austin’s right there with him, grumbling about today’s chores.
We flew back from Arizona late last night. There was no reason to linger. With Austin as our pilot, all we had to do was log a flight plan and we were out of there.
Miles and Austin weren’t happy with me leaving.
I wasn’t happy in general.
So to numb my mind in work, I chose stacking hay bales as our task.
It’s hard work, but it needs to be under cover so it doesn’t mold and rot. So now there’s stacks of it in the barn for the animals.
“Whatever,” I say, grabbing another bale and tossing it up onto the stack. Loose bits of hay fly through the air.
Miles sneezes.
“Look. I didn’t take you for a masochist,” Miles says.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You left your family in Arizona. Why the hell would you do that?” he pushes.
“Then you want to toss hay bales as penance?” Austin adds.
“These need to be stored for the winter. It’s not like I’m looking for shit jobs to do.”
“Really? We can fix the porch railing that Louisa’s been telling us about.”
Austin has a point.
“Or we can have one of our hands do all this shit, like normal ranchers,” Miles says.
“I don’t want to think. I don’t want to feel,” I admit.
“Well, I’m feeling.” Miles winces. “I feel my shoulders and lats fucking screaming.”
“Sadie will make it all better with a massage,” I tell Miles. “Quit your grumbling.”
Miles raises his hands. “No. You quit yours. You want to blow up your life, fine. But I’m not suffering for it.”
“I didn’t blow up my life!” I yell. “My father did when he paid off Avery’s mom. Avery did when she didn’t tell me she was having my baby. When she kept it from me this past week when she was here. I was fucking her and she didn’t tell me!”
Austin and Miles stand there and stare, wide-eyed. Yeah, I hulked out.