Epilogue
epilogue
EIGHT YEARS LATER
S ummer in Montana was breathtaking. Even at nine p.m., there was still a sliver of sunlight left before the sky turned into a canvas of pinks, purples, oranges, and blues.
Colter, Reid, Ellison, and I sat around the fire pit at Reid and my house just outside of Goldfinch. We’d moved here a few years ago from Silver Creek as our daughter, Stella Raine, was starting preschool. Colter and Ellison had also moved a couple years before us, bringing most of their cattle out of Silver Creek onto their new land in Goldfinch. They’d left some head back at the Carson family ranch, though.
Stella was a bundle of light and energy and constantly kept us on our toes. She loved learning, and we loved learning alongside her how to be good parents.
We grew a lot in the time Reid and I were trying to make a long-distance relationship work. And those years we spent apart weren’t easy. We had our share of ups and downs, but it just made everything else worth it. It was a reminder that even the roughest of storms and the bumpiest of roads passed.
He proposed to me on a clear summer night, underneath a sky painted with stars. I didn’t suspect a single thing, which was a surprise to both of us, but it was truly everything I had dreamed of and more.
Reid told me once he’d always believed love was about giving one hundred percent all the time. And if he couldn’t give his absolute best, he wouldn’t be a good boyfriend, a good husband.
But the truth was, love was a team effort. It just meant sometimes you had to give up your last ten percent to fill their ninety.
I’d be his ten percent any day.
I twirled the wedding band on my finger as I watched our daughter squeal and chase Colter and Ellison’s six-year-old son around the yard, her wild, blonde curls bouncing with every step. They also had a two-year-old daughter, but she was asleep in Colter’s arms.
It was probably too late for the kids to still be up, but it was summer and they had the rest of their childhood to go to bed early.
Reid and Colter were still part of the PRCA and had won several World Championships. Their fourth win was shortly after our daughter was born. She was still really young, so I hadn’t wanted to take her with me to Las Vegas, but I’d watched from home and we’d had a big celebration when they came back. I still remembered it like it was yesterday.
“Shh,” I hushed everyone who had gathered in our small kitchen.
Caitlin and Clay had driven to Silver Creek to surprise Colter and Reid. Kacey, Ryker, and even Cooper were here, and Mikey, Jake, and Hayden were all in on the plan too. They were the ones who would convince Colter to come hang out tonight.
“I see their headlights. Everyone get into position!”
We all moved into our hiding spots, and when the door creaked open and Reid flicked on the light, we all jumped out.
“Surprise!”
He jumped, looking a bit taken aback. “What is this all for?”
“We wanted to throw you a congratulatory party, since we weren’t all able to be in Las Vegas,” I explained.
“You didn’t have to do that.” He cupped my cheek as he leaned in for a kiss.
“You know I’d do a whole lot more for you.”
Later, after we’d all finished eating dinner, I raised up my champagne flute, a sight reminiscent of Colter and Ellison’s wedding. “I’d like to make a toast, so if everyone could raise their glasses.” I looked at Reid and smiled.
He raised his glass as Colter, Ellison, Mikey, Jake, and Hayden followed.
“Here’s to the friends who stick together through thick and thin and to the four-time world champions.” I winked at Reid, knowing he wouldn’t want to be the complete center of attention. “And here’s to taking chances.”
“To taking chances,” Reid repeated as we exchanged a knowing look.
It was, after all, the chances we took that led us here. Reid wouldn’t have a growing relationship with his mother again without giving her another chance, and without taking the first step to extend that olive branch. And I wouldn’t have him .
Eileen had been in our lives for the past few years. It did take some time for Reid to trust her again, but I genuinely believed she was redeeming herself with the way she carried herself around Stella. She’d stayed sober and was repairing the relationship with all her children, day by day.
“And to love!” Jake called out, and the guys all laughed, clearly remembering some inside joke.
“To love!” we all repeated.
“Momma, I’m tired.” I looked down into honey-colored eyes, the same eyes I’d fallen in love with a decade ago and continued to fall in love with ever since our daughter was born.
“Okay, sweetheart, let’s get you to bed.” I picked her up, carrying her in my arms into our farm-style home.
I flicked on the light switch, the entryway flooding with soft light as I walked into her room and laid her down on her fluffy bed.
“I love you, Momma,” she murmured, sleep overtaking her.
“I love you too, Stella girl.” I kissed her on the forehead, before tucking her in and looking up at the tiny plastic stars dotting the ceiling.
“What are you reading?” Reid looked over my shoulder at the half-finished document on my laptop before leaving a sloppy kiss on my cheek.
“You know what I’m reading, weirdo.” For the past year, I had been working on my own writing, thinking back to the book I’d picked up at the store I worked at—the one about friends turned into lovers who took a chance on each other.
The hopeless romantic in me never left; if anything, being with Reid made me more of a romantic, just a hopeful one.
“My character better not be a complete headcase,” he joked. Reid was the one who had encouraged me to write. To use my creativity to help other people feel seen and be as optimistic as I was. He pushed me to be better every day, especially on the days where I wanted to give up.
“We’ll see, Cowboy,” I replied with a smile.
“Don’t stay up too late.” With that, he gave me a kiss and disappeared into our bedroom.
I continued to write, pouring my heart out onto the pages. It was effortless, like breathing.
But the story was simple.
Because that was us.
Our life was perfectly simple—honest. We didn’t have anything super fancy, but it was more than enough. Reid and Stella were what my world spun around, and even if I was just a tiny speck of dust in their universe, I still had everything I needed and more.