Chapter 2 #2
She tucks her hair behind her ear. She’s nervous, and I’m concerned. There’s this part of me that needs to know what happened, and why she’s home for good. This is where she belongs, preferably with me at her side, but one step at a time.
“Yeah, of course,” she’s quick to answer.
I take another step toward her. This time, I place my back to the room, hiding her from view. “Are you okay, Baylor?” My tone is gentle, willing her to open up to me.
“Yeah, you know, if okay means quitting my job in an email, packing up my life into the back of a rental car, and driving straight through the night for thirteen hours to get here. Totally okay.” She nods, her voice cracking.
I glance over my shoulder to make sure that we’re not drawing attention.
Everyone is focused on the parents-to-be, so I turn back to Baylor.
“Did he hurt you?” I ask, my voice low and threatening.
There is nowhere he can hide if he laid his hands on her.
My eyes rake over the parts that I can see, scanning for injuries.
Baylor reaches out and places her hand on my chest. Instantly, I lift my own and settle it over hers, keeping her there. “I’m okay, Macklin,” she assures me, and I feel the tension slowly start to drain from not only her words but her touch.
“You know, I climbed on the back of two-thousand-pound pissed-off bulls for a living, right? I can take him.”
That makes her laugh, and I want to pat myself on the back. “Calm down there, cowboy,” she teases. “Todd and I just grew apart. Things have been off with us for a long time. Last night—no, wait, Friday night, my days and nights are a blur right now, he showed me a side of him that I didn’t like.”
“What did he do?” I want to pull her into my arms and hold her, but I keep one hand clasped over hers, resting against my chest, and the other firmly at my side.
She shakes her head. “He didn’t hurt me.
Not like you’re thinking.” She peers up at me under long lashes, those big blue eyes willing me to believe her.
I hold her stare, and finally, she cracks.
“He had a vasectomy and didn’t tell me,” she whispers.
“I haven’t told my sisters. I didn’t want to ruin the day,” she says, her eyes flashing beside us, but I’m blocking her view.
“Fucking moron,” I mutter. Her eyes widen. “Baylor, any man who says he doesn’t want to have babies with you—” I shake my head. I can’t even finish the thought because it’s impossible.
“Thank you for saying that. The worst part is that we talked about kids and what happens in the future, but three weeks ago, he lied and said he had a business trip. Instead, he got snipped and checked into a hotel for the weekend.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. I am. I’m sorry that he hurt her. I never want that for her. Never.
She shrugs. “Finding the proof pushed me to make a choice, one I should have made years ago. We drifted apart. He became his job. I no longer had a place in his life outside of picking up after him and grabbing his dry cleaning,” she says, before her eyes widen.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to unload on you. I’m still a little salty, I guess.”
“Let it all out,” I tell her. “I can take it.”
She smiles again. “Thanks, Macklin.” She leans sideways to peer around me. “We’d better go. They’re starting gifts.” She moves her hand, which means I have to move mine to let her go.
I don’t want to release her. Not now. Not ever. But wanting and doing aren’t always the same thing, and right now, doing means letting her walk away, at least for a little while. So, I step back.
She slips past me without brushing my arm, without even a glance, like whatever just passed between us didn’t tilt my entire world a few degrees off balance. I turn anyway, because I can’t not watch her. I never could.
She finds her place beside Sophia, folding into the rhythm of the party.
She’s home where she belongs. Her laugh drifts across the room a second later, light and effortless, and it hits me square in the chest. Ellison and Copeland are up front, tearing into wrapping paper, everyone’s attention pulled toward them, but mine stays fixed on her.
It always does.
I stay rooted in my spot, lingering next to the drink table. From here, I’ve got the perfect view. I’m close enough to see the way her eyes sparkle when she’s listening to what her best friend is saying. I can see the way her smile softens when she watches Ellison and Copeland unwrap each gift.
I’m on the sidelines again.
But this time, it feels different.
Before, there was hesitation and doubt. A thousand what-ifs were stacking up until they became a wall I couldn’t climb. Until she found someone else before I found my balls and told her that she was all I could see. I never thought there would be another moment, that I’d missed my chance.
The memory sits heavy in my chest. A quiet, familiar ache, but it’s not the only thing there anymore. There’s something sharper now. Clearer.
It’s certainty.
Because this isn’t some impossible situation anymore. We’re not miles apart, living separate lives and only seeing each other in passing. We’re here. In the same town, breathing the same country air, and we’re both single.
That has to mean something.
This is my moment.
I exhale slowly, pushing myself to step away from the drink table. My heart kicks harder with each step I don’t take, like it’s daring me to move, to stop standing here like a spectator in my own life. That’s what it’s felt like. I’m always watching, waiting, and missing every chance I didn’t take.
Not this time.
Not again.
As I watch her, something settles into place so firmly it almost feels like relief.
I’m done standing back and watching the life I want.
Tired of watching the girl I want drift away.
I don’t know exactly how this is going to go.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to win her heart, but I’m a man on a mission.
The need to make her mine fuels me. Finally, my choice is undeniably clear. No doubts, and no hesitation.
I’m taking my shot.
I’m not letting her slip away again. We’re here. We’re both free. And whatever this is, whatever it’s always been, it’s time to act. I’ll show her what she means to me. I’ll make her fall in love with me. I’ll give her as many babies as she wants. I’ll give her everything I am.
I want Baylor Moran.
And it’s finally time that I do something about it.
The thought settles deep in my bones, like a promise to myself. No more room for doubts. No more watching another man have all her attention. I’ve wasted enough time pretending this is something I can control, something I can outrun.
It isn’t. It never was.
She’s it for me. She always has been.
And this time, I’m not hesitating. I’m not waiting for the perfect moment.
I’m taking the risk, taking the leap of faith, and damn the consequences.
Because if I lose her this time, if I can’t make her fall in love with me, at least I’ll know I didn’t lose her by sitting idle and not taking my shot.