Chapter 6 #2
I nod, setting my plate and glass on the table before sitting down.
I make sure I have her attention before I answer.
“You don’t know yet, but the CliffsNotes are that you…
here with me like this… is something I’ve wanted for a long damn time, Baylor.
You can bet your sweet ass that now that I have my shot, I’m not holding anything back.
I want you to know what life with me will be like. ”
“Life with you,” she muses.
I nod. “Let’s eat, and I’ll tell you everything.” Reaching over, I place my hand on top of hers. “Thank you for coming tonight, for giving me this chance to tell you where my head is at.”
“I’ll admit, I’m intrigued about this story you keep alluding to, but also, this is catching me off guard. There’s never been a time in my life that I ever thought you were interested in me, and now, I’m home, and this…” Her voice trails off.
“I know. I also know I came on strong today, and I’m hoping you’ll understand more after we eat.” I nod toward her plate. “It’s getting cold.”
“Bossy,” she mutters.
Instead of replying, I smirk and dig into my meal. We eat in silence for a few minutes, nothing but the low hum of the speaker in the kitchen and forks against plates. “How are things at the inn?” I ask her.
She looks up from her plate, a look of surprise on her face.
“Oh, um, good. Ellie complains about the books, but she’s great at it.
They were all caught up, so there’s not a whole lot for me to do during the day.
I know when Ellie has the baby, I’ll take over some of her management tasks, but after that, I’m not really sure they need me full-time. ”
“Is that what you want? Working at the inn full-time?”
She shrugs. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve loved being back, being with my sisters again, but I don’t want to get paid to work a few hours a day, and then have nothing.”
“What about doing what Leighton does? Work for the inn and do some freelance work for other businesses in town. I know you could help out here with my business, and I’m sure that Bowen and Copeland would be willing to hire you, as well.”
“Yeah?” she asks, her eyes lighting up with interest. “I guess I haven’t thought too far ahead.
I’m just jumping back in, letting Ellison catch me up on what needs to be done while she’s on leave, and then I’ll go from there,” she says, pushing her plate away.
“I can’t eat another bite. That was delicious. ”
“I have ice cream sundaes… well, the makings for sundaes for dessert,” I tell her.
“Really?” she asks, then groans. “Let this settle first, then maybe.” She grins. “I love ice cream.”
I nod, because I know she does. She starts to stand to clear the table. “Leave it.” I stand and offer her my hand, which she takes. I lace her fingers through mine and lead us to the living room, nodding toward the couch. “Have a seat. You need anything else to drink right now?”
“No, I’m good. Thank you. I would like to hear this story you’ve been teasing.”
I chuckle lightly. “It’s a good one. Starts out sad, but I’m hopeful the ending will be a happily ever after,” I tell her, and her eyes soften, but she doesn’t comment.
She pulls her legs under her on the couch and wraps her arms around herself as if she’s protecting herself from my words.
Jumping from the couch, I move to the hall closet and grab a blanket.
It’s soft and fuzzy and something my mom said I should have on hand if I ever entertained a lady friend.
I remember thinking even then, three years ago, when she gave it to me, that the only lady friend that would ever snuggle with this blanket would be Baylor, and well, here we are.
Rushing back to the couch, I shake out the blanket from its fold and lay it over her lap.
That earns me a heartwarming smile as she snuggles beneath it.
This time, when I sit, I’m a little closer than before.
I take a minute to gather my thoughts before I start spilling my truths, laying myself bare for her.
“I can clearly remember the day I noticed you were no longer just Ellison’s little sister.
” I smile as I think about it. It’s been twelve years since the day that set this need that I have for Baylor Moran into orbit.
“It was your high school graduation. You wore that white lace dress, sleeveless, hitting just above your knee. Your hair was pulled back on the top, and that day, you took my breath away.”
My hands ache to reach for her, but I keep them in my lap.
“You were just eighteen. I was twenty-three, already living the rodeo circuit life. I knew you had big dreams of going to college, and I wanted that for you. At the time, I thought it was just me noticing that you’d grown up, but every time I would see you again, that same feeling of needing to be near you would wash over me.
By your junior year of college, I was planning my life around knowing when you would be back in Magnolia Ridge.
Spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the other times I’d learn you were coming home, I did whatever I had to do to be here and make sure I got to see you.
My family thought I was making an effort to come home more, and I let them believe that.
Sometimes, I’d barely be home for twelve hours before I had to leave again to ride, but to me, it was worth it to get to see you. ”
“Macklin.” She breathes my name, her eyes wide with disbelief, but the story’s not over yet.
“Being a bull rider is hard on your body, as one might guess.” I chuckle.
“I told everyone I was considering retiring, and I was, but not only because of how hard the sport was on my body. That was a part of it, but the biggest reason was that I thought that you and I were finally going to be in the same place at the same time. You’d finished your degree, and I thought it was our time.
Hoped it was our time, was more like it.
” I clear my throat but keep going. “Suddenly, you were twenty-two, and I was twenty-seven, and the five-year age gap didn’t seem as insurmountable as it had before.
No more balancing act to make our schedules line up, no more missing you from a distance… ” I say, my voice trailing off.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispers.
“There’s more,” I tell her, taking a deep breath and starting again.
“I was home for your graduation party, and I was working up the nerve to ask you out. I can still see you that day, too,” I tell her.
“Brown sundress, brown cowboy boots, your hair braided down your back. You took my breath away and had my nerves kicked into overdrive, but I was used to that where you were concerned. Before I had my chance to even suggest dinner, you dropped the bomb that you were moving to New York.”
Baylor’s eyes are locked on mine as she hangs on every word.
She doesn’t try to speak, and I’m grateful.
I wasn’t ready for how telling her all of this, confessing to her that she’s who I’ve always wanted, would slice open my chest. It’s painful yet cathartic at the same time, but I’m almost done, so I need to keep going.
“I stayed on the circuit three more years before deciding my body had had enough. I’d had enough.
I knew fuck all about living in a big city full-time, but I was hanging up my spurs and heading to New York.
” She gasps, and I smile. “I was going to get my girl, but then you came home to visit. I remember the exhilaration that I was finally going to do it. I was going to tell you that I’d wanted you for years, and I was going back with you.
I didn’t know what I would do for work. I was too young to retire altogether, but I knew nothing was going to keep me away from you.
Well, nothing until you came home with him—Todd, your new boyfriend.
And for the second time, my plans that were so thoughtfully constructed were pulverized to dust.”
Closing my eyes, I focus on pulling in a deep breath and slowly exhaling. When I open my eyes, they lock on hers. “Five years ago, I hung up my spurs for good. Five years ago, I had a plan, one that I’d pushed back many times, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. Five years ago, I met Todd.”
Silence settles between us, thick and heavy.
I clasp my hands together in my lap to keep from reaching for her.
Her facial expression isn’t giving her away, and I’d give anything to be able to read her thoughts in this moment.
I know that I have my work cut out for me.
I know that, while I’ve yearned for her for years, this is new for her.
But I’ll be damned if I pass up my chance with this woman another time.
I’m all in. With everything I am, I’m going to show her that, and if it’s not enough, well, at least I’ll know I didn’t leave anything on the table.