Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cheyenne
If Naomi thought it was strange for me to come to family dinner, she didn’t let on. She acted like it was the most normal thing in the world for me to be there and didn’t ask a single question about any potential change in my relationship with Rhett.
But a new softness in her eyes when she looked at me made me think she knew anyway.
It made me nervous, because if she knew, she’d eventually tell Walker. Who knew what would happen then?
Rhett cared about me. Maybe even loved me. But he had loved me before and he had still left. For all his good qualities, the man was not great at handling pressure. A relationship was apparently high pressure for him. And if Walker added more?
It could be game over.
When Rhett left the first time, I felt like it might break me. And in some ways, it had. I could see now though that it had broken me in a way that helped me build back, create something new. I was stronger because of all of it. So I tried to tell myself that, even if he left again, things would be okay. It would hurt, but I would rebuild. I would get stronger. I would become something new.
None of this felt reassuring in the least.
Rhett took his time coming back to the main house, so I lingered with the others, helping Naomi wash dishes and clean up. It was nice in a way that warmed my heart and made me think of holiday movies, where the scene was lit with a warm glow and the kitchen was filled with people who loved each other and were happy to be together. Family . It was something I had only really had here with the Hawkins crew, and tonight it felt like I fit in a way I hadn’t since Rhett had left.
It was lovely and addictive, which made it dangerous.
Naomi nudged me as I dried our plates and put them away in the cabinet. “What are you thinking about over there? Seems like you’re miles away tonight.”
“Oh.” I gave her a faint smile, then glanced toward the door. “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since Rhett left, hasn’t it? I wonder if we should go check on him.”
“I’m sure he and Travis are still talking,” she said, waving me off.
“We’re done now.” Rhett’s deep voice came from behind me. Heat pooled in my belly and my heart fluttered, even as I felt instantly more grounded, more… home.
I turned and smiled at him. “How did it go?”
His face was serious. “Good. But I’m pretty tired. Ready to go?”
“Sure.” I dropped the towel I was using to dry and gave Naomi a quick smile. “I’ll take the patient home and let him get some rest.”
“Good idea.” She was clearly fighting back a smile.
I blushed, feeling entirely too seen.
After quick hugs with Claire and Beth, I followed Rhett to the door. He held it open for me, putting a hand on my lower back as he guided me outside. The moment the crisp night air hit my skin, I took a deep breath, feeling like I’d been underwater for hours and could finally breathe.
“Did you have fun?” he asked, glancing at me like he was as nervous as I’d felt earlier.
“I did,” I admitted. “I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I enjoyed it.”
“Felt like old times.”
“Yes.”
“Only better.”
“Better?”
“Yeah. Better.” He opened my truck door for me and brushed a hand along my hip as I got in. Then his lips found mine as he snuck a heated kiss in the dark that left me breathless before going around to his side.
“Why is it better?” I asked when he climbed into the truck.
“Because I know who I am now, and I don’t have that dark cloud hanging over me, knowing that the end is coming.”
“Did you always feel that dark cloud?” I looked over at him, curious. This was the first time I’d heard about that, and it surprised me. He’d always been so carefree as a teen. Sometimes moody, sure, but I’d never thought of him as dwelling underneath a dark storm cloud.
“I always felt this tension,” he admitted. “I knew I was going to leave, and it always colored over everything.”
“You always knew?”
“Yeah.”
That was news to me, too, although it shouldn’t have been. He’d always talked about going new places, seeing new things. But back then, I’d always thought it was the same as when I dreamed up a million dreams that I knew were completely unrealistic. Dreaming was fun, but I’d always assumed that, deep down, he was as grounded to this place as I was—which was why it had shaken me to the core when he ripped those roots out of the ground and left without looking back.
It made me realize I hadn’t known him quite as well as I’d thought back then.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Rhett commented as I pulled into my drive.
“Sorry,” I said, sighing. I threw the truck into park and leaned my head back on the headrest.
Rhett hopped out and came around to open my door, but he didn’t move for me to get out. He put one hand on the steering wheel and another on the headrest, essentially trapping me.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his tone demanding. “Did someone say something while I was with Travis?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I’m just tired,” I said, gently pushing him away so I could hop down.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
He shook his head. “No secrets. I know we just got back together, but you know as well as I do that relationships don’t work without communication.”
I crossed my arms. “Is that what this is? A relationship?”
He jerked his head back like he’d been bitten. “Damn right it is. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Tears sprang to my eyes. “I’m happy—that’s what.”
“You’re … happy.” The look on his face was utter confusion.
“Yes.” I turned on my heel and started walking to the doorway.
He walked behind me, muttering, “Could’ve fooled me with that attitude.”
“You don’t get it.”
“You’re right. I don’t. How can I if you won’t explain it to me?”
I sank down onto the steps of the porch instead of going into the house. “Have you even thought about what’s going to happen if we break up again?”
“Nope.” He put his hands in his pockets and gave me an exasperated look.
I shook my head. “Of course you haven’t. Because for you, nothing will really change, right? But for me, it affects my whole world. My job.” My family.
He sat down beside me, looking as if he was trying to exercise patience. “What do you mean?”
“You left. Gran died. I had nobody here. I was nineteen years old, living alone in a log cabin in Wyoming, a thousand miles from my closest family member—not that she would have filled the void anyway.”
He put his hand on my back, stroking up and down my spine. “I’m sorry.”
“Claire was my family. Travis was my family. They checked on me, helped me put together a plan. Your mom always kept the door open, even offered me a cabin so I didn’t have to stay here alone.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said softly.
I shook my head. “I turned her down. Couldn’t bear to be on the ranch the first couple of years. But the point is, your family has been my family, too. Without them, I have Alma and Sam and that’s about it. And I love my job at the ranch.”
“I’m not seeing the problem,” he confessed. “Doesn’t it work out nicely that you get along so well with my family?”
“ Your family. That’s the point.” I swallowed hard. “They were there for me, but it didn’t require them to split loyalties, you know? You weren’t around. But you’re putting down roots here again. If things end between us, it will be different this time. I’ll be the outsider.”
Rhett chuckled. “Whatever.”
“This is serious.”
He shook his head. “You’re getting all worked up over nothing. That’s not like you, Cheyenne.”
“It isn’t ‘nothing.’ You don’t know what it’s like to be alone.”
“Sure I do. It just doesn’t bother me.” He shrugged. “But why are you even worried about this? If you decide to break things off with me, I’m sure they’ll understand. They all know you’re too good for me anyway. But as far as I go? I’m in this. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s what you think now,” I said quietly, staring at the ground. “But what if Walker starts putting pressure on you again?”
“Is that what this is about? My dad?”
“How did today go with him?” I searched his face, looking for signs of stress.
“It went great, actually. He was glad for the company. Plus, I took over a hundred off him in poker, so that was fun.” He grinned. “Want to blow it all somewhere crazy with me?”
I couldn’t help but smile as a little of the tension I’d been carrying melted away. Rhett’s confidence was reassuring. “Yeah. I do.”
He leaned in for a soft kiss, his lips brushing mine in a way that made me ache for more. But he pulled away, whispering in my ear. “Maybe we should take it to Vegas. Mom will be pissed we didn’t give her a wedding here, but how fun would it be to surprise them all with a ring on your finger?”
I pulled away. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“Who says I didn’t mean it?”
I forced an awkward smile before standing and brushing off my jeans. “We should go inside.”
“Wait.” His powerful voice stopped me in my tracks. “If you don’t want to go to Vegas, that’s fine. Hell, if you don’t want to marry me at all, that’s fine, too. I’m not the kind of man who’s going to pressure you into something you don’t want. But don’t blow it off like I didn’t mean it.”
“You’re being silly,” I said.
“No.” He stood, walking toward me. “I’m not. See, I think you’re still convinced I’m going to run the first chance I get. The first little sign of pressure, the first fight, the first time I get a wild hair. Isn’t that right? That’s what you think of me.”
I crossed my arms again. He was right, but wasn’t that fair? He’d never given me a reason to think otherwise.
Anger flared in his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Got it? I’m not a kid anymore. I know how to handle pressure, how to stand up for what I want. And I want you. We were always meant to be together. You know it. I know it. My family knows it. So I’m making you a promise. I’m in this. As long as you want me, I’m here.”
Hope and love flooded my heart, but I cut it off. I shook my head and turned to move into the house. “We barely know each other. You can’t make a promise like that yet. It’s too early.”
He spun me around and forced me to look at him. “Yeah, I can. Cheyenne, when I make a promise, I damn well keep it. I’m not your father. He broke his promises to you. I didn’t, because I never made you one back then. Remember that? But I’m making you one now.”
“Don’t,” I whispered, trying to take a step backward.
“You don’t get to decide what I promise,” he said, stepping with me and refusing to back down. “You can make your own choices. But I get to make mine.”
“This is crazy.”
“I’m not asking you to promise me anything in return. But I’m promising you. Cheyenne, I love you. And I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. If you’ll let me, I want to wake up with you every morning. Want to go to bed holding you every night. I want everything you’ll give me. But that will be up to you.”
I searched his face and saw he meant every word. And he was right. He’d never made me a promise he hadn’t kept.
Rhett Hawkins was a wild soul. But he was also a man of his word.
I opened my mouth to tell him I wanted that too, but words I never meant to say tumbled out of my mouth instead. “Alma told me I should settle down with someone like Pete. Someone loyal, kind, and sweet.”
He frowned. “Am I not loyal, kind, and sweet?”
“You are,” I said, nodding. “That’s the thing. You’re all of those things. But you’re not like Pete.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not.”
“Pete’s a golden retriever. You’re a wolf.”
He smirked. “Which do you prefer?”
“I think you know.”