Page 11 of Cowboy's Healing Heart

But Shane’s words echo in my head. …that doesn’t mean you always have to do everything alone.

They stir up feelings I’ve long since buried—longing, hope, the desire for connection. Dangerous feelings that I can’t afford to indulge in.

Ashanti must adjust to a room full of her peers. I must adjust in a room full of men.

No one’s rolling out the red carpet, befriending me, asking me to hang out after work.

No. I do this alone because I must. And since I must, there’s no sense in wallowing.

It is what it is.

I shake it off. The feelings and Shane’s words.

He’s wrong. Being alone is safer.

For me and for Ashanti.

It’s the only way I know to protect us, to keep the life we’ve built from crumbling.

I picture tiny versions of myself, like worker bees, laboring inside my body. They climb over each other, carrying slabs of titanium and tools, constructing a wall no man can scale, all to keep my heart untouched and unscathed.

A wall that keeps butterflies, attraction, andpassionout.

Those amigos aren’t on the menu—not for me, not anymore.

I learned that lesson the hard way with Jordan. Opening my heart again would only put Ashanti at risk, and that’s a chance I won’t take.

As I reach the cabin, I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the conversation ahead with my daughter. The porch creaks under my weight as I climb the steps. I can see Ashanti curled up on the couch through the window, her face buried in a book.

For a moment, she looks like the little girl I remember—sweet, innocent. Then she glances up, her eyes meeting mine, and I see the walls go up.

The same walls I’ve taught her to build.

I pause, my hand on the doorknob. Shane’s words come back to me, unbidden.

…that doesn’t mean you always have to do everything alone.

Maybe... he’s not entirely wrong. Maybe there’s a middle ground between letting people in and shutting them out completely.

But that’s a thought for another day.

Right now, my daughter needs me.

I open the door, stepping into the warmth of our cabin—our home.

This is all we got. The two of us.

And for now, that has to be enough.

THREE

NINJA MOVES

SHANE

I wipethe sweat from my brow, squinting against the late afternoon sun. The tractor’s engine hums beneath my hands, a steady rhythm that almost drowns out the chaos in my head.

Almost.

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