Page 69 of Rancher's Heart

“He loves you man, and trust me, as a father, it’s not easy to see my son with another dad figure, but I’m glad he has you when I can’t be around.”

“Hey, Troy, you’re welcome here whenever. We’re a misfit group that managed to make some sort of family situation here and we’re more than happy to have new people around. And I won’t be working horses for a while, so if you’ve got time, I can put you to work.”

“That sounds good. We’ll talk in a few days.” He nodded and left my room.

Hours passed and I drifted in and out of sleep. Mom came and went checking on me. Dad sat doing his crossword puzzle, but it hadn’t ever been Elle.

A soft thud pulled me out of the haze I was in, and I watched Elle move around the room cleaning things up and making sure she had everything she needed for my dressing tomorrow. As she turned, she caught my eye and froze. “You’re awake,” she said softly. “I hope I wasn’t being too loud.” She set down the gauze in her hands and moved to stand beside my bed.

“No. You hardly made any sound at all. Are you going to come lay down?” I asked as I turned my head to see her pillow and book that always sat on the nightstand were gone.

“No, you need to get your rest, and that doesn’t happen when I sleep next to you, so I moved back into my old room.” She didn’t look at me as she spoke, and I was sure the spot on the floor would start smoldering from her staring at it.

“Troy’s going to come over and start working with some horses until I’m up and around. Just because I’m hurt doesn’t mean things here stop.” I was hoping she could read between the lines and see I was meaning us.

“That’s good. It will be nice to have Parker around, even if he isn’t staying here right now.” I saw the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile. As I stared at her, I saw how pale she looked, and her face was gaunt.

“Are you eating enough?”

“Yeah, your mom’s making sure I eat.” Elle bit the corner of her mouth, and I wanted so badly to hop out of this bed and pull her into my arms.

“Good. We need to discuss a few things, I think.”

“Not right now, Griff, let’s just worry about getting you better. Then we can deal with things.” She finally looked up at me, and I saw tears in her eyes. “I’m going to head to bed. I’ll talk to you in the morning. If you need anything, just shoot me a text. I’ve set up a walkie-talkie app on your phone so you can control it with one hand, and you can talk right to me.”

“You better not walk out that door without kissing me, or I will follow you down the hall.” Shifting, I tried to sit up a little straighter, but my broken ribs made me groan with the movement.

“Stay where you are, silly man.” She moved to my side leaning over and kissed me. Her lips were like medicine and I forgot that I was in pain. Reaching up, I cupped the back of her head and held her to me, dragging my tongue along her lips so she’d open her mouth. My heart fluttered when she did, and I swooped in and brushed my tongue along hers. It was the mostintimate thing we’d done since the day of the fire, and I missed her. I missed the woman she was before she brought me back to life.

Elle pulled away and smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll be down the hall.” She didn’t turn around when she left the room, and I missed the smile I’d come to love.

CHAPTER 37

ELLE

Sleep hadn’t come easy, and I wasn’t even sure when I’d allowed myself to drift off into sleep. It was the first time in a week I’d spent this much time away from Griff, and it felt strange not being at his side.

Getting up, I longed for a cup of coffee, and I instantly had the warm scent roll through my nose when I opened the door. “Good morning dear.” Griff’s mom said with a smile as she held a mug to me.

“Thank you, good morning. How did you sleep.”

“Much better than I have been. Why don’t you go sit on the porch and drink that while I whip up some pancakes? Griff always asked for them when he wasn’t feeling good, and when I peeked in on him a bit ago, he asked for them.” She shooed me out of the house and I looked over to where the barn had stood and to the spot on the ground where I’d pulled Griff, and I could see myself on my knees fighting for him.

“It’s never going to go away.” A voice from the porch swing said softly.

“Why are you out of bed?” I didn’t turn because I couldn’t take my eyes off that spot.

“I’ve been in bed for a week, and if I’m going to lay in bed for that long, you better be naked beside me. So, really it’s your fault I’m out here.” The hint of laughter in his voice made my nerves settle, and I turned to look at him.

He looked rested, and his color was returning. Walking slowly, I sat beside him. This time I was on his good side, so he wrapped his arm around me. With a deep sigh, I watched him close his eyes. “Now the world’s right again.” He tightened his hold on me, and I was going to tell him to be careful, but for once in my life, I chose not to be the nagging nurse.

“You know nothing is going to change what happened over there. Not a new barn, not if I pave over the entire yard, and not if we move. It happened, Elle. You’ll see it when you close your eyes, you’ll see it every time I take my shirt off, and you see my scars, and every time you look into my eyes, you’ll see how grateful I am that you gave me my life.” He buried his nose in my hair, and I knew he was right.

“I’m not supposed to do that to people I know. Ten years Griff, I’ve never looked after someone I know, much less someone I was in love with. The father of my baby. I would have worked on you until my heart stopped.” Tears flowed down my face. “I’ve been so closed off since my divorce, and I didn’t want that kind of heartbreak again, but as you lay there motionless and gone, I knew I wouldn’t be able to let you go because you’d made me live again.” Using my sleeve, I wiped at my face, and I sniffled.

“When I have to do that at work, I make sure I close off all feeling because I can’t do my job if I’m a blubbering mess while I do CPR, but all I could do was feel while I was working on you. My heart shattered into a million pieces, and if I hadn’t been able to save you, I don’t know how I would have lived with myself.”

“How do you live with it at work?”

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