Page 91 of Sunshine

He sets me back down and says, “I was in West Virginia for a rodeo, and I just couldn’t get on the plane home knowing I was only a few hundred miles from you.” He looks past me into my dorm room and grins. “I figured if I made it in time, I could help you pack and fly home with you. Your roommate heard me ask the guard where I could find you and sent me up.”

My heart nearly explodes. Wells has texted me every day since dropping me off at the airport in Texas, mostly to check in and see how I’m doing. To remind me that, even through the distance, he’s there. That he’s in my corner. It took me weeks before I finally started responding, after a few sessions with Anika when I’d finally begun to shed some of the guilt and shame I’d been carrying.

Since then, we’ve kept the conversation light. He sends me little updates on the horses and his family, and the occasional picture of things that remind him of me: a gorgeous sunrise over the ranch’s quiet pasture, a glimpse of the river under the trees. Two and a half months ago, he was officially sponsored by a boot brand based in Texas that saw him compete at the rodeo in Dallas, and for the last several weeks he’s been traveling in the professional rodeo circuit, competing in dozens of states. Our texts have been a little more infrequent as he travels, but he never misses a day.

“I’ve been counting down the hours to get back home to you,” I admit as a tear falls from my jaw.

He wipes away my tears with his thumbs, both handscupped warmly around my face. “I’ve been looking forward to this since the day you left, Layla. Watching you walk away from me almost killed me.” The confession splinters through the ache in my chest. I almost forgot what it’s like to be at the center of his attention. The way heseesme in a way that feels real.

It’s always felt so real.

“Is it okay that I’m here?” he asks, the line between his brow deepening. And it’s one of my favorite things about him—how he’s so eager to prioritize me. My needs. My emotions.

I give him a watery smile. So much has changed in the last four months and it’s overwhelming that he’s in front of me right now—but I’ve never been more sure about what I want. If I can hold fast to the grace and honor I’m showing myself, to this tender and honest thing of light blooming between us, I might somehow manage to have it all.

There’s a sudden, burning need in my chest to tell him the words that I hope will smooth out the lines on his face.

“Wells,” I breathe. “I—I have to show you something.” I pull him in through the door, then turn to search for the paper from Professor Zhang. I find it on my desk and pick it up, handing it to him.

He takes it from me, mouth twisting, and reads.

“I’ve transferred my program,” I explain. “Starting next year, I’ll be enrolled in the online campus.”

Wells looks up at me, brow dipping. “You won’t be here?” he asks. “In New York?” I shake my head, smiling. But he still looks concerned. “Then . . . where will you be?”

I laugh. “Wherever you are, I hope.”

The look on his face quickly morphs into disbelief. “With me?” he asks, his voice quiet.

I nod. “I know what I want, Wells. And it’s you. It’s the ranch and the rodeo, the horses . . . I want to be a part of it. I’ve started taking photos again. I want to build a brand for the ranch and showcase what your family is doing. Try to help bring in more resources. It’s time people start understanding all the good you Bennetts do. I could travel with you to rodeos, or wait for you at home and help your brothers with the horses. I just . . .” I pause, nerves rolling through me at the look on his face, like he’s frozen, with no indication of whether his feelings are good or bad.

“You brought me back to life, Wells. I was at my lowest point, and you were right there to lift me back up.Youare where my heart belongs, where my home is. And I don’t want to live for another moment without you knowing that I love you, too.”

“Goddammit, Layla,” he says quietly. Tears fill his eyes, and he wipes his hand over his face. And then his smile is so bright it catches fire in my heart.

I already can’t wait for another.

“Are yousurethis is what you want?” he asks, his voice still laced with uncertainty.

If we do this, it’s going to mean something to me.

I need you to be sure.

I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest. He snakes an arm around my back, winds his fingers through my hair. “Yes,” I tell him. “I just needed time to heal some of my wounds. But I knew you’d be the one I wanted in the end.” I reach to press a kiss to his lips and smile. “Take me home, Wells.”

EPILOGUE

Ilook up from my textbook, squinting against a beam of sunlight that bends through the orange and yellow autumn leaves to watch Wells twist his body in tandem with the bucking horse beneath him. He’s a new one, a large black mustang dropped off from somewhere in the Mojave Desert a couple of days ago, and he’s got the willpower and strength of an entire herd. “How are you doing?” I call out.

Wells’s face is tight in careful concentration as the horse bucks from the middle of the river. Water flows downstream, lapping along the expanse of his body, but the horse keeps bucking despite the resistance. Wells braves a look at me, a wild grin flashing on his face. “Good!” he yells back. “He’s starting to tire out.”

He’s so handsome it steals my breath. I laugh, heart beaming, and turn back to my textbook. It’s an afternoon spent like so many others—quiet and slow as he works with the horsesand I work through my assignments. We’ve managed to figure out how to make it all possible while still spending most days together. When I’m not studying or navigating homework, I’m back to doing the things I used to do on the ranch: feeding, grooming, tacking, and other everyday chores. I even took charge of an orphaned filly that was dropped off during the summer.

It turns out I’m more of a country girl than I ever cared to admit—but I want to admit it now because being home with Wells iseverything. Spending each day working alongside him and his brothers, knowing the impact they have on at-risk horses, has been fulfilling in a way I was never sure anything could be.

Years ago, I sat and watched Kasey try to break Stardust from her wild instincts. For years after, I watched Wells ride bucking horses in his pursuit of taming them, and it made me so sad that they’d inevitably lose the freedom they’d had since birth. That they’d been ripped from the prairies and deserts they came from.

But now, as I watch Wells wear down this new horse with the help of the flowing water, I realize the horses were never sad at all. One by one, they’d given their hearts to him—just like I have—and none of us are broken or trapped in having done so.

---