Page 69 of Nanny for the Cowboy

“As was I.” Bridget cocks her head, the corners of her lips turning down. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

Tension winds through me, and I suck in a breath. My heart does want Clover. I know that, but…God, this is certainly athingnow, isn’t it?

Mason and Bridget are probably some of the best people to talk about this with, and yet, I don’t know if I’m ready to do that.

They seem to pick up on the vibes because they both adjust as the line moves up again. Mason raises his head, getting my attention, and I meet his stare.

“No pressure, bud. But if you want to talk about it in the future, you’ve got my number.”

I nod. “That I do. Thanks.”

“If I can leave you with one thing to think about,” Bridget steps in, moving closer to me so that she doesn’t have to speak so loudly to be heard over the crowd.

“Sure.”

Her hand comes down on my shoulder. “Don’t push someone away just because it’s weird or new or justdifferent. Life is so damned short. We have just this tiny bit of time to make it ours, to make it more than something you endure. Seize your chance. Do what you need to do to make it work out.”

I can feel the conviction in Bridget’s words by the way she grips my shoulder. But her hand relaxes, and she steps back in line with her family.

Family…

I’m not sure what to say or feel right now. But I can hear the truth in her words. I know I’ve been pushing everyone away, and maybe it is time that I stop that—that I really open up.

“Thank you, Bridget. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Were those your friends?”Clover smiles up at me as I walk back over to the table with our food.

I nod, giving a hearty smile back. I’ve got a lot on my mind, partially thanks to Bridget, but even just enjoying some fair food with Clover feels…nice.

“Yeah, they say hi.” I hand out the baskets of corn on the cob and chicken. “Dig in.”

When Darby eyes me, I grin, dipping my head toward his plate. “You eat a fair bit of that, and ice cream is next.”

We all start to eat, gushing over how good the food is.

“There’s something about food at a fair. It’s just…better,” I muse, and Clover glances over at me with a mouthful of chicken, grinning.

“Mmm, uh-huh.”

I can’t help but laugh. It’s not like any words were intelligible there, but I can see she agrees with me. After a moment, Clover swallows, wiping her face with a napkin, and takes a deep breath.

“Ugh, so good! Yes, fair food is peak. Also,” she turns toward me, gesturing with her thumb over her shoulder, “I have to admit that I’m really impressed. You smashed that hammer thing like it owed you money.”

Darby and I both chuckle at that, and I lift the corner of my mouth in a lopsided grin.

“Thanks. It’s a silly carnival game, but I’ll take it.”

Clover tears a piece of her chicken off the bone with her fingers, popping it into her mouth before saying, “Hey, I’m not saying your work on the ranchisn’timpressive. Hell, that’s something else. If we were using that as a metric, a lot of people would fall short.”

I’m taken aback for a moment. No one has really said anything “nice” about my work on the ranch. It’s just my life; people take it at face value.

But Clover is saying that it’s impressive, that it’s something to be proud of.

I don’t know why, but that means the world to me. I also don’t know what the hell to say back to that.

“Oh, well, yeah. That’s umm…it’s just my job.”

Clover makes a face at me, her expression saying, “Are you fucking kidding?” Then she finishes with her bite and cocks her head at me.

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