Page 59 of Coming Home Country
From the next table over, Daisy replied, “I’ve got one in the kitchen.”
Tripp hopped up from his seat. “I’ll grab it.”
Tucker’s smile reached his eyes, the skin around them crinkling. “I knew I liked him.”
My head tilted to the side. “Why do you need a marker?”
“You’ll see.”
Suspicion tickled the back of my brain, and I wagged a finger at him. “You’re up to something.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
Tripp bounded down the porch steps and jogged to where we sat, dropping the marker into Tucker’s waiting palm.
“Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.” Tripp gave a tip of his hat.
“Give me your hand,” Tucker commanded softly. When I extended my left hand, he shook his head. “The other one.”
The other one? I knew he hadn’t forgotten it was covered in a thick plaster cast.
“Come on,” he urged, sensing my hesitation.
My eyes darted across the table to gauge if Aspen knew what was going on, but she simply shrugged. Mac, on the other hand, looked like he was fit to burst, bouncing in his seat.
Curiosity won out, and I lifted my right hand from my lap, allowing Tucker to take it into his hold.
He turned it over, resting the length of my cast along the table. His teeth clamped down on the cap of the black marker to remove it.
A lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized his intent.
With the marker perched between his fingertips, he didn’t simply sign his name on my cast. No, he wrote out our initials—B.C. and T.G.—before drawing a heart around them.
When he was done, he peeked at me shyly, nervous to discover my reaction to such a bold claim.
I loved this man so much my chest ached. Even in my dreams, I hadn’t allowed myself to imagine that he might ever be mine again. Yet here he was, waiting for me to meet him halfway on our second chance.
The weight of the expectant stares from the rest of those gathered settled over me, and my throat began to close up.
Without conscious thought, I shoved out of my seat and took off running toward the barn. Behind me came Tucker’s cries of my name as he followed, hot on my heels.
Chapter 16
Tucker
Ipushedhertoofar.
The night had been going so well that I was lulled into a false sense of security and grew too bold. All the progress we’d made—or at least, I thought we’d made—was wiped out as I chased her across the ranch with everyone close to us bearing witness.
Bex disappeared from sight as she ran inside the barn. I slowed my steps, needing to take a few deep breaths before I faced her and owned up to my mistake. But even that wasn’t enough to make my heart rate settle, knowing how badly I’d fucked up.
Stepping through the open door, I found her curled up in front of Chocolate Chip’s stall, her face buried in her knees hugged tightly to her chest. The horse could sense its owner’s distress and let out a high-pitched whinny. Bex flinched at the sound but didn’t lift her head.
Restless, not knowing what to do or how to fix this, I cursed under my breath and began to pace.
“Fuck, I messed this all up,” I muttered, my hands tugging on the strands of my hair in frustration.
