Page 238 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
Libby chuckled. That’s what she and her girls must have looked like years ago when they’d come here to visit the Denver Petting Zoo. She gave the little girls one last look before continuing down the path toward a quieter section. The back half of the petting zoo included a small pasture and served as the home for rescued ponies, mules, and donkeys. Unlike the goats, sheep, and chickens, where children were encouraged to wander inside the pens and interact with the animals, these larger residents were for observation only. A few towering oaks provided a leafy blanket of shade over their secluded patch of land, and the animals milled around in the sun-dappled light.
She rested her elbows on the fence and watched a pair of donkeys nuzzle one another. Plum and Beefcake had the same ritual before they’d settled in next to each other at night as the insects and frogs peppered the mountain air with their calls.
How could so much life have been packed into the last sixty days?
If someone had told her that the last several weeks had been a dream, she would have been hard-pressed to disagree. And, truth be told, the last forty-eight hours hadn’t let up either.
She’d met with Ida.
She’d agreed to partner with Cleo and Laney.
And she’d texted her father and asked him to meet her here. He’d responded immediately, the dots rippling across her screen seconds after she’d hit send. He’d answered with one word.
Yes.
He didn’t usually respond so quickly—or at all. But at that moment, when she’d felt her mother’s presence so acutely, she’d listened to a voice whispered on the wind, and she’d taken a chance.
She was done shielding her heart.
Well, that wasn’t completely true.
The one thing she couldn’t do was immerse herself into the whirlwind of Raz’s championship fight—not because she wanted him to lose or even win, but because he’d decided to walk the path alone.
His choice.
She wasn’t surprised when Briggs messaged her, letting her know she didn’t need to attend the weigh-in. He’d added that her brothers’ tuition had been paid in full and that he was waiting for word from Raz on how their arrangement would proceed.
Arrangement.
She could read between the lines and decipher the sports agent’s polite way of conveying that it was over between herself and Raz.
It wasn’t what she wanted. But like yin and yang, love and loss balanced each other. She would love again. She just needed to get through this day. Tomorrow would come, and whether Raz won or lost, she would go on with an open heart—and a lot of work to do.
Cleo and Laney had a million ideas, and she was ready to dive in. But she had one stipulation. They’d begin the work after Raz’s fight.
Upon reading Briggs’ message, she’d decided to give herself a twenty-four-hour respite.
It wasn’t a sign of weakness to unplug. It was strength—the strength of giving herself time to meditate and reflect. She’d turned off her phone. She didn’t need to hear about the media storm covering the fight. It would come, and it would go, and the universe would decide what happened next.
Did she miss Raz with every fiber of her being?
Yes, and Sebastian, too.
But a serene peacefulness came with knowing she could overcome any loss. She could risk her heart understanding that, while it could ache, it wouldn’t break. And she wasn’t about to allow fear to hold her back.
With or without Erasmus Cress by her side, she believed in love.
And this new embrace of love started with talking to her father, not as the man who’d let her down, but as the man who’d never made it out of the darkness of grief, longing, and loss.
“You didn’t think I’d show, did you, sweetie?”
She looked over her shoulder as Connolly Lamb headed her way. Bright-eyed with a spring to his step, the man carried a satchel and looked better than he had in years. The dark circles under his eyes and the gray tinge to his skin from spending his nights drinking and betting on sports gave way to a healthy glow.
“I’m glad you made it, Dad. It’s good to see you.”
He stood next to her and leaned against the fence. “This was always your favorite part of the petting zoo when you were little.”
She cocked her head to the side. “I thought I liked the goats.”
