Page 101 of Tate
Glo looked at Tate, who made a face and headed over to his brother.
“I’ll put these dishes away. You two girls head to bed.” Gerri picked up the stack of plates.
“I’m finding you a dress,” Kelsey said and pulled Glo away. Glo glanced at Tate who’d walked over to Ford, who had closed his eyes, as if in pain.
She knew the look of a broken heart.
Upstairs, Kelsey climbed onto her bed and pulled out her phone. “I pinned a number of dresses.”
Glo sat on the other bed. She loved this room—the two twin beds with the curved leather headboards, the western blankets, the mountain of white pillows, the watercolor pictures of white columbine and purple irises over the beds. It was an oasis in the middle of a rugged landscape.
Yeah, she’d stay forever, given a choice.
But she didn’t have a choice.
She closed her eyes.
Kelsey moved over to her bed and landed next to her. “Speak.”
Glo opened her eyes. “About?—”
“What’s going on between you and Tate? The man is crazy about you. And you…you act like this is a bad thing.”
“He’s…” She drew in a breath. “Confusing. I don’t know why he wants me. I’m a complicated package, Kelsey. And yet he makes me feel like I’m easy, simple. Like I don’t have to do anything but…”
“Receive?”
“I guess. And that’s what is so, well, terrifying.”
“Because you can’t control his love for you. You can’t make him stay any more than you could make David or Joy stay.”
Glo drew in a breath.
“You’ll just have to trust him.” Kelsey smiled. “Knox and his mother read the Bible a lot. And I’ve been learning some things. Like, did you know there’s a verse that says, ‘We love because he first loved us’?”
Glo nodded. “Didn’t you pay attention at all in church?”
“I was tired. A lot. But…what if that’s the key? We love simply because we’re loved. God’s love comes first, and ours is just a response. We didn’t trigger it—He did. And maybe that’s what you get with Tate—just love. Not because of anything. Just…love.”
“It feels like a terrible gamble.”
“Or overwhelming grace.”
“You’re never leaving the ranch, are you?” Glo asked.
“I am. In three days. With Knox. And I expect you to be there.” She held up her phone. “Take a look at my pins. We can have any of these dresses sent to Nashville.”
Glo took the phone. Began to scroll through the pictures.
“It’s time for you to live your own life, Glo.”
She found a teal-green sleeveless dress, short in the front, with a long sheath overlay over the back. “This one.”
“That’s my Glo.”
She could almost hear her father.There’s my Glo-light.
“Okay. I’ll go.”
