Page 36 of Catch Me, Cowboy
“What the hell?” she said again. Before he could answer, she asked, “How many times have you been hit in the head?”
“Twenty or thirty.”
Her eyes went wide before she realized he was being facetious. “How many?” she asked from between her teeth. “For real?”
“Really clocked? Less than ten. Five times maybe.”
She shook her head. “And the ground? What about that? How many bones have you broken?”
He scowled at her. That wasn’t a fair question, given his occupation.
“So many that you can’t tell me off the top of your head?”
“Some of them were small and barely count.”
“Let’s go with all parts of your body made of calcium, big and small, teeth included. How many?”
“Why do you care?”
She ignored his question. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”
“And I can’t believe you’re reacting like this.”
Shelby pressed the heels of both hands to her face, shaking her head. “Neither can I.” She dropped her hands and met his eyes again.
She was, in a word, angry. And he didn’t get it.
“Why do you care if I ride?” he repeated. Because he was starting to feel a tiny spark of hope. After that kiss last night…
“Common sense,” she blurted out. “What else could it be?”
“Maybe you freaking care about me a little?” he asked through his teeth.
“I care, all right? I care about you, but I also care about me. I care too much to take another chance.”
His brow wrinkled. “Sometimes you got to cut loose and take a risk.”
“I did. And the aftermath was not pretty.” She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “I ached for you, Ty. I’d wake up in the middle of the night wanting you so badly. It really, really hurt.”
“Yet you never called me.” Because he’d wanted so badly for her to pick up that phone and tell him it wasn’t all over. They hadn’t been ready to get married, but they could have worked at dealing with stuff together. But no. At the first obstacle, Shelby had cut him loose.
“Why? So that I could prolong things? Feel a little hope only to be smacked in the face by the truth. You were so focused on rodeo. On winning.” She smiled ironically. “And it paid off. You became a champion.”
“At a cost.”
“Was it worth it, Ty?”
“Do you want me to admit I made a mistake? Even though we both had shit to work out and it probably wasn’t a mistake? Is there something about hearing those words that makes everything better? Because, if so, I’ll say them. I made a mistake. But so did you. I think we could have worked our way through things if you hadn’t slung ultimatums at me. It didn’t have to be all or nothing. Other people manage relationships while they’re on the road.”
“And how good are those relationships? How many people do we know that broke up because of them?”
“You didn’t give us a chance.”
“The only way I could stay sane was to have you gone once and for all. I couldn’t handle having you pop in an out of my life.” She glanced briefly down at their boots, which were only a few inches apart, then raised her gaze, her jaw tightening in the process. “Maybe you can operate like that. I can’t.”
“You didn’t even try. I wanted to see you, Shelby, after I left. I didn’t want to get shut out of your life.”
“And you wanted everything your way. You wanted your life on the road. You wanted me.”
