Page 71 of Christmas with the Cowgirl
Her voice was soft, quiet, almost hesitant.But positively, undeniably hers.Nothing else could send that kind of shiver through him.
“Riley,” he said, still feeling stunned.
“May I come in?”
The simple, ordinary request jolted him out of his shock.He stood aside to let her in.She gave him a sideways look as she stepped across the threshold.And for the first time he thought he saw a bit of unease in her expression.Nervousness.Something.
But then she spotted the painting.He heard her breath catch.She went forward a few steps, then turned to face it head-on.For a long moment she just stared at the incredible rendition of the place she so loved, while he scrambled to try and kick his brain into gear.It was an unfamiliar process for him, he who usually led the meeting or discussion or even the arguments.
“He was a genius,” she finally whispered.
“Yes.”
“What a horrible thing for us, for the world, to lose that talent.”
“Yes.”
That’s the best you got, Flint?One-syllable responses?
He tried, but his brain was apparently still stunned because all he could manage was a string of one syllables.“How did you get here?”
She turned to face him then, giving him a wry smile.
“I know.Christmas Eve isn’t the best time to make a last-minute travel decision.But there’s a charter flight service out of Devil’s Rock airport in Whiskey River.That got me here, and I actually found an agency with a car left to rent.”She paused as he mechanically closed the door, without thought because all he was focused on was her.Then she added with an odd note of caution in her voice, “And Jackson told me how to get here.”
Jackson was in on this?He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.Hell, he wasn’t sure how to feel about any of this.Except…a tiny kernel of something warm and bright had formed deep in his chest.He tried to quash it, not wanting the pain all over again if this really was some sort of dream, or not what he was trying not to hope it was.Which told him how muddled he was when even that made sense to him.
“He said he had a feeling you would be here, and not in the city.”
“Have a nice discussion, did you?”He regretted the edge in his voice, knew it stemmed from his fear that his rising hopes were wrong, but she didn’t seem to react.Instead when she spoke, it was quietly, almost humbly.
“He told me because I begged him to.Because I had made a very big and very unfair assumption.”
He knew instantly what she was referring to.“So did I.I didn’t know, Riley.I really thought it might help you out.”He grimaced.“But that was kind of an insult too, wasn’t it?”
She waved that off.“Nic told me you didn’t know.About my little gimmicky invention, or its success.At least, not until…after.”
He didn’t pretend not to know what she meant.“I did not know.”He stiffened his spine and faced her.“But most important is this.I started to fall for you the moment I first saw you.Before I even knew your name.That day you brought the pony for Jeremy.”
Her eyes widened slightly.“You felt it too?That…jolt?”
“More like an earthquake.”
She let out an audible breath.“I somehow lost everything I thought was true about you.Everything that made me decide to trust you in the first place.I felt…betrayed.As I was betrayed once before.And I felt stupid, for trusting someone from this world.”
Miles felt a churning in his gut.She looked back at the painting.She didn’t say anything more, and Miles felt the pressure building inside him.And finally the dam broke.
“I meant what I wrote, Riley.I’ll quit.If it’s what you need to be sure, I’ll quit.Sell this place, leave L.A.in the dust.I like Last Stand a lot better anyway.”
She turned back around.“You’d give this up?A life most can only dream of?”
“It’s not worth losing you.”He caught himself.“Unless…I already have.”
She didn’t answer that directly.And yet, in a way, she did.“I did read your letter.”
He went very still.And waited.Silently.
“You mean it?All of it?”
