Page 27 of The Hearts We've Broken
“Colorado,” he replied. “The southern part. Where are you from?”
“I’m from Michigan.”
“What made you move to Montana, then?” He looked over at me with curiosity in his eyes.
“It truly was for a change of scenery. Admittedly, I’d seen photos of the wide open spaces and big blue skies and was immediately drawn in. SGU had the program that I wanted to go into, and eventhough it was more expensive than an in-state school, I was ready to get out. How about you?”
“It was a similar whim. I’d been traveling from place to place for a while, never really finding anywhere to settle. Colorado is where I grew up, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it home anymore. When I met Colter and Reid, it felt right to come up to Montana. I honestly didn’t plan to stay, but somewhere along the line it became home. I don’t have a house or land, so I can always leave if the urge to roam comes up again, but I do consider the guys family,” he confessed, the words seeming to pour out of him. “I think Montana may be the place I finally settle.”
I didn’t mean for it to slip out, but I still confessed, “Sometimes I’m not sure what to do with myself. I had this whole future planned out and then…”
“Then what?”
“Things changed. I changed, I guess.” I didn’t want to divulge what had happened for fear that I’d be found out, but it wasn’t necessarily a lie either. Brady cheating on me was humiliating enough as it was; I didn’t feel the need to open that can of worms.
“Was it at least a good change?”
“Yeah. It was, I think.”
Once we’d gotten settled and everyone had unhooked the trailers, we started to make a plan for the evening.
“I think Colter and I are going to take a trip out to the ranch, but we can meet you all later?” Ellison explained.
I’d learned from Mikey that she was born and raised in Houston. Her father was once a famous cowboy, but a rodeo accident had taken his life when Ellison was a child. By a stroke of fate, she’d run into Colter at a bar then saw him again on the one day out of the entire year she went to a rodeo. The rest was history, a love story for the ages.
“Isa should be coming around soon,” Reid said.
“We could wait for her then grab some food or something. Meet you two at the bar later?” Jake suggested.
A few murmurs of agreement rose within the group.
“Juniper’s never been to Houston before, so I say we give her the full experience.” Mikey winked at me.
Heat flushed into my cheeks. I hadn’t told anyone else that I’d never been. I wasn’t sure why it was embarrassing to me, but for whatever reason, it made me feel almost inadequate. I’d never been involved with the rodeo, or particularly well-traveled, so I didn’t feel part of this circle. Brady had tried to get me to go to the Goldfinch rodeo before, but I always made up some excuse. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d flirted with other girls at the events. Ava never protested going to a rodeo and, now that I thought of it, they’d gone without me a few times.
“Oh, this is going to be so fun.” Jake rubbed his palms together.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Please.” Ellison spun around on her heel, pointing at the guys as she and Colter started walking away.
“Didn’t you almost punch a guy in the mouth the night you and Colter met?” Hayden asked.
“Yes, but I’m a changed woman, Hayden. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t donow. We aren’t going to talk about my past,” she joked.
Colter and Ellison jumped in the truck and headed out, leaving the rest of us to wait for this Isa they’d all been talking about. From what I understood, Isabelle was Ellison’s best friend and Reid’s long-distance girlfriend.
I admired them for being able to maintain a relationship thousands of miles away. I don’t think Brady and I would have ever survived long-distance. We didn’t even survive close proximity. You can’t get much closerthan living together. He was practically under my nose and still cheated on me.
Damn, I needed to think about something else, otherwise my mood was going to get depressing really fast.
Before I could let my mind wander any longer, Mikey pulled a cooler out of the bed of the pickup truck and dropped it on the ground. The sound was enough to distract my restless mind.
“Anyone want a beer while we wait?” Mikey asked the group.
“Toss me one, yeah.” Jake nodded.
Hayden and Reid declined.
“Peach?” Mikey raised his brows at me.
