Rhett
Mo’s face is smashed against the passenger side window. Her hair is a wild mess, and I’m pretty sure she’s drooling, but I’ve never been more in love with her than I am right now. In fact, I think I fall more in love with her with each passing moment, although I don’t know how that’s possible.
“Babe, wake up.” I brush the hair out of her eyes. She stirs in the seat, blinking as she sits up.
“Are we home?” she asks, yawning.
We had a late night last night. After the event, Linc, Dad, and I took Mo for a much-needed drink, and then I took her back to my hotel room, where I kept her up until the early-morning sun filtered through the windows. We made love more times than I can count, and about the time we drifted off to sleep, the alarm went off, and we had to get up to make our flight back to Houston.
Thanks to an upgrade to cozy first class, Mo and I were able to catch a few hours of sleep. She says she doesn’t have to be back in Heaven until early tomorrow morning, which means I’ve got her all to myself for another night, and I’m going to take full advantage of it.
Mo sighs as we come to a stop in front of the house. “I love this place.”
She slides from the truck, and I come around to meet her. Hand in hand, we walk up the stairs to the front porch. I open the door and turn to scoop Mo into my arms.
She squeals, wrapping her arms around my neck. “What are you doing?”
“I’m carrying you over the threshold.”
“But we’re not married.”
“Don’t care, Mo.” I kiss her lips and step into the house. “This is our house now.”
I lower her to the ground, and her eyes shine up at me. “Our house, huh?”
I nod. “If that’s okay with you. I know we have a lot to talk about, but I love it here, and I was thinking we could keep it.”
“I love it here too. Of course you should keep it, especially since it’s so close to your training facility.”
“About that…” I reach for her hand and lead her to the couch. She sits down next to me, and I pull her legs across my lap. “I think the doctors are right. With my history of injuries, it’s getting too dangerous for me to continue.”
Mo takes a deep breath, pulls her feet from my lap, and straddles my legs. With a knee pressed to the couch on either side of my hips, she rests her hands on my chest. I hold her waist and wait for her to talk.
“Don’t do this because of me. I’m here for you, Rhett, and I’m not going anywhere. I want you to retire because you’re ready for it.”
“That’s the thing. I am. Last night was wonderful, and it felt final. I put Lucifer in his place, and I’ve achieved all I could ever want. Before you, I didn’t have much to come home to. I think deep down I didn’t worry about getting hurt, because it was just me. But that’s different now. I don’t want to risk my future with you for eight seconds on the bull.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ve thought about training other riders, but mostly I think I’d like to take over Allen Family Ranch.”
“Really?”
I nod. “I’ve always loved working there, and Dad is getting ready to start cutting back. Trevor’s heart is in firefighting—he doesn’t want the ranch to be his career—so this is perfect timing.”
“What about your sponsors?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to look into that. If anything, I might have to finish out the season, but it’s almost over.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad. If you start working at the ranch, does that mean you’ll move back to Heaven?”
“Yeah. I’ll buy a house, or build one, but like I said, I’d like to keep this place, too.”
Mo’s face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I have the perfect place for you to build.”
“Us. For us to build.”
Her eyes shine with happiness, and my heart soars.
“Tell me about this perfect place,” I urge.
“You remember that spot at Animal Haven where my dad always wanted to build?”
“Yeah. By the pond. It’s gorgeous out there.”
“We can build there.”
I can’t believe we’re talking about this—making plans for a future, talking about building a house. It’s all a little surreal.
“And what about your dad?”
“I sat down with him and Sharon after you left last Friday. He’s going to move in with her just as soon as I get everything situated.”
“Wow. That’s a big step. You’re okay with this?”
“More than okay. There’s more.” She grins. “He’s giving me Animal Haven. Once I get a few things with my life figured out and get on my feet, we can build out there. It might take a couple of years, but we’ll get there.”
We’ll get there sooner than that. I have enough money saved up to build her dream home. But I also know Mo, and she won’t go for that right out of the gate. I’ll have to work her up to the idea.
“What do you have to figure out?” I ask.
“I want to go back to school.”
I can feel a smile splitting my face. “I’m so proud of you, baby. You’re going to make a great veterinarian.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I want to take some business classes, something that will help me with what I love now. What I love now is running Animal Haven. I’d like to figure out how to hire some help so I’m not killing myself, and I want to grow it into so much more—take on more animals and offer obedience training. I’ve even looked into a program where I would team up with inmates to train dogs who can then be adopted.”
“I’ve heard of those programs.”
“It’ll take time and patience, but I’m willing to put in the effort.”
I nod. “And I’ll be there to help you. We’ll grow it together.”
“You’d want to help me with Animal Haven?”
“Have you listened to a word I’ve said over the last twenty-four hours?”
She laughs when I nibble her neck. “We’re in this together. It’s me and you moving forward. We build this life together.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah?”
She laughs. “Yeah.”
“I love you, Monroe Gallagher. I always have. Can I show you something?”
Monroe
Rhett lifts me from his lap, grabs my hand, and leads me toward the barn. We hop on the four-wheeler.
I wrap my arms around his waist and drop my chin to his shoulder. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I squeal, tightening my grip when we take off, and when we pull up to the same lookout spot he brought me to before, I climb off.
“Sorry to disappoint you cowboy, but this isn’t really a surprise—although I do love it out here.”
“I love it too, and there’s something else I want to show you. Something better,” he whispers.
“How can there possibly be anything better than this view?”
“See that tree over there?” he asks, pointing off to the left.
I turn my head, and he takes the opportunity to press a kiss along the side of my neck.
“That one?” I ask, pointing to a tree about thirty feet away. I didn’t notice it last time we were out here.
“That’s the one. It’s a Red Sunset maple. It’s only about twenty feet tall now, but it’ll grow to be fifty. In the fall, it turns a stunning shade of red. I planted it out here as soon as I bought the property.”
“Just because?”
Taking my hand again, Rhett moves toward the tree. We’re a couple of yards away when I see a heart engraved near the base. Pressure builds behind my eyes, but I refuse to look back at Rhett.
With a hand covering my mouth, I step away from him and kneel in front of the tree, running my fingers over our initials. They’re carved into the base of this tree, just like the ones on our old oak tree at his parents’ ranch.
“Rhett,” I breathe, finally looking up at him.
His hands are in his pockets, a thoughtful look in his eye when he smiles back at me.
“I bought this place after my first win with the PBR. Didn’t tell a soul—not Dad or Coop, not even you.”
“You were so young.”
“Age doesn’t matter. I might’ve been young and dumb, but I knew what I wanted. I planted this tree the day of the closing because I wanted to have a place to bring you…a place like our spot at the ranch.”
I blink down at our initials, trying to picture him out here carving the tree with nothing but me in mind. If he’d known I was going to break his heart, he might’ve done things differently.
“After you…” He pauses, his eyes darting to the side.
“Lied,” I finish for him. “It’s okay; you can say it.”
He smiles and reaches for my hand, pulling me to my feet. “After that, I hated this place. I hated this tree and everything it represented, because I’d bought this place for us. I tried over and over to convince myself I could still live here, sow my wild oats, and eventually raise a family with someone else. But that never felt right. I tried to bring women here—”
“Rhett.” I hold up a hand and take a step back. “I’d really rather not hear this.”
He snags my wrist, drawing me back in. “But I need to say it. Just hear me out, okay?”
I nod.
“I tried to bring women here to prove to myself that I could move on, that you weren’t still a part of me, but I never made it farther than the driveway. Every single time, I came up with an excuse to leave or go back to their place, and do you know why, Mo?”
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I shake my head.
“Because every time I looked at the house, I saw you. So I tried to sell it. Couldn’t do that either, because every time I put it on the market, I got physically sick. Selling it was like admitting whatever we had was gone. I believe now that my heart knew we weren’t over. That’s why I couldn’t sell the house. That’s why the only women to set foot inside have been my mom and Adley.
You and I, we were always meant to get to this place,” he says, cupping my face in his hands. “It just took us a little longer. We had a few obstacles to overcome, but we made it. I don’t regret the empty nights when I drowned myself in the bottle, or the anger I felt toward you, because all of that—all of those feelings—led me here.” His soft lips land on mine. “And here is the place I’ve always dreamed of.”
“Rhett.” My throat clogs, making it difficult to speak. I grip the soft flannel of his shirt in my fist, holding him to me as tears stream down my face. “I’m so sorry I did that to you.”
“No. Don’t do that to yourself. We’ve been through all that. I didn’t tell you this to upset you. I told you because for the last six years, you’ve gone about your life thinking I’d moved on, and that kills me. I need you to know you were always here.” He lifts my hand, placing it over his heart.
He drops his forehead to mine, kisses my nose, and then kisses away my tears.
“Thank you.” I give him a tremulous smile. “I love you so much.”
“Say it again,” he whispers.
“I love you.”
“One more time.”
“I love you,” I say with every fiber of my being. “I’m always going to love you—I always have loved you.”
“I love you, too, baby.”