Nash was confused. He’d thought he was making strides with Emmy and that maybe they could be more than just friends. But the way she’d basically thrown him out of her house yesterday had confused him.

As he walked into therapy, he wondered if he’d made her angry in some way. Had he given her mixed signals? Had their night together been just that - one night?

“Good morning,” he said when he saw her standing in the doorway of the therapy room.

“Morning, Nash,” she said quickly. “Listen, we’re going to get you started on the treadmill first today. Do twenty minutes on incline, and I’ll check back with you after that.”

Today, she was all business. No facial expression, very little eye contact. He just didn’t understand it. It was like they didn’t even know each other.

Was this her way of telling him they didn’t have a future together?

The whole time he walked, he watched her. She didn’t look his way. She worked with other patients, laughing and smiling, but apparently he didn’t warrant that from her today.

When he finished, he got off the treadmill and stood beside it. Emmy walked over with papers in her hands.

“Congratulations, Nash. You’ve officially graduated from physical therapy. These are your release papers. I recommend you follow up with a qualified orthopedic doctor in Vegas, just to be sure you don’t need to have a therapist on hand out there as well.”

“Vegas? But I…”

She looked up at him, her face impassable. “I’ve got other patients, so I really can’t talk much now. But, again, congratulations. I know you’ve been wanting to get back to your home, and I wish you the best.”

And with that, she walked away.

* * *

Emmy didn’t want to go home. She knew Nash would likely be looking for her there, and she just couldn’t deal with another goodbye.

He had a life in Vegas, and he needed - and wanted, apparently - to get back to it. As far as she was concerned, she’d done her job and done him a favor by helping him heal and then letting him go.

It was because she loved him that she was making it easy for him to leave.

“You want another glass of wine?” Debbie asked as they sat on her sun porch at the end of a long hard day.

“No thanks. No amount of wine is going to change how I feel.”

“I’m sorry, Em. Honestly, I thought he’d stay.”

“There’s no reason for him to stay here, Deb. His career and life are in Vegas.”

“Well maybe you could go there?”

“He didn’t ask me, first of all. And I love my job here. Plus, my mother needs me whether she wants to admit it or not.”

“Long distance relationships can sometimes work…”

“No.”

“But do you really think freezing him out like this is the way to end things?”

Emmy sighed. “I hate doing this, Deb. But I have to protect myself this time, and I just can’t do the whole emotional goodbye thing. It was devastating to lose Nash the first time. I can only imagine what a second time might do to me. This is self preservation.”

“I wish I could help.”

“Me too,” Emmy said, leaning her head back against the chair.

* * *

Nash had called multiple times and texted even more, but Emmy had ignored them. She’d taken a couple of days off work just to avoid seeing him if he stopped by. It was ridiculous really, but she just wanted a clean break.

She felt stupid for falling for him again, but that was exactly what she’d done. She’d promised herself that it was only a kiss… and then only one night… but things were never that way with Nash. They couldn’t be.

She’d heard through the grapevine that he was leaving today. In fact, he was already on his way to the airport. It was over. He’d go back to his life, find a new love and that would be it.

She’d stay in Whiskey Ridge, grow old and gray and maybe take up knitting.

Okay, so maybe she was being a tad bit negative.

Days passed, and there were no more phone calls or texts. He’d gotten the message, apparently. While she should’ve been relieved, she wasn’t. She felt empty.

* * *

“Earth to Emmy,” Pauline said as she waved her hand in front of her daughter’s face. Pauline had finally gotten around to going over to Emmy’s new place for dinner.

“Sorry, Mom. I was just thinking about some stuff.”

“You mean you were thinking about Nash,” Pauline said pointedly before taking a drink of her sweet tea. Pauline had always been a sweet tea addict, often joking that the blood in her veins had been replaced with it years ago.

“Why do you say that?”

“Sweetie, it’s the same lovesick look you had on your face as a teenager. I remember when Nash went out of town for the weekend and you sat around with that forlorn look on your face the whole dang time.”

Emmy smiled. “Young love.”

“Old love, young love. It’s all the same. When you find the one for you, no one else will do. Hey, I’m a poet and didn’t know it!” Pauline giggled at her own joke as Emmy thought about what she’d just said.

“He doesn’t love me.”

“I would beg to differ, Emmy. I’ve seen how he looks at you.”

“He left me all over again.”

“You sent him away this time, honey.”

“What? No I didn’t. I gave him what he wanted.”

“Did you? Then why did he call and text and try to see you?”

“Maybe he wanted to say goodbye so he wouldn’t feel guilty for leaving.”

“Or maybe he wanted to stay, but he needed to know you wanted him to stay.”

“You’ve read one too many romance novels, Mom.”

“Maybe so. But you know what? The hero and the heroine of a good romance novel never give up on each other. They fight for their happy ending.”

“Yeah, well sometimes there isn’t a happy ending.”

* * *

“Well, Mrs. Banks, I do believe you’re almost ready to get back to playing tennis,” Emmy said to the older woman. She had to hand it to her; she was feisty and in good shape for a woman of her age.

“Good because I’m ready to take the title back from Estelle Goldman.”

“Title?”

“The retirement village tennis tournament is coming up in six weeks. I need to get my trophy back.”

Emmy smiled as she finished rubbing the woman’s shoulder. “Well, I’ll be rooting for you.”

Emmy was glad it was the end of the day. She was tired and wanted nothing more than a pint of ice cream and a long hot bath. That was becoming her routine.

She missed him. No matter how many weeks it had been - three weeks and four days to be exact - Nash was never far from her mind. She’d even found herself looking online for news about the rodeo circuit out West. Nothing about him competing yet, but she did see where Deke had won a regional championship of some kind.

As she wiped down the therapy tables and locked up, she thought about the time she’d had with Nash. Those weeks of therapy. The dinner at his Dad’s house. The night they’d spent together. It seemed like it all happened lightyears ago.

“Emmy?”

She turned to see Brick standing in the waiting area, his cowboy hat in his hand.

“Mr. Collier? What’re you doing here?”

“I said you can call me Brick.”

“And I said I don’t want to.”

Brick chuckled under his breath. “Fair enough.”

“Why are you here?”

“We need to talk.”

“Is Nash okay?” she asked, immediately worried that he’d been hurt, or worse.

Brick smiled. “He’s fine. Well, physically he’s fine.”

Emmy walked closer. “Then I’m not sure what we’d need to discuss.”

“He’s lost without you, Emmy.”

Her stomach tightened. “I doubt that.”

“Well, you can doubt it all you want, but it’s true.”

“He left. I didn’t.”

“Didn’t you?”

Emmy was getting irritated. “Can you stop speaking in riddles and just get to your point? I have ice cream waiting at home.”

“You wouldn’t answer his calls or texts. What was he supposed to do?”

“Nothing. I helped him heal and got him back to a life he loves. I wasn’t going to beg him to stay even though…” Emmy stopped before she said too much.

“Even though you wanted him to stay?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she said as she walked behind him and flipped the sign to “closed”.

“He didn’t leave, Emmy.”

“What?”

“He was never leaving you.”

Emmy turned, confusion apparent on her face. “He’s in Vegas.”

“No, he’s not, actually.”

“What?”

“He’d kill me if he knew I was talking to you, but I can’t stand to see him like this anymore.”

“Where is he?”

“Right now, he’s in Tennessee. Coming home tonight.”

“Tennessee?”

Brick leaned against the front counter. “I’ve never seen two seemingly smart people work so hard at not being together.”

“Why was he in Tennessee?”

“Because Nash is running my company now. Lola and I are hitting the road in our motorhome so we can see the rest of this beautiful country. Nash was in Tennessee tying up some loose ends of a new circuit we’re setting up there.”

“Why didn’t he tell me?”

“How could he? You shut him out. He thinks you don’t love him, Emmy. That you just released him from treatment to get rid of him.”

“But I heard him on the phone… he said he was ready to get back to it…”

“That was me. He was ready to get back to work.”

“But he mentioned Vegas…”

“Yes. He had to go out there for a couple of days to meet with movers. His stuff was shipped here last week.”

Emmy felt the blood drain from her face. How could she have been so stupid? And now Nash thought she didn’t care.

“Oh my gosh.”

Brick smiled and nodded. “Now you’re getting it…”

“He probably hates me.”

“He loves you, Emmy.”

“Why did you tell me this? I think it’s pretty safe to say you’ve never wanted me to be with Nash.”

Brick sighed. “That’s not true at all. I was a jerk back then, and all I could see was my dreams for my son. I never really thought about what he wanted, and the truth is that he has always wanted you. It wasn’t until I met Lola that I finally realized what love was. Even old geezers can learn, Emmy.”

She laughed. Maybe Brick wasn’t so bad after all.

“What should I do?”

Brick smiled slyly. “I have an idea.”

* * *

Driving back into Whiskey Ridge made Nash feel on edge. Being away for the last three weeks, between Vegas and Tennessee, had given him some distance. Some time to think. Time to consider what his life would be like living back in his hometown and running into the woman he would have to love from afar.

Why had she shut him out? It was a question that he’d pondered over and over again since the last time he’d seen her. Why had she practically pushed him back to Vegas?

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself as he drove through town toward his Dad’s house.

Thinking about Emmy was like one of those dang math problems he would stare at on his paper in high school. No matter how long and hard he thought about it, there was no answer that made any sense. And Nash liked answers. He liked concrete facts. And thinking about Emmy only created one big knot of emotions that he couldn’t untangle no matter how hard he tried.

He wanted to have regrets about her, but he didn’t. Every moment he’d ever spent with her was important to him. The only regret he had, besides leaving her all those years ago, was not meeting her earlier so he could’ve loved her longer.

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself again. He was so frustrated with himself. Being lovesick was literally making him feel sick. He wanted to get hurt just so he could go back to therapy, just for a chance to see her and talk to her.

That was insane, he decided. Maybe he needed to see a local psychologist instead.

The sun was setting as he finally pulled up to his father’s house. To his surprise, Brick’s truck was gone, and Lola wasn’t there either.

“Well, that’s just great. Thanks for the welcome home, guys,” he said to himself as he got out of the truck. “No homecooked meal for me tonight, I guess.”

He grabbed his duffel bag from the bed of the truck and headed toward the front door. He unlocked the door and walked inside, immediately noticing how dark it was. Normally Brick left a small lamp on beside the foyer, but even it was off. He found himself getting a little worried.

He took off his hat and tossed it over the bannister before walking into the living room. And that’s when he saw all of the candles lighting up the room and the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Country love songs started playing in the background.

“Hello?” he said, worried that he’d somehow walked in a romantic interlude between his father and Lola. That thought made him shiver.

“Hi, Nash,” Emmy said as she walked out of the shadows.

“Emmy?”

Nash’s stomach was really in knots now. Just seeing her face, even more radiant by the candlelight, made him want to scoop her up in his arms and never let her go.

But he was confused. Very, very confused.

* * *

He was just standing there staring at her, not moving a muscle. Not running to her. Not taking her in his arms. Emmy was worried she’d gone too far setting up this romantic scene. Maybe his feelings had changed. Maybe Brick had played her for a fool.

“Emmy, what are you doing here?” he finally asked, still not moving toward her. He looked confused. Or maybe angry?

“I’ve missed you,” was all she could manage to say. All of those words that she’d practiced on the drive over with Brick had flown right out of her head. Sure, she was poetic as heck when it didn’t matter, but right now she could barely string two words together.

Nash laughed, but it was an ironic laugh with a little bit of frustration thrown in.

“You’ve missed me?”

“Of course I have,”

He sighed and leaned against the breakfast bar. “What are you doing to me, Emmy?”

“What?”

“You shut me out completely. I tried to reach you every way I knew how, and you just avoided me. And now you say you’ve missed me?”

“Nash, I didn’t know…”

“Didn’t know what?”

“That you were staying. That you were taking over for your Dad.”

“I tried to tell you!”

She could tell how frustrated he was. “I overheard you on the phone that day at my house. I misunderstood and thought you were going back to Vegas.”

“So you released me from treatment and then hid out until I left?”

Emmy took in a deep breath and nodded, looking down at her feet. When he said it, it sounded like a middle school thing to do.

“I’m sorry, Nash. I should’ve answered your calls.”

“Or my texts? Or answered your front door? Or gone to work maybe?”

“I really am sorry.”

“And so you thought lighting a bunch of candles and playing some music was going to make it all better? Why are you even here in my Dad’s house?”

“Brick came to see me. He told me everything and so I thought…”

“Yeah, well you thought wrong,” he said before walking out onto the back deck and staring into the now darkened woods.

Emmy stood in the living room feeling like she was naked in front of the world. This had been a vulnerable thing for her to do, and now she just felt stupid. She grabbed her purse from the chair and walked out the front door.

* * *

Nash heard the door slam, and his heart sank. What had he just done? Emmy had lit candles, played music, apologized. And what had he done? Yelled at her and stormed out.

He knew what he wanted. He knew who he wanted. And yet he’d just done everything in his power to push all of that away… for the second time in his life.

Nash turned toward the house, intent on running out the front door and chasing her car down the street if he had to. But instead, he came face to face with an angry Emmy who had just stormed back into the house and out onto the deck.

“Emmy, I was…”

“No! You know what, buddy? You’re going to listen to me right now,” she said, pointing her index finger in his face.

“Okay…”

“I made a mistake pushing you away, but you don’t get to be mad at me because it’s nowhere near the mistake you made all those years ago and I was able to forgive you!” He wondered if she was going to take a breath at some point, but it didn’t look like she would in the near future.

“Emmy…”

“Shut it,” she said, holding up her hand. “I released you from treatment because I wanted what was best for you. I wanted you to live whatever life you wanted, and if that meant giving you up and living without you for a second time, I was prepared to do it. But don’t you even think for one second that it didn’t rip my heart out, Nash Collier. Don’t think that I haven’t cried every single day since then. But I loved you enough to let you go, if that’s what you wanted!”

“It’s not what I wanted, Emmy!” Nash finally interjected. “Can you just listen to me for a minute?”

Emmy sucked in a ragged breath and nodded, her hands firmly placed on her hips.

“Ever since the moment I saw you in the ice cream shop, I’ve known that I’d never go back to Vegas. There was no way in this world that I was leaving you for a second time.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t figure it out myself until we went to the river that day. I realized that if I never rode a bull again, I could live with that but there was no way I could live with not seeing you everyday for the rest of my life. But I didn’t know if you still loved me, Emmy. I never thought you’d want to be with me again. I’m the guy who broke your heart and abandoned you when you needed me most, remember?”

“We’ve worked that out, Nash.”

“You forgave me, Emmy. But that doesn’t mean that I forgive myself.”

Emmy’s eyes welled up with tears as she stepped forward and took his hands. “This is our second chance, Nash. You’re not getting rid of me this easily.”

Nash smiled. “I never want to get rid of you, Emmy Moore.”

She slid her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “Still mad at me?”

Nash pulled back and tilted her chin up. “Let’s make a deal. From now on, shutting me out is never an option. Okay?”

“Okay. And leaving is never an option?”

“Agreed.”

Emmy hugged him tightly and Nash knew that he had everything he would ever need.