Reality hit him hard as soon as he’d overheard Brent talking about Faith and her schooling. She was getting close to being done and then she’d be going into some kind of medicine related field. She loved the rodeo just as much as Brent did, but she wouldn’t be able to make a career out of combining her interest in medicine with moving around unless she managed to get pulled onto a team of a decent rodeo competitor.
Hallie was still discovering things about herself. She wanted to see where her photography could take her. How could he ask her to drop everything to see him compete? Her job wouldn’t be the only thing to suffer. She’d be dragged from her family—a family he’d observed during most of the party. Heck, he’d witnessed Sammie pull Hallie aside and offer comfort in a way Jacob simply didn’t have the ability to.
The support system that surrounded Hallie was here in full force. They lived in Rocky Ridge, they took care of their own.Hallie was part of them and he could never ask her to leave. It was like he’d told his brother. The sacrifices were too much.
And he simply wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t going to work out no matter how much he wanted it to.
So where did that leave them?
A relationship that was floating in the in-between.
Hallie was smart. Intuitive. She likely knew this breakup was imminent. And the guilt had started to eat away at his insides like acid through metal. Slowly, he was losing his mind. There were no solutions, and he was grasping onto the last bit of affection he had with her.
After practice today, he planned on heading to Sagebrush to spend time with her. He wasn’t sure he was ready to end things just yet. All he knew was that he needed to see her. Touch her. Taste her. He needed her like he needed air, and he was going to get as much of her as he could before he lost her for good.
Something was in the air.
Jacob could feel it.
Electricity or some other kind of potent energy hung in the air.
It had been a couple weeks since Hallie had thrown the party and when he’d stopped by Sagebrush, he was immediately enveloped in what could only be described as joy.
Laughter filled the air both from children and their parents. When Jacob rounded the side of the main house, he discoveredthe reason for the eclectic vitality. Several hay bales had been set up in the shape of a maze for the kids to run through. It was tall enough that any child younger than eight could stand up fully and not see over the sides.
Hallie was in the fray, crouched down and running through the maze until she found one of the kids and startled them into fits of giggles. She wasn’t the only one. Brent was with her along with some of their other cousins.
Jacob drank in every single detail. Out of every family he knew in Rocky Ridge, this one would have to come out on top for how close they were. Simply watching them was enough to feel the magnetic pull. If Jacob hadn’t been able to return to his dream career, this kind of life would have been palatable.
Who was he kidding?
If he’d grown up in a home with this kind of love, maybe he wouldn’t crave the adventure his job offered. He might have turned out to be a very different person.
Someone nudged him in the ribs. “Makes you want to consider settling down, huh?”
Jacob glanced at Mack out of the corner of his eye. They’d gotten close enough over the years that the statement wasn’t a surprise. Similar to Brent, Mack liked to compete but it wasn’t a lifelong career for either of them. They sought the high that came with competition but that was where it ended.
And then there was Jacob who couldn’t get enough. He ate, slept, breathed in the rodeo lifestyle right alongside the adrenaline rush when the chute sprang open and he had to hang on for everything he was worth.
His focus slid back to the children playing and he scrubbed his jaw. “You know me. I don’t think I could ever walk away from the rodeo. And what kind of life is that for a kid? Always on the move. Never truly setting down roots.”
“It doesn’t have to be, you know that, right?” Mack was watching the scene play out before them again. “Besides, kids are resilient. All they really need is routine.”
Jacob grunted. He didn’t argue, though, because he had a feeling Mack would poke holes in what Jacob might say. Yes, kids needed routine. And being on the road didn’t offer the right kind. He didn’t plan on saying anything else until he noticed Bo Reese snatch a child who looked to be about seven and toss him over his shoulder.
Like moths to the flame, a horde of kids followed after the man, leaving Brent, Hallie, and a few others behind in the maze all out of breath.
“I don’t know if I’m father material, anyway.”
Mack stiffened at his side. Then he turned and Jacob could sense Mack’s eyes drilling into the side of his face. “Why would you say that?”
Why did he say it?
There was no reason to. Mack hadn’t asked his opinion on the matter. They weren’t even discussing what it was like to be a father. And yet that was the one thing that Jacob couldn’t get out of his head when he watched the adults play with the kids like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Once again, he was hit hard in the chest with the realization that this sort of life wasn’t meant for him. If by some miracle he couldfigure out how to make a relationship with Hallie work, then they’d have to consider what came next.
