Page 51 of Thaw My Heart

I’m not ready to share everything about my sad and dark past, but I can tell her about my childhood. About growing up dirt poor on my uncle’s ranch. When I was just a young girl riding bareback through the fields, dreaming of a different life. Dreaming of the day when I would watch Valentine disappear in the rear-view window.

“And that’s enough about my sad story.” I glance at the window, catching a glimpse of the setting sun behind the mountains. I could go home, but I’m not ready to deal with that tall, dark, handsome, and confusing man next door yet. “Do you have any plans this evening?” I ask her.

She smiles with pure delight. “Why, Sadie,” she presses a palm to her chest. “I thought you’d never ask.”

An hour later, we end up at Elkhorn Tavern, giggling at the bar while Christmas lights shimmer in the background. Her parents were more than happy to watch Fox for me until we returned. I was hesitant to leave her, but honestly, that’s probably the nicest home in all of Aspen Hollow. And the nicest family.

Two shots of tequila later, a text message comes through, and I nearly drop my phone.

Kit:

Hey, it’s Kit. Did you get that chest X-ray?”

I can’t recall how he got my number… the night after he drove me home, he put his number in my phone, but I never gave him mine. However, he is a Foreman, so I guess he’d have access to things like that.

I stare at his message for the longest time, not knowing what to say. He would be furious to know I had forgotten all about it. And that I was at the bar, planning to get smashed while also being thoroughly distracted by Blake Dalton’s blue eyes—a few shades darker than Kit’s.

I change Kit’s name to Cowboy, snickering to myself before turning my attention back to someone who wants it.

Someone who doesn’t make me beg for it.

“Everything okay?” Blake asks.

“Yes,” I smile, putting my phone back in my purse.

Blake was already at the bar when Averie and I walked in. As soon as he saw me, he smiled—a genuine smile that immediately captured my attention. Despite whatever feelings I have for Kit, it feels good to be wanted in this moment. To flirt with someone who doesn’t pretend they hate me.

After my morning meeting with Cole—the most devastating meeting I’ve ever had—I head home with Bandit at my side. Tossing some hay in the pasture for Smoke and then Sugar, too, because it doesn’t seem fair to feed one and not the other. I check that both water tanks aren’t frozen, stopping dead in my tracks when I find my flannel hanging off the railing.

The one I lent Sadie.

I sigh, bringing it inside. Not wanting to deal with the emotions that come with it, crashing into bed as soon as I walk through the door. Bandit curls up beside me, happy to take a late morning nap.

But as tired as I am, my mind won’t stop racing.

Cole has lung cancer. He could possibly—I can’t even think the words. There’s no way in hell I’m losing Cole.

I’ve lost enough people.

On top of that, Cash wants Lone Pine. His “inheritance,” or so he claims, but Cash never appreciated this ranch. And he definitely doesn’t fucking deserve it. I don’t even know why he’d want Lone Pine, except to sell it.

And he would sell it.

Make his millions and go back to the city, and everyone here would lose their jobs, their lifestyles, and their homes. I’m not sure if I want to spend the rest of my life in Aspen Hollow, but I could never let Lone Pine fall into Cash’s greedy hands. Not if I can help it.

After all that my aunt and uncle have done for me, caring for me after my mother died, taking care of the broken man who ran from San Francisco… I had no choice but to accept a promotion to Ranch Manager.

A step in the right direction, Cole called it.

But there’s already enough stress on my shoulders as a Foreman, and now, there would be even more. It’s all too much. I don’t want it, any of it, but I can’t refuse him. I can’t tell him the truth. I don’t know how, and I don’t want to let him down.

You have until Christmas Eve to decide.

His words echo in my mind, and then my overwhelming thoughts consume me, pulling me under.

Soft orange light envelops me as I open my eyes.

Sunset. Damn, I must’ve slept for a solid six hours.