Page 68 of The Birthday List (Maysen Jar 1)

I nodded. “And cream interior.”

The sound of Jamie’s truck filled the shop as Kyle started it up. As he drove it outside, we all followed behind as he steered it toward Cole’s trailer.

“I guess I could have just come and gotten it myself,” I told Cole as we walked. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s better this way. The last thing I want is for you to get stranded on the side of the road. The engine might run, but t

hose tires won’t last another fifty miles.”

I didn’t know if that was true, but it made me feel better.

Cole jogged ahead, pulling out the ramps on the trailer so Kyle could ease the truck onto the flatbed. Then together, Cole, Kyle and Adam all chained it down.

“Thanks, Debbie. It was nice to see you.”

She nodded and forced a smile, then gave me a one-arm hug before turning and going back inside the house without a word.

I stared at the house, wishing there was something I could do to get an invitation inside. I stared at the house, knowing there wasn’t. So I turned back to the guys, standing alone and waiting for them to finish.

“Thank you,” I told Kyle as he and Adam came over.

Kyle nodded and looked back to the truck. “Take care of it.”

“I will.”

Then without a handshake, a hug, or even a good-bye, he went inside with Debbie. The click of the door’s latch echoed for miles.

“Bye, Poppy.” Adam waved at me, then Cole as he headed back to the shop. “Nice to meet you, Cole.”

Cole nodded but Adam had already turned his back to us, done with that job and on to the next.

I glanced at my watch before they blurred with tears. Twenty-nine minutes. I’d been dismissed after only twenty-nine minutes.

Jamie’s family didn’t have to say it—I’d heard it loud and clear.

Good-bye.

Kyle and Debbie wouldn’t be back to Bozeman to visit my restaurant. They wouldn’t be inviting me back to this ranch to spend holidays like I’d done so many times before. They wouldn’t be a part of my life.

Without a backward glance, I walked past Cole to his truck. “Let’s go.”

“You got it.” He didn’t hesitate to get us the hell off the ranch, driving in silence until we reached the highway. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

I wanted Jamie to be alive so he could fix up his own truck. To do his own birthday list. I wanted him to be here so his parents weren’t so heartbroken.

I wanted the ache in my chest to disappear. I wanted it to stop teasing me with reprieves, only to torture me with each return.

I want to be happy.

I couldn’t remember how it felt to be truly happy.

“Give me your hand.” Cole placed his hand, palm up, on the console between us.

I shook my head, knowing that if I touched him, I’d never keep the tears at bay.

“Poppy, give me your hand.”