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Jana wiped at her tears, and Knox’s heart thundered with every second that passed without her response.
“You don’t have to answer me yet if you don’t want to,” he finally said. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But I know my heart, and my mind, and it’s not going to change. I can wait as long as you need—”
Jana tugged him close and wrapped her arms about his neck. Pressing her face against his skin, she murmured, “I love you. And I think buying my parents’ house would be perfect, too.”
Relief cascaded over him like a warm waterfall as he closed his eyes and held her close. “Are you sure, sweetheart? Absolutely sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she whispered.
Knox was grinning, and he felt like laughing. Jana was everything to him, and now his future was filling with light. “So if I get you a ring, you’re going to be happy, right?”
She drew away enough to meet his eyes. Cradling his face with both hands, she said, “A ring from you would make me the most happy woman on earth.”
Knox kissed her then. After all, they were practically the only ones in the restaurant.
When he finally dropped her off at her hotel room, Knox headed back to his own room, knowing there was one phone call he couldn’t delay. It was pretty late, but if she didn’t answer, he’d leave a message for her to call him in the morning.
Sitting on the edge of the hotel room bed, he called his ex-wife.
When Macie answered, he almost regretted calling. This was a lot harder than he expected, and his breathing was already erratic.
“Is everything okay?” she asked immediately.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Memories surfaced of him calling her late in the past—usually telling her that his truck had broken down, or that he’d been injured in a rodeo, or busted up in a bar fight. “I just needed to tell you something before it gets back to any other members of the family.”
“Okay…”
He heard the hesitation and curiosity in her voice. Another deep breath, and he said, “I’m going to ask Jana Harris to marry me.” Well, he practically had, but he was going to do this right this time.
Macie didn’t say anything for a long moment. Knox closed his eyes, able to imagine all of the thoughts and emotions that must be going through her mind, since she knew Jana was his high school girlfriend.
“Holt told me that you two were dating again.”
He didn’t miss the “again” reference. “Yeah. We reconnected when I was there a few weeks ago for the Prosper Rodeo.”
“That sounds… fast.”
What had been fast was Knox and Macie’s relationship. He and Jana had a lot more longevity if he counted high school dating. “I don’t know when it will happen, but I didn’t want you to be blindsided.”
“I appreciate the call,” Macie said, her voice calm.
Knox was grateful for that. Maybe she could even be happy for him one day. “All right then, have a good night, Macie.”
“You, too.” Her voice was now fainter.
Just as he was about to hang up, she said, “Knox?”
He brought the phone back to his ear. “Yeah?”
“It was always her, wasn’t it?”
His stomach felt like it had dropped off a high building. How could he answer a question like this to his ex-wife? They had a child together.
“Macie…” he rasped.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to answer or explain. I get it. I truly do. Life doesn’t always go as planned, but in the end, if we can circle back to happiness, then that’s all we can hope for, right?”
Knox didn’t know if he was relieved, or more heartbroken. “Right.”
There was a long pause, then Macie clicked off.
Knox remained sitting on the edge of the bed for a long time. Wishing there didn’t have to be so many lessons learned and so much pain to get there. But he would hold onto Macie’s words. Circling back to happiness. That, he was going to do.
