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“We’ve spent the last four years apart, and it was hard, don’t get me wrong, but we can do it again.”
Tears clouded my vision as I’d looked up at him. He’d appeared so fierce and sure, but I was so much the opposite that it hurt. “Everett, I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I hate the thought of us bein’ together but not together anymore. These last four years have been horrible, not just hard. Every time you came to visit me in Nashville, we picked up right where we left off, but in the meantime? We couldn’t have been further apart.”
“I know, but this time it can be different. We’ll talk more.”
I’d shaken my head so hard I might have scrambled my brain. “You really think we’ll be able to talk more while I’m on a tour bus for a year, openin’ up for one of the biggest acts in country music? Do you even know what these tours are like?”
“Do you?” he’d challenged, quirking a brow.
“I’ve heard about them. Shows nearly every night of the week and when there aren’t shows, there’s travelin’ and rehearsal. I won’t have enough time to breathe let alone talk to you more than when you were a Marine.”
Everett had let go of me then, pacing away and running his fingers through his hair. “Laney, the only reason I didn’t propose to you before I left for boot camp was because you wanted to go to Nashville and pursue your dreams. If it weren’t for that, we’d already be married right now, and you would have been with me in California. Are you sayin’ all of that was for nothin’? Because if you pass up this opportunity, that’s kinda what it feels like.”
“Everett, come on. We were kids.”
“We’ve practically been together since we were kids. It wouldn’t have been that strange.” I hadn’t known what to say, so I dug at the dirt with the toe of my worn-out boot until he continued. “Listen, I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I do know you didn’t bust your butt for the last few years so you could turn down a recordin’ contract with a major label.”
“No … I didn’t.”
“Exactly.”
“But I feel like we’re living in two different worlds right now. Like I’m tryin’ to be two different people, and it’s tearin’ me apart. You, here, in this town where everythin’ just feels like home … it’s so different from the life I have in Nashville. And once I sign with Legends, I have a feelin’ it’s only gonna get worse.”
“So, what are you sayin’?”
“I’m sayin’ that I can’t be both versions of myself. I need to pick one.”
I’d intended to tell him I didn’t care about what it meant if I gave up the opportunity with Legends. If I had to choose, I’d choose him. But he’d stepped closer, took my hand in his, and brought it to his lips to kiss the back. Then he’d dropped it and taken a few steps back. The breeze had chilled me to my bones, making me feel colder with the mounting distance between us even though it’d only been the start.
“Then choose the girl who makes all her dreams come true. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”
“What are you sayin’?” I’d asked, repeating his own question back to him.
“I’m sayin’ turn me down, Laney. It’s the right thing to do, and you know it.”
My alarm clock blared on the nightstand, breaking me out of my memories. Knowing there was nothing I could do about any of that now, I pushed it away and got out of bed, padding barefoot across my room because the smell of bacon promised a much better time than laying here moping. But as I opened the door to my room and closed my eyes as if it would help me embrace the smell of a home-cooked breakfast, something bony and furry rammed into my calves and sent me tumbling onto the floor.
“What the—” I shrieked as I flipped onto my back, screaming as a terrier-sized goat hopped lithely onto my chest, jabbing its dagger-like feet into my flesh.
The goat blinked down at me while I struggled to catch my breath, eyes wide as I stared into its icy-blue ones. Was it just me, or were its pupils shaped like long rectangles? That couldn’t be normal.
“Oh, hey,” Daddy said, appearing above me with so little warning it caused another yelp to burst out of me. He chuckled and plucked the goat off my chest, cradling it in his arms and petting its head like it was a dang house cat. “I see you’ve met Gertrude.”
“Gertrude?” I stammered, still lying on my back.
“Mm-hmm. Gertrude the Guilt Goat.”
My head swam. Shaking, I stood on unsteady legs and faced the offending creature, tilting my head at it. “Is it a baby? It’s so small.”
“Nope. Gertie’s what they call a pygmy goat. She’s about three years old. I got her from Shifty.”
I arched a brow. “Shifty?”
“Yep. He traded me an old motor for it.” Daddy leaned closer. “Don’t tell him this or I’ll deny it, but I got the better end of the deal.”
