AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The whiskey burned, but not as much as the image of her walking away.
Chapter Nineteen
Valerie
Iwasdressedforsuccess.
I was dressed for—hiding. I was hiding. I was putting on a fake smile, raising my chin, and burying every single ounce of pain I let out yesterday. Valerie Cross didn’t have the time to be weak.
I didn’t sleep a wink last night. No, instead, I laid in that bed, wishing was in the stranger’s across the hall, wrapping myself in his scent. I stared at the ceiling and tried not to think about the way he looked at me when I told him I was leaving.
I called Mom last night and admitted the truth—well almost all the truth. She knew Mr. Moonie had fired me. I lied and told her the hotel kicked me out. I hated doing it, but I did it. I did it while ignoring the look on her face and the devastation in her eyes. There was something else there, too.
Fear.
Mom was afraid to die.
Despite what she’d told me in the past, the look in her eyes confirmed all I needed to know. It was also my fault.
I was going to lose my mom, the only person in my life because I failed. I was a failure. Now I had to go home and soak up as much time as I could with her.
Jackie was trying to find a discount medical insurance program for us. However, I knew that nothing would come of it. Medicaid denies Mom every single year. Healthcare in America was jacked.
I shook those thoughts away and picked up my bags.
Today, I was leaving Hallow Ranch. For good.
I was leaving behind a handsome cowboy with smoke gray eyes and a voice that made me tremble. I would never forget that voice and the way he said my name. I took one more look in the mirror. I was in my black pencil skirt, hunter green silk blouse and heels. My feet were nearly healed now. My body was already moving on from Denver Langston. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and headed downstairs.
It was around mid-morning, and I knew Denver wouldn’t be here. There was work to be done on the ranch. There was an airport taxi waiting for me outside—yes, that cost a pretty penny, but I don’t think that I could stomach asking Denver for a ride.
The taxi would take me straight the airport. My rental would be picked up later today. That was another pretty penny. I would use some money from my severance package to pay for all of this.
Anything to avoid being alone with Denver Langston again.
I wanted him to kiss me last night.
The naïve, romance reader in me wanted him to pull me into his arms and never let me go, but that didn’t happen. This wasn’t a fairytale. This was the real world.
The kitchen was empty, as was the living room. Before I stepped outside, I took one more look at the rocking chair in the corner. I had found Denver staring at it last night, deep in thought. That chair was special to him. I knew it in my bones, so I took one more second to appreciate its beauty. I looked around the house, this dream house, and whispered goodbye to the walls.
Denver Langston wouldn’t miss me, his kid would forget me, but the walls of this house wouldn’t.
Taking a deep breathe, I stepped outside. The taxi was waiting, a young woman in a polo shirt standing by the trunk.
“Good morning, Ms. Cross,” she called. She was young, no older than twenty-one. I smiled at her as I stepped down from the porch.
“Good morning.”
She stepped forward and helped me with my bags. We were loading them into the trunk when I heard it.
Hooves.
Horse hooves, pounding against the earth and getting closer.
Oh, no.
No, no, no, no.
