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Talulah couldn’t see him, just as he couldn’t see her, but she recognized his voice.
“What’s up?” Brant asked.
“Been looking all over for you.”
“What for?”
“I feel bad about how I’ve acted lately. I’m sorry. I guess I let Talulah get the best of me again. But it’s stupid to allow any woman come between us, especially one who doesn’t even live here.”
“It’s fine,” Brant said. “Everything’s fine.”
“You’re still pissed. I can tell.”
Brant gestured at the light. “There’re people behind us. We gotta go.”
“Want to head over to Hank’s?” Charlie called as Brant gave the truck some gas.
“Not tonight,” Brant called back and rolled up his window.
“Is he still following you?” Talulah whispered a few seconds later.
“For now.” Brant kept watching his mirrors, but as they left town, and the businesses and buildings gave way to rolling countryside, he relaxed. “He’s turning back.”
“You know, if you and I get together, you’ll lose Charlie for good,” she pointed out as she climbed back into the seat—this time on the passenger side so anyone coming up from behind wouldn’t wonder who was sitting so close to Brant.
“I know,” he said.
She fastened her seat belt. “Won’t that be hard?”
He slowed, driving under the arch in front of his home and around the barn to her car. “Of course it will be.”
“But...”
He shut off the engine. “I’d choose you over anyone else, Lu.”
She was so stunned she almost couldn’t find the words to respond. “How can you sound so sure? I’ve only been in town a couple of weeks.”
“I’ve dated a lot of women through the years. I feel like I’ve done enough market research to know when I’ve found what I’ve been looking for,” he quipped.
“It doesn’t frighten you that you could be making a mistake? You’ve never even been in a committed relationship.”
“Not because Ican’tcommit. Because I hadn’t found the one person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
She pointed to herself. “You’re saying that’s me?”
“You know it is. I may be oversimplifying, but if you want someone badly enough, you put that person first, make whatever sacrifices are necessary.”
She gaped at him. “Are you asking me to give up the diner and my life in Seattle?”
He looked troubled as he considered his answer. “I hate that being with me would cost you so much,” he replied. “So I’d never ask that of you. It would have to be your decision and yours alone. Otherwise, you’d resent me for it later.” He lowered his voice. “But if you made that choice, I’d do whatever I could do to make you happy.”
She started to point out all the things he had to worry about. That she hadn’t proven to be the most reliable love interest. That with more time, he might change his mind. That he might be blowing up his relationships with Averil and Charlie for nothing. But he waved her words away.
“You seem to think I’m not truly capable of love,” he said. “That you can’t rely on me or what I feel because I don’t have a history of long relationships. But if being with you means I need to sell my interest in the ranch, I’ll do it. If it means I lose my relationship with Charlie, I’ll make that sacrifice, too. Aside from my brothers, those are the things I loved most before you got here. If that’s not commitment, I don’t know what is.”
He climbed out and came around the truck to open her door, but she didn’t move. She felt frozen to the seat.
Had Brant Elway—hard-to-get Brant Elway—just offered her forever?
