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Katrina could brush her off, tell her she was wrong and that this wasn’t something she wanted to talk about. But the thought of having someone to confide in was just too nice to ignore. She didn’t want to be alone in this anymore.
She sighed, tracing her finger along an image on aGood Housekeepingmagazine. “He was my best friend growing up and… my biggest cheerleader.”
“Ooh. This story is going to be good, I can already tell.”
Katrina gave her a sad smile. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t get a happily ever after. You might not like it as much as you think you will.”
“Honey, the story isn’t over.”
“You don’t know that.”
“But I do. Love stories change, shift, and merge to form new stories. Whatever you’re going through isn’t as bad as you think it might be. And who knows? This guy you’re about to tell me everything about could be thinking the very same thing. What if he doesn’t want it to be over? What if he decides your story has a few more chapters to be written?”
“Don’t let your tendency to romanticize things go to your head. He might have loved me once, but I assure you, he hates me now.”
Becca put her cup down on the counter and crossed her arms, shaking her head for good measure. “Sorry, but you’re wrong. While there is a thin line between love and hate, you can’t simply cross that line whenever you want. If I had to guess, I would say that he’s just hurt and when he gets his head on straight, you’ll be hearing from him.”
It was nice to have someone who wasn’t quite so negative. Becca was a breath of fresh air and if Katrina wasn’t careful, she’d end up making Brianne jealous of their newly formed friendship.
“Okay, okay. Sit down and I’ll tell you the story of how my best friend made me fall in love with him and how I broke his heart.”
Becca held up a hand. “Hold on. I think this calls for some popcorn. With extra butter.” She winked at Katrina then hurried toward the pantry. “And then you can tell me how you’re managing to steer clear of that guy at work.”
CHAPTERTWENTY
Simon had become restless.There were no two ways about it. The more time he spent working his own farm—without Katrina—the more a certain realization weighed on him. As much as he loved this town, as much as he enjoyed owning the dairy farm, and as much as he wanted the horse training program to work, it wasn’t the same without Katrina.
He’d stepped over the threshold from friendship to something more and he couldn’t look back. His depressive state had gotten so bad that the only thing that made sense was to track her down and beg her to come home.
But how could he do that to her? He knew Katrina better than anyone. She wanted this job, wanted to be anywhere but here. If he asked her to come home, what did that say about him? It would say he was selfish, that’s what. Eventually, she would resent him. Then he’d put up his walls and push her out.
Nothing good would come from him asking her to come home.
The only other option seemed equally terrible. He could sell the farm and move to the city to be with her. He had customer service experience. It wouldn’t be hard to find a company willing to take him.
Just the thought of walking through a pair of doors to live the rest of his days working in a stuffy restaurant filled him with disgust. He’d gotten a taste of being able to live and work out in the open air.
He glanced around his property from the barn to the house. He loved it all—even the smells, which was saying something. There was only one question. Was he willing to give it all up if it meant he could be with Katrina?
That was the million-dollar question—one that Simon probably already knew the answer to. He just wasn’t ready to act on it.
It was getting late, and the day had been grueling at best. Without Katrina around to break up the day with her smile, Simon had no other option but to dwell on what his life would be like without her.
A car pulled onto the property and from where he sat on the porch, he knew exactly who it was. Brianne had been visiting a lot more frequently lately despite his mood. It was becoming clearer and clearer that she was only trying to check up on him, and that irritated him even more.
She pulled her car to a stop, but he didn’t bother getting up from where he was perched on the porch step. Simon didn’t even look in her direction, hoping she’d take that as an indication of where he wanted this interaction to go.
Unfortunately, Brianne didn’t seem to care much. She traipsed over to him and placed an envelope on his lap with a flourish. “You’re welcome.”
He glanced at the envelope, then swung his bored expression to Brianne. “I have plenty of envelopes, thanks,” he muttered dryly.
“No, it’s what’s in the envelope.”
“I don’t really care what’s in the envelope. I just want to enjoy looking out at everything that I can call my own,” he said bitterly.
This was what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? To have property, a place to call his own, something that was just for him and the start of his family. His heart was torn in two directions. The side of him that wanted this place was battling the side of him that wanted Katrina.
Hadn’t he always felt that Rocky Ridge had only become a home to him because of the people who made it so? Katrina was one of those people. Brianne fit the bill too, but in a completely different way.
