Looking at me he winked, “I know it’s so damn confusing. No, he lives in Austin but will be moving back to Montana.”
“Wow. It’s like a soap opera.”
“When it comes to Ava, you have no idea. I’m pretty sure there were bets placed that the two of us would end up together.”
My interest was piqued. “And? Did y’all ever date?”
“Nah. We messed around together a few times in high school with a bit of kissing and touching, but it never led anywhere. Afterwards we laughed our asses off. She really is like a sister to me. I like this guy Ryder, so I hope things work out for both of them.”
A streak of jealousy zipped quickly through me before I pushed it away. It was high school and I had no reason to be jealous.
I studied him more before he turned and captured my eyes. “What?”
Slowly shaking my head, I softly spoke, “Nothing. I’m just trying to figure out how this all happened. I feel so happy and I’m so afraid something is going to pull the rug out from under us.”
With a squeeze of my hand, he replied, “I refuse to believe anything will ever come between the two of us again.”
He turned left and took off down another country road.
Deciding I needed to push my negative thoughts away, I looked back out the window. “So, your parents and Walker’s bought y’all land? That was really nice of them.”
“Yeah it was. An older couple, Mimi and Frank, had a huge working cattle ranch next to ours. Not as big as my dad and Reed’s, but big. Frank got too old to take care of it and offered to sell to my father. They bought it up and left some land for Mimi and Frank and divided up some for the four of us.”
“What will Ava do with hers if she moves?”
He shrugged and said, “I don’t know. I never even thought about that. If she wants to keep it great, if not I may buy it from her since it backs to mine.”
We drove for a little bit in silence when Jase pulled over on the side of the road. “What are we doing?”
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
Opening the truck door, I went to get out, but Jase quickly was there helping me down. “Do you often stop on the side of the road for no reason?”
With a smirk, he took my hand and led me up to the fence. Looking out over the land, I smiled. “Wow. It’s beautiful. Whose land is this?”
“Ours. In this very spot is where my father saw my mother for the very first time.”
My heart skipped a beat. “How do you know?”
Pointing to the fence, it was painted red. “My father and mother have told us so many times how they met. They didn’t hit it off at first. My mother was a city girl from New York with a broken down car and my father was as much of a cowboy as humanely possible.”
My smile grew bigger while I watched Jase’s face light up when talking about his parents. “My father comes to this exact spot and sprays it with paint so he never forgets the spot where his life changed.”
Dropping my shoulders, I teared up. “That’s so romantic.”
Jase’s grin grew wider. “Yeah they are disgustingly romantic, but I love when they both talk about each other. You see the love in their eyes, their smile. Hell the way their voice changes. I’ve always looked at that and wished like hell I would be lucky to find it.”
My heart rate spiked as Jase looked away. “For the longest time I thought I wasn’t good enough for you.” His eyes met mine. “You’re so beautiful, Taylor. Not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. The thought of you looking at me like my mother looks at my father . . . it’s something I have never wanted so badly before in my life like I do with you. After all the shit I put you through, I wanted to stop here . . . in this spot were true love first found each other. To tell you I swear I will do everything in my power to make you the happiest woman on earth if you let me.”
Tears pooled in my eyes as my heartbeat filled my ears. No one had ever made me feel like Jase had. Even when he pushed me away, he had a way of letting me know how much he loved me.
I searched for the words to say. His eyes focused on my face for some kind of clue to what I was thinking.
“I . . . I’ve never been so happy as I am right now. I keep saying it, but I feel like I’m in a dream that I never want to wake up from.”
Taking my hands in his, he smiled the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. In that moment I knew, we would be together forever. “God I feel the same way. I love you, Taylor.”
“Oh, Jase,” Throwing myself into his body, he wrapped me up in his arms and lifted me off the ground. “I love you too.”