“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“I’m not playing this game. You know why I asked. Now start talking…tell me about Ben, about what’s happened, about all of it.”
“I’m not playing games, Paige. When I say I’m fine, I mean it.”
“Not buyin’ it.”
“Why not? Look—I lived out every woman’s fantasy. I had a whirlwind romance with a guy completely out of my league. I had fantastic sex, and then he offered to fly me home on his private plane. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
“Because you said goodbye to him.”
“What does that have to do anything? I went into this with my eyes wide open. Not the first day, but you pointed something out to me that I hadn’t considered. It changed my whole outlook.”
“Which something?”
“That I hadn’t had sex since Scott died. Do you realize how messed up that is? It’s crazy abnormal in a freakishly weird way. If it wasn’t for Ben, who knows when, or if, I ever would’ve again. So, yeah, I’m fine.”
“No regrets, no self-doubts, no wondering when you’ll see him again?”
“None of the above. As far as seeing him again, I have no intention of allowing that to happen.”
Liv turned her face toward the window and closed her eyes. Every time she did, she saw Ben. Yes, she had an ache in her heart, but what good would it do to allow herself to get absorbed by it? Not one bit. Ben had an exciting, bigger-than-life life. She had her ranch, and she was lucky to have it. Other than that, and an amazing daughter who was out creating her own life independent of her mother, there wasn’t much more she brought to anyone’s table.
“You don’t fool me.”
“Paige, please let it go.”
“No, I won’t let it go. He wants to see you again.”
“To what end?” Why wouldn’t Paige drop it?
“Why do you keep yourself on the outskirts of life? It breaks my heart. You’re an amazing woman, and yet it seems as though you’re done. You raised your daughter and you’ve begun the descent. Your life isn’t over, Liv. It’s just beginning. Why won’t you let yourself take a chance with this guy?”
“Enough, Paige! Why do you have to push so hard? I had a great time. I didn’t fall in love, and I don’t plan to ever again. Scott was it for me, the great love of my life. There, are you happy? You made me say it. Now leave me alone.”
“Oh, sweetie…” Paige tried to comfort her but Liv jerked her shoulder away.
Liv didn’t tell Paige that when she turned her cell back on after the flight, there was a text from Ben, with a photo. And a voicemail from him, which she didn’t intend to listen to until she got home.
He sent a picture of himself on the plane, pouting, and he wrote I’m not letting go of this, Liv.
She doubted their little fling amounted to much more than a blip on his radar. He probably kept a string of girls on the hook, one in every city—his hookup girls. She had no intention of being one of them. She wouldn’t answer, he’d lose interest, and go away.
Her phone beeped again, another text from him. Hey, baby, how was your flight? Miss you already. Oh God, what was he doing? She powered down her phone and put it in her bag.
“Hear from him?”
“Nope, and I don’t expect to,” she lied to Paige, and she didn’t have any idea why.
Liv dropped her bags inside the back door and went straight to the barn. She wanted to ride as hard, fast, and far as Micah would take her.
“Hey, sweet boy,” she said as she walked into the stall. “Let’s ride, what do you say?” Micah nuzzled up against her. “Did you miss me? I missed you.” She scratched down his nose and led him out of the stall.
Ten minutes later, she had him saddled up and out on the trail. From her hundred-acre ranch out County Line Road, she had a perfect view of Pikes Peak and the rest of the Front Range. There was nothing like the wide open spaces and blue skies of Colorado.
When her father retired he bought this ranch, knowing how much Liv wanted a horse of her own. He promised her that one day they would live in a place where she could. They were an Air Force family, and that meant they moved every two or three years. Having a horse, or even a dog, had been out of the question given the life they led. Liv’s mother hadn’t been keen on the idea of living so far outside of town, but the Black Forest community was a tight-knit one, and the loneliness she’d expected from their secluded location never materialized.
They made friends with other ranchers, and almost every weekend there was a social function either with them, or with other retired Air Force families.