Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 1)
Page 31
Goodnight blue eyes,
I love you.
Oh God, what had she done? Why did she have sex with him? Why had she let herself get involved with him? Her ache of loneliness had been manageable?she’d gotten to the point where she hardly noticed it. Now it was all she noticed.
She’d been alone all these years by choice, because she couldn’t let herself risk falling in love again. When she loved people, they left her.
Ben might say he wanted to see her again, but he didn’t realize that it would matter more to her than it would to him when he was just another person who left her behind.
Instead of a CB Rice song, country music was playing when Paige walked into Liv’s barn Monday morning.
“Hell-o, Liv, are you in here?”
Liv came out of the stall at the end of the barn. “Hey, Paige, how are you? I’d hug you but…”
“Not necessary. What in the world are you doing? You’re filthy.”
“Cleaning the stall. A new horse is coming in at the end of the week. Might as well get ready now.”
“You didn’t call me back this weekend.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are we okay?”
“We’re fine.” Liv walked closer to Paige and sat down on one of the barn stools. “I needed time to myself.”
“You have too much time to yourself. That’s the problem.”
Liv glared at Paige.
“I’m not intimidated by you. Other people are, but I’m not. I have things to say, and you need to listen.”
“When have I ever not listened to you? Jeez, Paige, you’re one of the few people I do listen to.”
“Have you talked to Ben?”
“We talked on Friday.”
“Did you make plans?”
“Paige, we just got home! It hasn’t been a week. No, we didn’t make plans.”
“Did he say he’d call again?”
“No. I mean, I thought he’d call again over the weekend. But he didn’t. You know how the saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for’.”
“And what did you wish for?”
“To never see him again.”
Paige sat down on one of the other stools. “Oh, honey. Why not?”
When Liv’s eyes filled with tears, Paige walked over to hug her.
“I’m a mess. You don’t want to hug me.”
“I’m sure you have something I can change into when I decide I no longer want to smell like a horse. Come here.”