Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte 1)

You know my longing deep, you know my passion,

so wild

You know my fall.

To see you here then, in the midst of your fall

To know your joy, so deep, to know your passion,

complete

To know your longing, my all, and then, my sweet,

you fall.

When Ben woke up the next morning, Jimmy told him a fan had posted “Fall for Me” on YouTube. It had three million views. Overnight.

“Don’t ask me to do this.”

“I don’t want him here.”

“I made a promise, Liv. I can’t keep lying to him.”

“Then leave, and don’t come back. I won’t ever forgive you if you tell him.”

“Liv…”

“I don’t want him here.”

Liv spent hours replaying the accident over in her head. Micah hesitated, a split second, then went right. They were tight to the barrel, and they were going to knock it over. Then Micah went down, her head was too close to the ground, she knew she was going to hit head first. She’d heard the snap, and now, she had no feeling in her legs.

Billy assured her that Micah had been checked out and suffered no injury in the accident. He promised her he’d make sure her horse was exercised daily, and ready to get back at it as soon as she was.

Renie, Paige, Mark, and Billy were the only people she permitted to visit. She even refused to see Dottie and Bill.

She’d come out of her coma two days ago—four days after Renie made the decision to have her moved from Idaho to Denver.

Paige told her that Ben had come to Idaho the day after her accident, and that she had convinced him to go back on tour. “Now I regret my decision, Liv. I promised him I would tell him if your condition changed. I promised.”

“I don’t care, Paige. He and I made a promise to each other first, and that’s all that matters.”

Renie had begged her to let them call Ben, but Liv refused her, too.

“I know you don’t understand, but Ben and I promised each other that we wouldn’t let the other give up on their dream. I can’t let him give up, Renie. You know as well as I do that if he knew I was out of the coma, he’d cancel the rest of the tour.”

“He’d want to, Mom. He’d want to be here with you, helping you.”

“Do what? You and the nurses can push me around in the wheelchair just fine.”

“That’s not the point. He loves you.”

“The person Ben fell in love with doesn’t exist anymore.”

When Renie tried to discuss Ben further, Liv closed her eyes and asked her to leave.

Philadelphia, Toronto, Saratoga Springs, Virginia Beach and now Raleigh. Every night, the same thing happened. The crowd chanted Liv’s name and Ben opened the show by telling a story about her. He didn’t plan what he’d say ahead of time. Sometimes he told a new story, sometimes it was one he’d already told. Then he’d play “Fall for Me.”

There was so much demand for the song, the band recorded a live version and put it on digital music outlets. Not only had the song moved into the number one spot in a few days, their new album was currently number seven, and the song wasn’t even on it.