SCOTT

Normally, coming back to the ranch made me feel happy and content, like coming home, but today it felt lonely and had me on edge. The moment we were back at the ranch, my gaze darted everywhere, looking for Grace. She wasn’t anywhere in sight. My stomach tightened as I reminded myself it didn’t mean she was gone.

We made our way into the barn and got the horses settled back in their stalls with their dinner before I allowed myself to check out the other barn where Storm was kept. If he was gone, then I’d know Grace had left and things were over.

I forced my feet to shuffle forward, dreading what I’d find with each step. Taking a deep breath, I rushed the last few feet to his stall.

Once there, I peered inside and let out a deep sigh. He was right there in front of me. Thank God. Storm whinnied and leaned his head toward me. I rubbed at his velvety nose and smiled. If her horse was here, then she couldn’t be gone. She’d never leave Storm behind.

As I made my way to Gavin’s office, Blake walked out. She saw me and made a beeline in my direction with a frown on her face. Oh shit.

“What are you guys going to do to fix it?” She smacked me on the chest.

“Ow. What do you mean?” I placed my hand over where she hit me and rubbed at the sore spot.

“Grace is planning to leave in the next day or two unless you give her a reason to stay. And you’d better make her decide staying is the right way to go.”

“I’d have to say that is between Grace and us. Do you know where she is? We need to talk to her.”

“Yes, you sure do. You need to make this right, Scott.” She stabbed me in the chest with her finger before pointing in the direction of the dining hall.

This time I ran. Ty caught up with me halfway to the dining hall. It was too early for dinner, but I could guess that Jessie had roped Grace into helping prep the food.

I threw my arm out to stop Ty. When he looked at me like I was crazy, I exaggerated taking a deep breath. We both needed to be calm, well calmer than our current state, before we entered that building.

Ty nodded and opened the door. I stepped in right behind him and spotted Grace sitting at the island, stirring a bowl of something. She and Jessie were deep in conversation and neither heard us right away.

Seeing Grace sitting there gave me hope. She hadn’t left. I could feel my broken pieces healing just from her presence. My heart raced as the nerves set in. I grasped desperately at the hope that she would forgive us.

One of us must have made a sound because Jessie turned in our direction. She frowned at us before she jerked her chin to tell Grace to turn around.

Grace’s tiny gasp was like a knife to my heart. She clearly hadn’t expected to see us. Her gaze darted back and forth between Ty and me. Her silence opened the flood gate of doubts that I’d been carrying with me since the moment she walked out our door. She worried at her bottom lip as she absentmindedly continued to stir the contents of her bowl like she wasn’t sure what to do.

“Grace,” I said. My voice cracked but I didn’t care. I was emotional, and I wasn’t going to hide it.

“Grace, please. Can we talk?” Ty’s voice wasn’t any better than mine.

Grace turned and looked at Jessie. Jessie crossed her arms over her chest and eyed us, not saying a word. My stomach turned at the thought that Jessie might think we’d fucked up too bad to get a second chance with Grace. Jessie had been on our side since the beginning, trying to set us up. My only hope now was she’d see how desperate we were to get Grace back and would help us in our time of need.

“Give them a chance to speak. You never know what they might say.” She shrugged, and then with a smile, turned and grabbed a bottle of wine from under the counter.

Grace’s brow furrowed. “What do you want me to do? Hit him with it?”

“Well, I was thinking you could talk about everything over a glass of wine, but I guess if you don’t like what they say, you could hit them with it. Maybe knock some sense into them.” Jessie laughed and Grace gave a little chuckle.

Grace’s laugh was like music to my ears.

She put the bowl down, grabbed the bottle of wine, and followed us out the door. I had no clue where to go. I didn’t think it was a good idea to bring her to the house. Not after the words that were spoken there between us the last time we were there. And I didn’t want her to feel trapped, but I didn’t know of another place that had the privacy we needed.

Grace’s steps hesitated when we reached the house. My heart clenched guessing she was remembering our fight, too. Instead of going inside, I led us around to the back porch.

Ty extended his hand, offering for Grace to take a seat first. She chose the one on the end, not the middle like I was hoping. Her action hurt but I understood.

I sat down in one of the empty chairs and Ty in the other. Grace put the bottle of wine down at her feet before looking out at the open land behind the house.

“Grace.” My voice faltered. “I’m sorry for what I said the other day. It wasn’t right of me to lash out at you like that. I was scared and trying to avoid any more heartbreak, so I pushed back at you without thinking. It’s kind of what I’ve done for a while now, and I’m sorry.”

Tags: Danielle Hart Romance
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