My bedroom door thuds open.
Sawyer’s broad, heaving shoulders fill the doorway when I dash out of the bathroom to find him. He steps inside, nudging the door shut behind him, and just stands there shaking his head, chewing on his bottom lip as his eyes bore into the ground.
Eventually, he says, voice all raspy, ‘It does mean something to me.’
I clutch at my robe. ‘What?’
‘Noah—him calling meDad. It means something to me,’ Sawyer explains, his gaze finally shifting up to tangle with mine. ‘I … I didn’t thinkyouwanted it to mean anything, because you corrected him, said I was just your friend. So, I tried to play it off like I didn’t care, and now I realise that was stupid of me. I’m sorry.’
‘Sawyer,’ I sigh out his name, dropping to sit on the bed. ‘I had to correct him—you’re not his father, and it’s not fair on Gray for Noah to call you that right now. It’s bad enough Noah likes to tell him about momma’sbest man friend, I can’t have him telling his dad about hisnew dad, can I?’
Sawyer snorts at that, finding his way to the bed to sit beside me. ‘Kid’s really been putting in a good word for me, ain’t he?’
With a soft smile, I angle my head at him. ‘Besides, I don’t want him getting an idea in his head of what you mean to him when … When things are still so new between us. When we don’t know what’s going to happen when you can ride again.’ I catch my bottom lip between my teeth. ‘Assuming that’s what you want.’
Brown eyes glistening back at me, Sawyer rubs his hand across his jaw, stubble rasping against his palm. ‘I do want to go back to bull riding, but I also want you. And Noah. But I know that my career doesn’t exactly offer the steadiest of lifestyles for you both. That it might mean phone calls and hotel rooms sometimes.’ He pauses to swallow, gaze shuttering away as he hangs his head. ‘So, if that doesn’t work for you, I understand.’
‘Hey,’ I start, cradling his face and turning him to me, my heart aching for him, for his honesty. ‘I don’t want you to give up your dreams for me. If bull riding is what you want to do, what makes you happy, then I want you to chase that. And I—me and Noah—will be cheering you on.’ I find his hand, threading my fingers between his, to show him we’re a team. ‘We’ll find a way to make it work. Besides, our phone call the other night worked pretty well, didn’t it?’
That coaxes his smirk out instantly. ‘Mm, that it did, Blue.’ The rough timbre of his voice sends a shiver across my skin. His eyes dart to my lips once. Twice. And I think he’s about to lean in to kiss me when his head rears back, brows pulling together. ‘Did you leave the shower running or something?’
Oh God.
‘The bath!’ I scream, flying into the bathroom and subsequently sliding across the wet, tiled floor as the water spills over the edge of the tub, flooding the bathroom. I lose my footing and fall to my knees as I finally reach the tub, reaching over to turn off the tap.
‘Shit!’ Sawyer yells as he too slips over as he enters the bathroom, not reaching far enough to grab the sink for safety and landing straight on his ass, water splashing around him.
‘I was going to have a bath—I’m so sorry.’ I immediately reach for the towels on the rack beside the bath and start mopping up whatever water I can. ‘I’ll pay for any damages the hotel charges you for and—’
‘Blue.’ Sawyer grabs my hands, pausing my clean-up. He’s grinning from ear to ear, chest undulating with the chuckle he’s trying to hold back. ‘Don’t be sorry. I’ve left hotel rooms in far worse conditions before. Caused a fire once because me and a couple of riders sprayed champagne everywhere and it didn’t mix well with the electricals.’
I shake my head at him, at that damn cocky smirk of his. ‘I’m not sure which of us is the bigger idiot right now.’
‘Oh, it’s always gonna be me, Blue.’ Sawyer’s hand glides up my arm to caress my jaw, his fingers then toying gently with my hair. ‘As long as you don’t mind putting up with that.’
I can’t help but lean into his touch, letting his rough palms skate over my cheek. ‘I wouldn’t want you any other way.’ And then he’s flashing me the widest grin and kissing all my worries away until we’re lying breathless and soaked on the flooded bathroom floor.
30
Honey
‘I don’t think I can do this,’ I whine two weeks later, peeking out of Duke’s office door at the bar to gauge how many people are here tonight. To hear me play—something Sawyer organised with Duke so I could have the chance to sing at the bar. Just like Georgia Hart used to do in the stories I wrote when I was seventeen.
And, of course, the bar is absolutely packed. It’s a Friday night—I don’t know why I expected any different.
I used to sing in front of the whole high school when I was in the choir, and Duke’s bar currently holds nowhere near as many people as that, but I haven’t performed for anyone more than Noah, and Sawyer now, since I left college. Even in college I rarely played or sang outside of my dorm, and when I became a mom, the dreams of maybe one day following in Georgia Hart’s footsteps and performing live had to take a step back.
But now the opportunity awaits me and nerves pound inside my chest like hoofbeats. Still, there’s a buzzingbeneath my skin, my body eager to get out there and sing songs about heartbreak and new love by country classics. To rewrite my story in Willow Ridge and have people know me for what I’m truly passionate about, not the person I had to convince them I was for my own protection.
‘You’re gonna be amazing, Blue. Don’t worry,’ Sawyer attempts to reassure me.
‘Sawyer’s right, sweetie,’ my mom chimes in next, Noah’s hand in hers as they wish me luck for the final time. She’s all misty-eyed, blinking back the tears as she chokes out, ‘And I’m so proud of you. Seeing you finally get the chance to thrive. I always wish I could’ve given you this when you were younger.’
‘Mom,’ I groan as I pull her into my arms. ‘You’re gonna make me cry. You’ve done so much for me since we left—coming back with me, I’ll forever be grateful.’
She kisses me on the cheek, sniffling and nodding before composing herself and letting me give Noah one last hug, then they’re out, finding their seats in the bar. Leaving just Sawyer and me.
‘I promise it’s gonna be fine. And even if it’s not,’ Sawyer’s wolfish grin spreads out then as his eyes rake over the zip-up denim dress that hugs my curves, ‘your tits look phenomenal in this dress, so people will be cheering regardless.’