Page 74 of Worth the Fall
“Can I say somethin’ now?” Colton asked in defeat. “Ally left real suddenly, and so I wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“Well, was she?” Jo asked.
“She is now,” he had said plainly.
Colton was sitting by me, wearing gym shorts and a hoodie, shoving food in his mouth faster than I’d ever seen anyone eat. Dean had just finished calling him a ravishing dinosaur when Dennis interrupted. Dean stopped laughing, and Colton set down his fork, all of us waiting on the edge of our seats to see what he was going to say.
Jo was holding his hand, dressed in her own pajamas and robe, and they shared a glance like they were going to let us in on an inside joke.
“You can obviously say no, although we truly hope you don’t,” he continued. “But we were thinkin’-”
“We want you to ride with us to the next rodeo!” Jo jumped in, a huge smile on her face.
I sucked in my piece of toast, immediately jumping into a hard coughing fit to get it out. Once I could breathe again, I swallowed and took a long drink of orange juice. “Oh!” I was finally able to get out.
Jo reached across the table and put her hand on mine. “We were just thinkin’ that we were all going to the same place anyway, and now that you and Colton are…gettin’…that you’re-”
“Suckin’ face every chance you get,” Dean jumped in.
WHACK
“OUCH!” Dean leaned down and rubbed his shin.
I felt heat rush to my cheeks and swallowed hard.
“Dean,” Dennis whispered harshly. “What my sweet wife and delinquent son are tryin’ to say is that now that you and Colton seem to be gettin’ on well, we’d like to give you some more time together. You could drive in his truck, we could campout together, anddo some fun stuff on the road. You wouldn’t have to ride any more planes, be alone in any more hotel rooms. We want to help you not feel so lonely on the road. After all you’ve done for our company, we would love to make it up somehow!”
I thought of my stupid hissy fit last night. I was convinced that Colton was some playboy and that his family was in onit.
How could I think that?
This family was nothing but kind; they didn’t want to do anything but treat you like one of their own.
On one hand, the idea of camping with Colton, getting uninterrupted hours driving with him, and spending as much time as possible together sounded amazing. On the other hand, I was terrified of getting even closer to his family and his perfect life.
After almost losing him to a misunderstanding, I don’t know if I could handle actually gettingmy heart broken by him.
Everyone was staring at me expectantly.
Colton put his arm on mine. “There’s no pressure. I know you have a lot of work to do.”
In all honesty, I was soaking my company for all they had. If I really wanted to, I could go back to Chicago and do the rest of my work from there. Agri-Corp was on a fast track, its sales doubling every week. They were already getting ready to open another store in Ohio. They didn’t need me anymore.
All that was left was to wrap up my thoughts and give my presentation to the company.
But Mr. Sterling didn’t know that, and he didn’t have to.
I could drag out my research, finalize my marketing plan,and stay for the rest of the season. I looked around the kitchen, the framed photos of all the kids, the dough hand printsresting on the counter, and the candy jar for the grandkids.
I craved this life so much.
I was smiling like a maniac to myself. “I would be honored.”
It was time to say goodbye to the evening baths, outfits color-coordinated with the days of the week, andbeing too picky to use a shared fridge. It was time to embrace who I was. It was time to sleep under the stars, drive the interstates for days, and be engulfed in the rodeo life.
Mr. Sterling had asked me to get “down and dirty” with this project.
He didn’t know how literal I would actually be getting.
