Page 122 of Last Chance Cowboy
This was… a date. She hadn’t even been on one of those with Zane, not really.
She tried to tamp down the rising tide of anxiety that came along with that realization. She really felt like she couldn’t get too… Ahead of herself. Couldn’t get too used to this relationship. She had to remember everything that she had established here in Mustang River.
Juniper and Sage, her friendship with Lila, and how much she loved the town. Her life had meaning. It was never going to be small again.
That strange, fearful thought bubbled up inside of her, and she examined it for a moment.
Small.
She remembered what it felt like to feel like her life was small.
Like it was mainly the four walls of the house that she lived in, and then trips to the doctor, the grocery store, the pharmacy.
No. She didn’t have that anymore. Her life was big. Expansive.
And it was only going to keep on expanding.
She didn’t have limits. She could do whatever she wanted. She could be whoever she wanted.
Right now, she wanted to be a woman going on a date with a very handsome cowboy.
She looked in the mirror, and took a breath, then smoothed her dress down, and jumped when the doorbell rang.
She lifted up the front of her dress and scurried down the hall, toward the front door.
When she opened the door, her heart stopped.
He was wearing a black suit. He had a black hat on his head, and he looked… Perfect.
So, so perfect.
She had never seen a more gorgeous man than Zane Barton in that moment.
His hands were behind his back, and his expression was so grave it was almost comedic.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course,” she said.
He did, and closed the door behind him, and then he moved his hand out from behind his back, and produced a box.
With a clear lid and blossoms underneath.
“What…”
Then he slipped the blossoms out of the box and held them out.
“Your wrist,” he said.
“A corsage?”
She had never seen one in person. She didn’t even know they made them outside of 80s teen movies.
“Yes,” he said. “Now, I don’t know the proper etiquette these days. But this seemed like the right move to me. Because I… I wanted to ask you… If you’d go to prom with me?”
“Prom? Really?”
“Yep. Because we didn’t get to do it. And it’s not too late, Cara, it is never too late. To do… Anything. Small things, big things, dreams, and things that couldn’t even rise up to the level of dreams. We’re alive, goddamnit. So let’s go to prom.” He held his hand out, and breathless, she took it.
