Page 73 of A Cowboy to Call Her Own

“Got any left?” Asher asked.

“Can’t say that I do.” Big E hooked his thumbs into his belt loops and gave Asher a sidelong smile. “Been a bit of a good run recently. Collecting memories these days like Joe is intending to do with his kin. What about you?”

“I think I’ve got one giant regret in the making,” Asher said. And if he didn’t fix things with Kelley, it was going to turn into a tumbleweed picking up speed and size until it became a thornbush barreling into his chest.

Big E adjusted his hat and said, “You’re regretting not asking me to be on the parade float, aren’t you?”

“You’re riding with Lenny Culver in a nineteen sixty-five Ford Mustang. Best seat in the parade.” Asher chuckled. “And it’s a bit more personal than that.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Big E stood and faced Asher. “This is a simple fix. Listen to your heart and there won’t be anything to regret.”

“I can guarantee I have not ever done that,” Asher said. If he had, he wouldn’t have let Kelley go.

“Maybe it’s time you tried,” Big E suggested. “Where has not listening gotten you?”

Alone. Although he argued, “I haven’t done too bad on my own.”

“Can’t disagree with you on that,” Big E said good-naturedly. “If you’re happy, well, then there’s nothing wrong with going on as you have been. On your own, as it were.”

Except there was that tumbleweed of regret building inside him. Not to mention he was not content quite yet. He said, “How happy are we talking?”

“Deep down to your core.” Big E grinned at him. “That’s where the good stuff is.”

The good stuff had been his time spent with Kelley. As for really happy, he had been with his cowgirl. But was that enough to stake a future on? And was he ready to stake his future there in Gold Finch? To go all in? “I never imagined I would find myself back here. Let alone running the place.”

“Sometimes you gotta leave to feel the tug of the roots pulling you back to where you are meant to be.”

“But I did not feel any tug when I left all those years ago.” Asher frowned.

“Perhaps this time it’s not so much about the roots you’ve got but rather it’s about the roots you want to put down with a certain cowgirl,” Big E said.

Kelley.Asher tested out that pull inside his chest. All roads seemed to be leading back to his cowgirl. A slow grin spread across his face. “I think you might be right.”

“Of course, I am.” Big E laughed and set his hand on Asher’s shoulder again. “Son, this isn’t my first rodeo with love.”

“Love,” Asher repeated.

“What did you think this was all about?” Big E eyed him and continued, “Even your dad knew that much. Love is at the core of it all.”

Asher gripped the fence, yet it was something else entirely that started to center him. Feelings, strong ones, important ones, he supposed. For once he didn’t shut them down.

“Your dad was never the same after his Priscilla passed. A broken heart has been known to do that to a cowboy,” Big E said. “But then Walter lost Dylan and instead of clinging to you boys like he should have, he pushed you all away further.”

Asher stepped back from the fence and straightened as if to prove to himself he knew exactly where he stood.

“Easier to push you away than love you up close, and fear the day he loses you, too,” Big E added. “Walter loved you, but on his own terms.”

You’re starting to care, cowboy. And then he ran. Asher knew about having terms. He scrubbed a hand over his face and realized he was more like his father than he wanted to admit.

“But Walter closed himself off so tight, he never could heal properly.” Big E shook his head. “Shame, that. He missed so much time with you and your brothers.”

The time away from Kelley felt like years, not days. Asher accused Kelley of existing, not living. But he was doing the same. Living with his heart mostly closed. Perhaps his cowgirl was right all along. It was past time to flip the narrative. Grinning, he glanced at Big E and declared, “I am in love.”

“I already knew that, son.” Big E chuckled. “What I’m wanting to know is what you’re intending on doing about it?”

“I’m going to take Joe’s advice,” Asher said, his smile spreading wide. “I’m going to build a team. My own team.” And his first pick for a partner—the sort that stuck for life—was his special cowgirl.

CHAPTER NINETEEN