Page 112 of Falling for the Grumpiest Protector

"I'm not trying to encourage you. I'm trying to tell you the truth."

He walks closer. "Maddy could decide this is too much for her someday. She could decide Oakridge isn't where she belongs. She could go back to New York. There are a dozen things neither one of us can predict."

"Exactly."

"No." His voice stays calm. "Because she could also stay."

I say nothing.

"And you don't know that either."

"No."

Jack studies me. "So stop deciding for her."

The words land harder than I expect.

"I'm not deciding for her."

"Yes, you are." There's no accusation in his voice. "You've already decided she'll leave. You've decided being with you will eventually become too hard for her."

I look toward the barn. "I don't want to hurt her."

"I know."

"I don't want her waking up ten years from now wishing she'd walked away when she had the chance."

"Then don't give her ten bad years."

I look at him. "That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant."

Jack steps beside me. "Be honest with her. Get help when you need it. Let her see the parts of you that aren't easy. Let her decide what she can live with."

He pauses. "If someday she decides she can't, then you respect her decision."

The thought twists something inside me. "And I'm supposed to just wait around and see if she leaves?"

"No." Jack shakes his head. "You're supposed to live your life without treating every person you love like they've already got one foot out the door."

That one finds its mark. I stare at the wet ground. Jack lets the silence stretch.

Then I say, "You make it sound easy."

"I don't think any part of this is easy."

He looks toward Atlas, who's lying a few feet away watching us. "You came home with things neither one of us knew how to carry. You learned. You're still learning. So am I."

I look at him. There are things Jack and I rarely say aloud because we don't need to. Service. Coming home. The farm. Men we've helped and men we couldn't. He knows what it costs to build a life after the one you expected disappears. That's why I came to him. Even if I didn't know I was coming for this conversation.

"I thought letting Diana go was the right thing," I say.

"Maybe it was."

"And Diego."

Jack is quiet.