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“Will do, son.”
Boone turns to leave and that is not the way this is fucking going to go. “Boone Lowe, turn your ass around and look at me.”
The whole room, full of my noisy family, falls silent. Boone doesn’t turn his whole body, but his head turns enough for our eyes to meet. “You’re ok, wildflower.”
I nod, then he turns back around and leaves. The tears flow freely down my face. My heart hurts, along with everything else, and I want them to bring the morphine back so I can go to sleep and pretend he didn’t just do that.
My mother comes over and dries my tears, “He isn’t gone for good. I think that man will be back for you.”
Shaking my head, I lay back down on the bed and close my eyes. Mother gets everyone to carry all my stuff out to their cars and leaves just Dad to drive me back to the ranch. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl and if anyone is going to understand what I need right now, it’s going to be him.
“We’ll leave whenever you’re ready, Georgia,” he says calmly.
“Why would he leave like that? He’s been with me every minute for the last two weeks. I thought he wouldn’t leave me again.”
“He knows you’re okay now.”
“What does that mean? Do I look okay? Boone walking out that door without a promise of coming back makes me very not okay,” I say, the pitch of my voice rising with every word.
“I know, but you can’t force him to stay. We just have to hope that he sees he’s being a jackass and comes crawling back for forgiveness and that you aren’t too stubborn to give it to him.” Dad smiles and kisses my forehead. “Let’s get you home.”
11
Boone
I’ve been working from sunup to sundown for the last week, exhausting myself in the hopes that I won’t dream of her. It hasn’t done a damn bit of good. Georgia claims my thoughts when I’m awake and when I’m asleep. I will never stop wanting her.
Her dad has been giving me a daily report on her progress and I don’t like what he’s told me the last two days. She’s stopped eating much and yesterday didn’t get out of bed. When I asked him if one of the injuries could be worse than originally thought, he told me it was something that happened after the accident but wouldn’t explain. I know he meant me leaving her.
I want to rush to her side, but I can’t. Georgia called me dangerous before and she was right. I almost got her killed. I didn’t protect her like I should have. I’m not the man for her.
“What did that hay do to you?” Cole asks as he walks up to me where I’m moving hay for the horse stalls.
“Fuck you,” I answer back. No one has been spared from my pleasant personality since I left the hospital.
Cole laughs and says, “Nope, I’m not leaving just because you growl. I’m not some wet behind-the-ears teenager you can chase off. You need to tell me what the hell is going on so we can fix it and you can stop making everyone around you miserable.”
I knew this was coming and I kind of thought I would have to face Elly, not Cole. The last thing I want to talk about with him is my feelings and how much I miss just being in the same room as Georgia.
“So…”
“You know what my problem is and that there’s nothing to do about it. She was hurt because I didn’t protect her and now we aren’t together because it’s best for her.”
“You aren’t a stupid cowboy, but you’re sure doing a good job of pretending to be one,” Cole laughs. “Did you talk to Georgia about this?”
“She told me when she was in the hospital that this wasn’t my fault, but what else was she going to say.”
“If Georgia thought that you were to blame for this, she would let you know. Think about it. She was trying to keep you at arm’s length but didn’t use this as a reason.”
That’s true. Before the day of the accident, she was doing anything she could to not spend too much time with me. The day I left the hospital I could see the hurt in her face that I was leaving. I couldn’t even tell her goodbye.
“What do I do, Cole?”
“Man up. If you want to be part of her life then you need to tell her, but if you’re going to walk away again stay away.”
Elly yells for Cole from the porch of the big house. A huge smile transforms his face as he sees his wife. That’s what I want. Georgia to come home to every day.
“Thanks, Cole.”
