Page 176 of Lost Trust

“But the door is slammed shut on us.”

His expression hardens. “You really want this?”

I frown. “Want what?”

“This.” He gestures around the cabin. “This ranch life. The rodeo school. This whole … rural redneck bullshit.”

My spine straightens.

“You’d really choose this over what we had?”

I almost laugh. “What we had?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Texas. The homes. The career. The life we built.”

I look around the room. My well-worn boots sit beside the door. Ryder’s big old cowboy hat lies on the table. His toys are scattered across the living room. Mom’s fringed purse hangs from a hook.

Within these four walls is the cabin Charli so generously let us turn into a home.

Then I look back at him. “It doesn’t come close.”

His face lights with triumph.

I shake my head. “Not even close.”

His smile falters.

“You stopped seeing me, Blaze. Long before you actually left. You were gone for weeks at a time, and when you came home, you just looked right through me to the next rodeo. You didn’t even kiss me when you walked through the door anymore.”

“He’s a Trust, Marina. He’s just as dedicated to this life as I am.”

“We aren’t talking about him.”

“Sure we are. So, what? He makes you some empty promises and takes our kid fishing a few times, and he’s some saint now?”

I laugh incredulously. “This isn’t about what he’s done. It’s about what you should have done. Tell me, and be brutally honest, if you were in my shoes, would you come home to you?”

He hangs his head.

“Would you?”

“No.”

“This life is everything I wanted,” I tell him. “Everything I didn’t know I was missing.”

The ranch. The academy. The horses. The people who have somehow become my people.

“This place and the people who call it home saved me. I don’t miss what I had with you. I don’t miss that life. Because now I know the difference between having a life that looks good from the outside and having one that actually makes me happy.” I pause. “And if you ever cared anything about me, you should want that for me.”

He doesn’t answer.

He just looks away.

Royce

Axle approaches me as I walk into Bryce’s office, wearing a curious yet worried expression.

For the past couple of months, I’ve felt a little lost.