by Max Monroe
Rhett nods.
“But have you considered, maybe, reading the notes?”
His jaw clenches again. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Well, because Frank Kaminsky called me this afternoon and proceeded to ask me why his doctor came back from our ranch looking all miserable and shit.”
That stops him in his prideful tracks. “What?”
“Leah isn’t happy,” I continue. “She’s already told Frank she’s probably going to step down from her position with the Slammers.”
“S-she’s not stayin’ with the team?”
I shake my head. “Doesn’t sound like it. Sounds like she’s mostly just hanging around because the top team physician is having some health problems. It’s why Frank had her leave the ranch earlier than she’d planned.”
Rhett blinks several times and just kind of stands in my office, staring straight ahead at the wall, but mostly, nothing at all.
I know that look.
It’s the look of a man who thought he knew what was going on, but in reality, he didn’t know shit.
And I’m hopin’ and prayin’ it’s also the look of a man who’s going to get his head out of his ass and go after the woman he so obviously loves.
Rhett
I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience as I walk out of my parents’ house and get into my truck.
I’m supposed to meet Rodney over in the pastures to look at some of the fences, but after talking to my dad about his conversation with Frank Kaminsky and hearing shit about Leah, I can’t find the focus to do anything but sit there, staring at the center console of my truck.
She’s not happy.
She’s miserable.
She’s probably going to step down from her position with the Slammers.
It’s why Frank had her leave the ranch earlier than she’d planned.
I repeat my dad’s words over and over again in my mind.
Have I been wrong about what’s really going on?
Was there a reason Leah didn’t say goodbye to me and Joe?
I can’t stop myself from opening the console and pulling out the half-crumpled envelopes. I grip them tightly between my fingers, and my heart and brain war over the decision to read them.
My heart wins out, and before I know it, I’m opening the one with Joey’s name.
Leah’s handwriting is scrawled across the page, and I can’t stop myself from reading.
Jo-Jo,
I want you to know that you are the smartest, fastest, most gorgeous girl I’ve ever met in my whole life. The eight weeks I got to spend with you on the ranch were some of the best I’ve ever had. I’ll never forget about our sleepover or our Target trips or the day we adopted Ernie or the time we went horseback riding or…well, it’s safe to say, you and I made a lot of memories together.
I have to go back to Salt Lake City to help take care of big, huge basketball players on the Slammers team.
Honestly, I don’t want to go back. The ranch has become my favorite place to be, and you have become one of my favorite people ever.
Just know, if you ever need anything, I’m always a phone call away, okay?
That’s my cell → 801-555-4532
I know I didn’t get to say goodbye and I hate that so much, but I’m starting to think that’s a good thing. Because this isn’t goodbye. This is just see you soon.
Love you, pretty girl,
Leah
Fuck. I sigh. Lean my head back against my seat.
Those words don’t sound like a woman who purposely didn’t say goodbye. Who didn’t care about hurting my daughter.
It sounds like the complete opposite.
It sounds like the Leah I know.
The one that feels like she took my heart with her when she left the ranch.
On a deep inhale and exhale, I find the strength to read the next letter.
The one written for me.
Rhett,
It’s just a little after 5:30 a.m., and I don’t have much time.
Frank sent my plane a few days early, and I’m being hurried to get out the door by a few of the Slammers’ execs, but there’s no way I was going to leave without saying goodbye to you somehow.
God, I hate the way we ended things last night.
I absolutely hate it.
I hate that I got angry and said things like summer fling and no big deal when that’s the complete opposite of how I feel about you.
I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.
You mean too much to me, take up too much space in my heart, for you to be a fling.
It’s why I wanted to try to make the long-distance work.
I honestly don’t know how I’m going to be able to move past our relationship. How I’m going to be able to move on. There are three words that I desperately want to say to you, but I refuse to say them for the first time in a letter.
But I’m sure you know. You HAVE to know.
You have my heart, Rhett. You’ve quite literally changed my life.
And this ranch, well, I’ve never had a place, not even as a little girl, that’s felt like home as much as being here with you and Joey does.
I just…I hate that we’re leaving things this way.
And I really hope you’ll call me because there is so much more I want to say.
But I guess, the most important thing of all is…all you have to do is ask me to stay.
Love,
Leah
I stare down at the paper in my hand. A million things are running through my mind—my dad’s words, Leah’s words, the way I feel about her.
She should’ve never fucking left.
She should still be here. With me. With Joey. At the ranch.
This place feels like her home because it is her home.
She belongs here with us.
I don’t have to think twice about my next move. Out of the truck, I stride right back into my parents’ house and find my dad sitting in his recliner.
“I need a plane.”
“Right now?” he asks, but that’s all he asks.
“Tonight or tomorrow. I’ve got somethin’ to get ready, but after I’m done, I want to leave as soon as possible. If you can’t get it by tomorrow mornin’, I’ll drive.”
Getting to his feet, he strides into his home office, and I follow right behind him. Within a minute, he’s on the phone and making calls.
And five minutes after that, he’s chartered a plane to come to the ranch by tomorrow morning.
“Nine a.m.,” he updates. “It’s the earliest I could get. Will that work?”
“Of course, that’ll work,” I say and let out a relieved breath from my lungs. The earliest I would have gotten there without getting Joey out of bed before the sun to drive would have been noon. This should buy me a couple hours. “It’s quite possible you just saved my ass.”
“Yeah?”
My old man knows me so fucking well that he already knows what’s going on without me telling him a single word. Or him asking a single question.
And time and time again, he proves to always have my back.
If this isn’t what makes family so great, I don’t know what does.
“Yeah,” I answer and walk straight over to him to lean down and wrap him up in a big hug. “Love ya, old man.”
“Love you too, son,” he says and pats a hearty hand to my back. “Now, I think it’s safe to say you better get on outta here and get ready to head to Salt Lake in the morning.”
“Damn straight.” I grin and step back. “I don’t know what is gonna happen, but I’m gonna try like hell to make sure I come back to this ranch with Leah.”
His smile damn near lights up the whole room. “So, I guess it was a good thing I hired that doctor to babysit you all along.”
I narrow my eyes at him. But I also laugh.
“Too soon?”
“If I manage to get her back here where she belongs, then by all means, I give you free rein to make as many jokes as
you want.”
He chuckles at that.
“Ornery bastard.”
My dad just grins, but then he furrows his brow. “So…not trying to be nosy or pushy, but are you planning on asking her to marry you?”
That question should probably be insane.
And up until this very moment, I hadn’t really thought about what I was going to say or do; I just knew I needed to go to her. But subconsciously, I think I knew that’s what I was going to do all along. Of course I want to ask her to marry me.
I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love.
“You know what?” I eventually answer. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Wait right here a minute.” He holds up one finger and walks out of the office. And a minute or two later, he’s stepping back inside with a little black box in his hands.
He pops it open and reveals a ring that’s been in our family for many, many years.
It was my grandmother’s ring. And before that, it was her mother’s ring. And before that, it was her mother’s ring.
“About a month ago, your mama told me to get this ring out of the safe in the lodge and put it in our bedroom, and honestly, I thought she might’ve gone nuts,” he comments. “But hell, if that woman doesn’t always know every-fucking-thing.”
“What?” My jaw damn near hits my boots. “She knew?”
He nods. “She fucking knew.”
I take the ring box out of my dad’s hand and stare down at it.
“That girl belongs at this ranch,” he says, his voice quiet. “She’s the one for you. I knew it after we got back from the hospital. She’s strong and smart, and she knows how to handle you when you’re being a real prick.”
I laugh.
“And she’s soft and kind and treats Joey like one of her own.”
I nod at that.
“She’s the one, son,” he says. “Now, all you have to do is go get her and convince her to spend the rest of her life with a stubborn son of a bitch,” he teases and pats a hand to my shoulder. “Who is also a strong man with a heart of gold who provides and cares for a family. A man who’s been through hell and deserves to have a woman like that by his side.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Go get her, son.”
Go get her.
I really fucking hope it’s that easy.
Because when I look toward my future, I see her.
August 14th, Friday
Leah
My mind is a basket case of anxious thoughts.
I can’t stop thinking about Rhett or Joey or what’s going on back at the ranch.
I can’t stop wondering if he’s read my letters.
I can’t stop regretting leaving the ranch the way I did.
And I certainly can’t stop wishing I could turn back time and do it all differently.
On a deep inhale and exhale, I force my mind to focus on finishing up wrapping Kevin Bird’s ankle so he can get back to practice.
“You okay, Doc?” he asks, his curious eyes looking down at me as I add an ACE wrap over the blue medical tape.
“Yep.”
“You sure?” he questions. “Because you look like something’s bothering you.”
The fact that I look so bad that a big-ass professional basketball player who’s currently busy with rigorous training notices, tells me all I need to know about my current state.
I’m sure my tired, swollen, red eyes and current messy attire of jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt aren’t helping my facade, but I’m finding it harder and harder to get through the day when I feel like someone yanked my heart right out of my chest.
“I’m good,” I answer and force a smile to my lips. “You don’t worry about me. You just focus on making sure this ankle feels stable enough to practice.”
He rotates it from left to right, then up and down, before testing several circular motions. “Feels good. Thanks.”
“All right,” I say and stand to my feet. “You’re all set. Stop by after practice to sit in an ice bath.”
“Will do.”
Once he leaves my exam room, my shoulders sag, and I have to rest my hip against the table just to stay upright.
All the lack of sleep and appetite over the past few days are really starting to catch up with me.
Thankfully, I have the weekend off—
“Knock, knock,” a male voice grabs my attention, and I look up to find Gary, one of our physical therapists on staff, standing outside my exam room door. “You have visitors.”
My head lurches back. “What?”
“They’re waiting for you in the lobby.”
Confused, I open my mouth to find out who the visitors are, but Gary doesn’t stand around long enough for me to ask him.
Welp. Thanks a lot for the info, Gare.
I roll my eyes, but also, once I run a hand down my T-shirt and fluff up my hair, trying to straighten myself up a bit, I head out the door and down the long hallway that leads to the lobby area of the arena.
My eyes are fixated on the ground as I go, but when they lock on a pair of familiar boots—actually, two pairs of boots—I jerk my eyes up and find the last two people I ever thought I’d see in this arena. Standing there, holding a sign with neon-pink glitter proclaiming my name and a brand-new pair of sparkly cowgirl boots, are the two most important people I’ve ever met.
“Rhett? Joey?” I question, and I feel like bursting into tears over the sight of them.
For the past three days, I’ve been trying to get ahold of Rhett without any luck.
Even when I managed to get ahold of Tex this morning before I headed to the stadium, he told me Rhett was busy with some chores on the ranch and he’d try to get him to call me back.
Frankly, I was starting to think that maybe Rhett was really and truly done with me.
Like, even though I’d poured my heart out to him in a rushed letter before I left the ranch, he didn’t want to make it work between us.
“W-what are you doing here?” I ask, looking directly at Rhett.
“Well, there’s a new job opening,” he says matter-of-factly. “At the ranch. We’re lookin’ for a full-time doctor to stay out there.”
I snap my head back in surprise. “You came here to offer me a job?”
“Yeah.” He smirks, and it’s like he doesn’t realize that the past three days have been absolute hell. He’s acting like we didn’t leave things with him storming out of my cabin and me carelessly tossing out words I didn’t mean.
I open my mouth, but then I shut it again because I have no idea what to say to any of this.
I mean, that’s really why he came here?
To ask me to work on the ranch?
“But actually, that’s not all,” he answers my unsaid questions, and Joey bounces on the heels of her boots.
“Tell her, Daddy!” she whispers, tugging at the pocket of his jeans.
He smiles down at her. “Don’t worry, Joey, I’m gettin’ there. You gotta be patient.”
She giggles, takes a step behind him, and all I can do is stare back at Rhett and try not to feel like I’m going to pass out from the shock of him actually being here.
“Every man has two lives. The second life starts when he realizes he only has one,” he says, and his eyes lock with mine. “That’s a quote from a famous philosopher, and it’s one my dad always used to say when I was growing up. Honestly, that quote didn’t mean shit to me. Well, not until you stepped on to my ranch.”
He steps closer and reaches out to take my hand into his.
“We only have one life, Leah. One life to live. One life to love. One life to find happiness in. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let another day go by without you by my side.”
A sheen of fresh tears blocks my vision.
“Come home, darlin’. Come fuckin’ home to the ranch with me where you belong. Because you’re not a damn hamster person. You’re meant for horses, and you’re meant for me.�
�� He grins and sets the pair of sparkly cowgirl boots by my feet. “Even if that means addin’ a whole hell of a lot of sparkle to my life.”
“Tell her she can stay at our house, Daddy!” Joey whisper-yells toward him, and a soft chuckle leaves Rhett’s lips.
“We want you to stay with us. Not in a fuckin’ cabin. But in our house, because you belong there. With us. Every goddamn day.”
“And don’t forget to tell her we love her, Daddy!” Joey chimes in again. This time, her voice isn’t even close to a whisper.
Rhett sighs, but also, he smiles and glances over his shoulder to say, “I’m gettin’ to that, baby. Give a man a minute to tell the woman of his dreams he’s in love with her.”
My lungs spasm with a hiccuping breath.
He’s in love with me?
Rhett’s mesmerizing eyes lock with mine again, and he lifts my hand to his chest, holding it against his heart. “Leah Levee, I’m in love with you. The day you left, I went to your cabin to try to make shit right with you. To try to figure out a way to make the long-distance work because I couldn’t picture a future without you in it. But when I got there, you were gone, and I felt like my heart got torn out of my chest.”
God. That’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen. My heart clenches inside my chest over the mere idea that I put him through that. Even though I’ve been living in my own kind of hell here, I still never wanted to make him feel bad.
“I’m so sorry, Rhett. I-I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to you and Joey,” I say on a rush, but he calms me by tenderly gripping the hand he’s still holding against his heart.
“I know, darlin’. I know. Which is why I’m here,” he says and proceeds to get down on one knee. His good knee. “On my fuckin’ knees, asking you to come home. Asking you to spend your life with me on the ranch. Leah, I’m asking you to marry me. Be my wife. Be the mama Joey’s never had. The one you’ve been to her all along. You’re our family, and we want to keep you forever.”
Several tears seep from my eyes.
“Don’t forget about Ernie!” Joey whispers, and Rhett smirks at me.