by Liz Isaacson
Colton nodded, though he couldn’t even fathom the emotions tied to having a son and trying to build an instant family after what Gray had been through. “Maybe that’s something you need to work on with him,” he said. “And then with Elise.”
“I know.”
“I’m coming down to stay with Ames for a bit,” Colton said. “I can help with Hunter if you need it.”
“Why are you coming?”
“Oh, there’s all this wedding planning happening here,” Colton said with a sigh as he turned back to the house. “And it’s causing a lot of friction in my own family too, and I need a break.”
“I’m sorry,” Gray said. “I didn’t know.”
“No one did,” Colton said. “It’s not a big deal. Annie and I are fine. It’s just a stressful situation. She wants the wedding to be perfect, because Em didn’t involve her much, and Eden seems to be involving her too much.” Colton sighed and shook his head. “It’s fine. She’s just so busy with that, and there’s been some fighting, and we decided I’d just get out of town for a bit until things are less stressful. She doesn’t like worrying about me, and she knows if I’m down in Colorado, she won’t have to.”
“You can stay at the farm,” Gray said.
“I’ll come visit,” Colton hedged. “Drag Ames out to ride horses and bring Sparky to chase the chickens.” The dog looked up at the mention of his name, and Colton grinned at him. He wondered what Gray would do if he showed up with Sparky and Hutch.
“Okay,” Gray said.
“Okay,” Colton agreed. “Now, give Elise a day or two. And then find her, get down on both knees, and beg her to forgive you.”
Gray chuckled, the sound quite dark. “Okay, Colt.”
“I mean it, Gray. She loves you.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“I just know,” Colton said. “Just like I knew months ago that you loved her.”
“When did you know?”
“I don’t know,” Colton said, blowing out his breath. “May? Sometime in May. Did you know she asked Ames to teach her how to run?”
“She did? Why would she do that?”
“Because, you dolt. She wants to spend time with you, doing what you love to do. And that’s running. So she’s training to be able to run a few miles with you every day.”
“Hunter’s coming back,” Gray said. “I have to go.”
“Give him a hug for me,” Colton said. “And tell him not to worry about Elise. She loves him, and even if you screwed up, she’s not going to abandon him.”
“Okay,” Gray said, his voice thick. “Thank you, Colt.”
“Love you, Gray. You can do this.” Colton knew, because he’d done it. Gray was a different breed of Hammond though. The kind that knew what to do in every situation. Who could divorce feelings from fact and make decisions that would help the most, no matter how he felt.
Men like Gray rarely made mistakes, and when they did, they were very hard to overcome. Hard to admit out loud. Hard to move past.
Colton pocketed his phone and said a prayer for his brother. “Lord, he needs You more than ever right now. Please help him, open his mind to the right road, and please, please protect his son from his father’s stupidity.” Tears came to Colton’s eyes, because he loved Hunter too.
“And bless Elise to text that boy back.”
A couple of days later, Colton waited on his front porch with a suitcase. He’d already kissed his wife goodbye. She’d left for the lodge, and as Elise pulled into the driveway, Colton was ready to leave for Colorado.
“Ready?” she asked through her open window.
“Pop the trunk,” he said, not super happy about the giant dog in the passenger seat.
She did, and he put the bag in the back before opening the passenger-side door. “Get in the back, Hutch,” he said. The dog stubbornly stayed where he was.
Elise reached over and grabbed his collar. “Go to the back, Hutch.”
The dog finally obeyed, and Colton slid into the passenger seat. “I’m so ready for this. Can we get a breakfast burrito on the way out of town, though? I’ve only had coffee this morning.”
“No cupcakes?” Elise teased. “Seems hard to believe.” She backed out of the driveway, and while she seemed normal, Colton knew he was dealing with a whole new Elise. He hadn’t asked her about Gray or Hunter in the past couple of days. They’d spent time with Bree and Wes and Michael in the hospital, and then last night at their home, after Bree had been released.
She’d cried and hugged them, wondering what in the world she was going to do the next day—today—with a baby all by herself. “Someone’s made a mistake,” she’d said, wiping her eyes. “Letting me bring him home like I know what I’m doing.”
Both Colton and Elise had reassured her that she did know what she was doing, and that everything would be fine. He looked at Elise now, wondering if she believed that for herself.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Good, because it’s a long drive, and I’m not going to tolerate any talk about your brother.”
“Still haven’t spoken to him?”
“No,” she said, glancing at him. “I’ve talked to Hunter a couple of times.” Her fingers tightened on the wheel, and she reached to adjust how hard the air was blowing. “Gray hasn’t even called or texted, Colt.”
Frustration built inside him too. He hadn’t heard from Gray either, so he didn’t have an update for her. “Maybe he just wants to talk in person.”
“Maybe he meant what he said.”
“All he said was not to talk to Hunter,” Colton said. “And you’re doing that.”
“He said it was okay.” She glanced at him, fear in those light green eyes. “What if Gray doesn’t know he’s been calling and texting?”
“Have you met Gray?” Colton asked, smiling as he shook his head. “Elise, the man knows exactly what his son does with every second of his day.”
She nodded and looked out her window. “You’re right.” She pulled into the fast-food restaurant drive-through to get the breakfast burritos, and then they got on the highway headed south.
Elise turned up the music and started belting out the lyrics for the Broadway musicals playlist she’d made. Colton suffered through it, though he did think some of the songs were catchy. He’d never tell her that though.
Once they’d listened to no less than thirty of Broadway’s “best hits” according to Elise, he plugged in his phone and said, “Okay, now we get to listen to some real music.”
“Oh, jeez,” she said. “What playlist did you make?”
“It’s a good one,” he promised as the first strains of “Take On Me” by A-ha came on.
“Eighties?” She gave him a dry look.
“Just because you weren’t born yet doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “There’s some great songs on here. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Livin’ on a Prayer.” He watched her for signs of recognition of any of those.
She just shook her head and kept driving. She didn’t protest though, and Colton took that as a win.
Several songs later, he happened to look over on the lonely stretch of Wyoming highway and see a truck coming toward them. “Elise,” he said, quickly reaching for the radio’s volume knob to turn the music down.
“What?”
He peered at the dark brown truck, wishing her sedan were higher, and that they weren’t going seventy miles-per-hour. “I think that’s Gray’s truck.”
She looked at it, pulling in a breath. It had Colorado plates, and Colton definitely saw his brother as the truck drew close. Then, just like that, the two vehicles passed one another.
“I have to stop,” Elise said, plenty of panic in her voice. “Call him, Colton.”
“He’s going to Coral Canyon,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the truck. It rapidly moved away from them, though Elise had started to slow down.
“Yeah, and we’re goin
g to Colorado,” Elise said. “Call him.”
“Okay.” Colton fumbled for his phone and jabbed at the pause button to stop the music. He made the call and put the call on speaker as it connected.
Elise’s car bumped over the shoulder, finally coming to a stop. “Why isn’t he answering?”
“Again,” Colton said. “Have you met Gray? He’s so perfect and so buttoned up, that he doesn’t use his phone while he drives.”
“Call Hunter,” she said. “Was he in the car? Did you see him?”
“I couldn’t see that far.”
“I’m turning around.”
“You’ll never catch him.”
“Colton.” Her voice only possessed desperation.
He looked at her, and he too desperately wanted things to work out for her and Gray. He ended the unanswered call to his brother and said, “Hang on. I’m trying Hunter.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Gray had given Elise two days. He had not bothered her. No texts. No calls. Hunter had burst into tears the first time she’d texted him back, and then he’d bustled down the hall to his bedroom to call her.
“She’s okay, Dad,” was all he would give to Gray.
He existed in a layer of torture that would not go away. He’d called Ames and confirmed that his brother had been walking and running with Elise every day since she’d moved to Colorado. “She’s getting good,” Ames had said. “Almost up to two miles now.”
Gray had never felt so foolish. He’d asked Hunter a dozen times if he would please forgive him, and every time, Hunter just hugged him and told him he loved him. They’d had a heart-to-heart about Gray’s feelings regarding Hunter wanting to share more with Elise than him, and Hunter had admitted that he was a bit worried about what Gray would think of him for liking a girl or texting in the barn.
“It’s always about being the best with you, Dad,” he’d said. “Because you are the best. But sometimes that’s hard for me to live up to.”
“What’s different about Elise?”
“I know she’s going to be happy for me, and excited for me, and ask me questions just to know more about me and the situation. No matter what. She doesn’t judge me.”
“And I do?”
“Feels like it.” Hunter had mumbled that last part, and Gray hadn’t known how to assure his son that it wasn’t judgment coming from Gray. It was worry.
He’d finally said as he’d pitched the last forkful of straw over the fence, “Hunter, I worry about you constantly. I worry that I’m not good enough. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just make stuff up on a day-by-day basis.”
Hunter had looked at him, and they’d shared another embrace. “So forgive me,” Gray said. “There’s no manual for this. I’m just doing what I think is right, and I’m sorry if I’ve been coming across as judgmental or like I don’t want to know about your friends and your life. I do. I desperately do.”
“I know, Dad,” Hunter had said. “Sometimes it’s all about how fast I can get the chores done, not that they got done with a little bit of texting, you know?”
Gray had nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I can accept that.”
He’d left Hunter with Ames for this trip to Coral Canyon, because he’d finally called an old neighbor to find out if Elise had come or gone from the house at all, and he’d said no. No movement or activity at the house.
Which meant Elise had left the house, and Gray knew of only one place she’d go: Coral Canyon.
He’d immediately packed a bag, complete with the diamond ring he’d bought, and called his brother. He’d dropped off Hunter very early that morning, and he’d started the trip north. If he was lucky, and he didn’t spy any cops along the way, he’d be there just after lunchtime.
He was trying to decide if he should call her first, just to find out where she was. It would be more romantic if he could somehow just show up where she was with dozens of roses and the ring.
His stomach tightened. Maybe she didn’t want him anymore. Maybe roses, and a ring, and Gray himself simply weren’t enough.
His phone rang, and it was Colton, and Gray’s first impulse was to answer the call. Find out where Elise was and maybe chew out his brother for not telling him two days ago that she’d left town.
In the end, he didn’t want to involve her best friend. Gray was a grown man, and Gray could solve his own problems. The call cut off before it went to voicemail, and Gray sighed in relief.
A few minutes later, Hunter called. He should be in school, and Gray’s heart skipped a beat. He tapped the phone icon on the screen, and the radio cut off as the call connected. “Hunt? What’s going on?”
“You have to pull over,” he said, his voice full of excitement.
“What? Why? Aren’t you in….” He glanced at the clock. “Art?”
“It’s science today,” Hunter said, and how he kept track of his alternating classes, Gray didn’t know. “And Uncle Colton called, because he saw you in your truck going to Coral Canyon.”
Gray looked in his rear-view mirror, but there was no one behind him. “He did? How?”
“He’s in the car with Elise, and they’re on their way back here,” Hunter said. “Dad, pull over.”
Gray eased his foot off the gas pedal and started to apply the brake. He wasn’t exactly in a spot where he could just pull over, as the highways up here were two lanes, one in each direction, with a shallow shoulder. “I’ll call Uncle Colt,” he said. “Go back to class, Hunt.”
“Dad, you’ve got the ring, right?”
“Yes.” He pulled off the road and brought the truck to a stop. “You think I should ask her right when I see her?”
“Yes,” Hunter said. “That’s the plan, Dad.” He laughed, and Gray wished he had his son’s optimism. “Okay, call Uncle Colt. I have to go.” The line went dead, and Gray took a moment to look into the rear-view mirror and his own eyes.
“You do love her,” he told himself. “You don’t know everything, but you know that.” He reached into the back seat and retrieved the ring box from his bag. With it sitting on the console, he dialed Colton.
“Did you talk to Hunter?” his brother asked.
“Yes,” Gray said. “I pulled over.”
“Great,” Colton said. “We’re on our way to you.”
His heart started to pound in a most unnatural way, and Gray reminded himself of the facts. He loved Elise. He wanted her in his life. He needed her to be a mother to Hunter.
It seemed like no time had passed at all, before Elise’s sedan pulled off the road behind him, Colton at the wheel. Gray got out of the truck at the same time Elise got out of her car. The wind was blowing up here, as it seemed to perpetually do in Wyoming, and Gray gripped the ring box tightly.
He went around the front of the truck so he could avoid any traffic that might pass by on the highway, and he paused at the hood while Elise stopped at the tailgate.
“I’m sorry, he called to her. “I love you, and I’m an idiot, and if you can find a way to maybe just give me one pass, I’d love to forget about that phone call from a couple nights ago.”
A strong gust of wind had him reaching to hold his cowboy hat on his head a moment too late. It went tumbling off into the field alongside the road, and Gray watched it. He stepped forward so the tallest part of the truck would protect him from the wind.
He watched Elise do the same, and before he knew it, she stood right in front of him.
“You’re beautiful,” he said. “I’m sorry. I love you.” He didn’t know what else to say. He dropped to both knees and held up the box. “I want you out at the farm. Hunter wants you to be his mother.” He took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”
Elise just kept looking at him. She bypassed the box and reached toward his face, sliding her cold, slender fingers along his jaw. He leaned into her touch, for it was an exquisite form of pleasure and torture.
“You’re asking me to marry you in the breath right after you asked me to forgive you?”
/>
“Hunter said I should.”
Elise finally cracked a smile. “So we’re taking our directions from a twelve-year-old boy now.”
“I’ve disappointed him greatly,” Gray said, his throat on fire. “I made a mistake, Elise. A really big one, and it impacted you, and me, and him, and he was so, so mad at me. He explained everything, and as usual I jumped to a conclusion that fit my paradigm.” He let the ring box drop, and his knees weren’t particularly happy with the gravel digging into them.
“Do you really want me at the farm with you?”
“More than anything in the world.”
Elise leaned forward, and because she was so short, he could wrap his arms around her waist as she drew his head to her chest. “I love you, Gray Hammond, but I really don’t want to go through another phone call like that one.”
“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Even when you get mad?”
“Even if.”
“Even if you’re scared?”
“I’m so scared you’re going to say no,” he whispered.
“Even if you’re not sure?”
“I’m sure about us, Elise.” He inched away and looked up at her. “Did you say you loved me?”
“I’ve loved you for months, Gray,” she said with a smile. “Maybe from the moment I met you in Colton’s kitchen.” Tears splashed her face, but she didn’t wipe them away. “And if you really mean this proposal, then my answer is yes.”
“Oh, I mean it,” he said, his heart singing as it beat in the back of his throat. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. He used the truck to steady himself as he stood, and he took his fiancée into his arms, whispered, “I’ve loved you for months too,” and kissed her.
“He says he can get his own lunch,” Elise said, glancing up from Gray’s phone.