by Emma Woods
I was about to ask Jill if she wanted to watch a movie when her phone pinged. She looked down and smiled at it. I sighed inwardly. It was likely Tom making plans with her. Well, I could always watch a movie on my own.
“Hey, Rosie,” she called as I turned toward the family room. “Want to get some hot chocolate and sit on the back porch with me? There’s supposed to be a meteor shower.”
Relieved not to spend the evening alone, I agreed readily.
“I’ll make some cocoa and meet you out there,” Jill promised.
“I’ll turn on the heater.” I turned happily and headed outside, grabbing a sweatshirt from a hook near the back door as I went.
As soon as I stepped outside, I saw that something was different. For one thing, it was brighter out there than it should have been for this time of year. The light was all wrong, too. It wasn’t sun-setting bright, it was more soft and glowing bright.
I padded out a little further and saw the cause of the light: candles. There were drippy candles in bowls, plates, and jars all over the porch. What was going on out here? Had Tom planned a romantic evening for Jill? I started thinking this was more likely the case when I noticed the beautiful cut-glass vase of roses sitting on the wicker coffee table.
I was about to turn and head back inside when someone moved. He had been sitting in a chair with his back to me, and I jumped when he stood.
It wasn’t Tom. It was Ty.
“What are you doing here?” I asked breathlessly. I actually, stupidly, thought that Ty was going to ruin Tom’s romantic surprise.
Ty smiled sweetly. “I talked to Luke this afternoon.”
“Oh?” I was still completely at sea.
“Yep. He seemed to think that you didn’t want me to move to St. Paul.”
I groaned inwardly. Thanks, a heap, Luke. “Of course, I like having you around,” I admitted, irritated. “But you said you love St. Paul and miss it a lot.”
Ty shook his head sadly. “Oh, Rosie.”
Why was he here? This was just going to make things harder. I hadn’t imagined I’d have to convince him to go. I could have killed my brother right about then.
“There are a lot of things I love about living in the city. However, there are things I love about living in Birch Springs, too. Just because I miss St. Paul doesn’t mean I’m dying to go back there.”
I swear my heart stopped beating. For the first time, I looked around and realized that Tom wasn’t coming. Ty had lit these candles, and maybe bought those flowers, for me.
“You might stay here?” I squeaked.
He nodded seriously. “There’s one thing that Birch Springs has that St. Paul will never have. You.”
My eyebrows shot up and I blinked at him, words completely failing me.
“Luke seemed to think that you’d still want to date me if I stuck around.” Ty walked slowly toward me.
“I don’t want you to give up an opportunity you really want just for me,” I said, and tears spilled down my cheeks.
He stopped just inches from me and used his thumbs to gently wipe the tears away. “That job opportunity is great. But the opportunity to be with you is the best one that will ever be. That job can’t compete with the possibility of being with you.”
I lost it. And not in that romantic rom-com way. I was blubbering and my nose ran and I got the hiccups. Ty had to go into the house to find a box of tissues for me so I could clean up.
We were sitting on the porch’s loveseat when I finally got myself back together. Ty stroked my hair and laughed a little.
“So, I take it that you might want to keep going out?” he teased.
“I’m not glamorous,” I had to say.
Ty looked confused. “Um… Okay?”
“I’m not fashionable. I don’t drive a fancy car or have big ambitions. I don’t have my makeup perfect all the time or wear stunning outfits. I’m not that girl. If that’s what you want, you need to know I’m never going to be like that.”
He clued in somewhere in the middle of that and frowned. “When I started dating Jenna, I was in a really weird place. I felt like I couldn’t figure out how to be the cool guy. For some reason, I’d lost touch with myself and was afraid I wasn’t enough to make it the way I was. Then came Jenna. She knew how to change me so I could pretend I was that cool guy. And I liked having her as my girlfriend, especially when we went out in public. It was like I was living the life everyone around me wanted.
“But all of that was so phony. Clothes, cars, furniture, none of it matters. It’ll all be out-of-date in a few years. Once I understood that the people I liked best were the ones who were genuine, funny, and nice, I finally understood that that was what mattered most. That’s what people liked about me. And Jenna didn’t want to date the nice version of me.
“I don’t want to be with someone who puts fashion above people. It’s fine to like clothes and stuff, but if appearing to have a good life is more important than actually having a good life, that’s really stupid.”
Ty reached over and took my hand. “I think I fell in love with you years ago, Rosie. You are funny and kind, and you care so deeply for people. And you’re talented, too. You’re going to do great things with the dance studio. In fact,” here he dug around in his back pocket, “I forgot to tell you earlier. I sold Jenna’s ring, and I want to invest the proceeds from the sale in the studio. I know it’s going to be a huge success.”
I took the check from his hand and gaped at it. With this money and the money I had, we could make up the fifty thousand that Donna needed to renovate the new space.
“Are you sure? We might flop,” I warned.
Ty shrugged, as if giving me thousands of dollars was no big thing. “I doubt it. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. I know you’ll do your best. Besides, I’d much rather invest in something good than just have the money sit in my bank account.”
I stared at the check, and then at him. “I don’t know what to say.”
He smiled shyly. “Say you’ll be my girlfriend and we’ll call it even.”
“Ty,” I said earnestly, “I’ve never wanted to be anyone else’s girlfriend. Well, I did have a thing for Zack Efron when I was in middle school, but no one else since then.”
He laughed. “I love you, Rosie.”
My eyes widened, and without thinking about it, I whispered, “I love you.”
Ty leaned forward and planted the sweetest kiss in the history of the world on my lips. When he pulled back, he asked with mock horror, “You aren’t going to want a twenty-thousand-dollar engagement ring, are you?”
I punched his arm lightly. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s way too early to talk about that sort of thing.”
He gave me a silly, crooked grin. “You’re probably right.”
“Besides,” I said, nose in the air, “I won’t settle for anything less than a forty-thousand-dollar engagement ring.”
Ty cracked up and then reached over, trying to grab the ticklish spot on my ribs. I squealed and tried to get away. But I didn’t try too hard. And when the tickling turned back into kissing, I was glad my lips were handy.
My heart sighed happily. It seemed like Luke had actually saved the day. Would wonders never cease?
* * *
Thank You
Thanks for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, or even if you didn’t, it would be awesome if you left a review for me on Amazon and/or Goodreads. It really helps me know how I’m doing.
The next book in the Triple Star Ranch Romance series is in the final stages of editing now and will be available soon. You will definitely want to find out who falls in love next, so keep your eyes peeled :)
Until then, if you’re interested in historical western stories, you should check out the Rushing Into Love series which takes place during the California Gold Rush. The first story in that series is called More Precious Than Gold.
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