Page 19 of Hometown Cowboy

Darby wiped her eyes. “Thirty is too young to die, no matter which way you look at it. I’m sorry you guys never got to grow old together, with some kids and grandkids around you. You’d make a great dad, Max. A really great one.”

Her comment brought a smile to his face. “I think I’m getting a bit long in the tooth for kids, Darb. Only a year until the big four-oh.”

She shrugged. “That’s not old at all. Sometimes it just takes a few wrong turns to get where we’re meant to be.”

Max picked up his tea towel and pointed a finger at her, grinning with that sarcastic snark that only brothers seemed to muster, or maybe it was just her brothers?

“Maybe that wrong turn is the right one. Ever considered that?”

Chapter Ten

As Darby walkedinto her parents’ living room, a familiar face that popped up in the background on the TV caught her attention. Although the sound was down low, the image stopped her in her tracks.

Britney Logan’s sculpted face and body drew the eye, each part of her that caught your attention more beautiful than the last.

Darby sighed.

The woman was pure, unadulterated, gorgeous perfection.

It always seemed a little surreal to Darby whenever she saw Britney that a creature this beautiful had been a classmate and somewhat of a friend for years.

Once she’d left The Crossing, their paths rarely crossed. They’d lost contact a few years ago after the seemingly required Christmas and birthday cards had dwindled to nothing.

The brand name and logo of a cosmetic company splashed across the screen. Darby couldn’t help but be happy that Britney’s career had taken such an upward swing. According to the well-known company, and the fact that her face was everywhere, she was now the face of their brand.

A strange mixture of regret, frustration, and fear swirled through her gut. This woman, this amazing person who had done so much with her life, was Ryan’s ex. Not just ex-girlfriend, oh no; she was his ex-fiancée. His left-him-at-the-altar fiancée.

Sure, by casual observation he’d gotten over her many years ago. But Darby had been there and had seen the fallout after Britney had left; had tried to pick up the pieces and put him back together. It had almost broken him.

She wasn’t usually one to compare, but how could you not when the woman on the screen was… perfect?

And she was simply Darby.

She wasn’t one of these people who itched to get away, who ached to do things and see places far away. She had been on enough holidays, it wasn’t like she never wentanywhere, she simply didn’t want to leave. She was happy there in The Crossing. She loved working in her mother’s bakery, a bakery that would probably end up being hers one day soon.

She loved the fact that she could walk down the street and be greeted by people who she had known her entire life. It was comforting, it made her happy.

This sleepy little town held her heart and her soul. Her entire family was here, and she had no inclination to ever leave.

Britney, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to get out of here. It was all she had ever talked about through high school. The places she wanted to go, the exotic cities she wanted to live in. It was all such a foreign concept to Darby. She’d always encouraged Britney to follow her dreams but had never thought that she would do what she had ended up doing.

And Ryan had ended up as collateral damage.

Had Ryan, even subconsciously, compared them?

“No! Don’t even go there,” Darby chided herself. She wasn’t usually into self-flagellation, but some things hit a little close to home.

She felt more than saw her mum come up behind her. She motioned toward the TV. A new advertisement waffling on about insurance had replaced Britney’s smiling face.

“Britney seems to have herself a new contract.”

Her mother nodded. “Yes. Eloise told us about it the other day. She is terribly excited. It’s a five-year contract as the face of the company for their new skincare line. She finally gets to move to Paris.”

Darby blinked in surprise. “Wow,” she whispered.

Darby rubbed her hands on her hips then her arms as if warding off sudden cold.

“Do you ever… feel like you should have done more?Beenmore? Like, you know…” She held up her hands, exasperated, unsure how to quite express herself.