Page 62 of Hometown Cowboy
“No. I only told you because of the situation.” She frowned at him. “Because a blind man can see you love him.”
All her growing annoyance at his comment vanished. “How long have you known?”
“Honestly? I think I’ve known for a heck of a long time, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. Mainly because I didn’t want to see you hurt. I think you two would be great together. No matter what happens, Darb, you have my support. As does he. You guys are old enough to decide what you want without me interfering.”
Gabe squeezed her shoulder and turned to go outside. “Go get him, Darb. If he’s what you want, give it your all. You’ll never know if you don’t try. And if he doesn’t remember? So what? Love the man he is now.”
Darby nodded. Hope unwound tendrils of warmth through her blood, curling through her, flooding her with anticipation. Millie had been to see her and had told her about her conversation with Ryan.
Britney Logan had a lot to answer for.
Darby knew that Britney had shattered him, but she hadn’t realised how badly he’d been damaged, long term, on top of the destruction losing his dad, then Lucy, had wrought to his heart. She simply hadn’t realised his serial dating and tomcatting around stemmed from afearof commitment. The fear that everyone left anyway, so why try?
Was he ready to face that, and was he ready to try and get past it?
Gabe was right. Now that Ryan was mostly healed he seemed more relaxed. More centred.
If they became closer, he just might decide to give it a go.
She scooped up the nibbles she’d been slicing and dumped them into a bowl and headed out to join the rest of her family.
The grin on her face couldn’t be helped.
Love the man he is now.
She already did, and he was sitting right outside.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“What on earthdo you think you’re doing?”
Ryan turned at the worried voice coming from the house behind him and suppressed a grin.
“Splittin’ you some wood.”
The worry on Darby’s face would’ve made him laugh if it hadn’t warmed him to his toes. “Gabe mentioned the load Mick dumped off didn’t have any smaller bits or kindling so I thought I’d come split you some.”
A cold front had swept through in the last couple of days, cooling the entire region down so much that the nights had turned decidedly chilly.
Darby tried to grab the axe. He held it away from her reach.
“Give me that! You shouldn’t be splitting wood in your condition.”
Ryan let out a belly laugh. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
Her cheeks pinked and she crossed her arms. A long-sleeved shirt, yoga pants and UGG boots graced her form. She was cold.
“You shouldn’t be exerting yourself like that so soon after your surgery. You could hurt yourself.”
He shrugged a shoulder and set up another huge chunk on the chopping block. He’d kick Mick’s arse when he saw him next for dumping off a load of crap wood like this.
“The surgery was more than two months ago. The physio said I’m fine to start normal work again, as long as I don’t push too hard. So, all good, Darb.”
He nodded in her direction as he hefted the blockbuster. “Besides, you shouldn’t be doing this right now.”
He swung down and was rewarded with the block snapping in half. He glanced at Darby in time to see her look away, pretending to look at something else, her cheeks even pinker. A smile pecked at the corners of his mouth.
She’d been giving him the eye.