Well at least he was still beingaffectionate.
As they stepped off the porch, she turned to look at where the barn had once stood. A pile of burnt rubble was all that remained of the structure. Her stomach dropped. In the darkness last night, it hadn’t looked so terrible. But now, as she surveyed the destruction, her heartached.
“Don’t worry. My brothers are coming over later to help clean this up. I ordered a dumpster. We can start over and rebuild it better than it was,”Logansaid.
She released his hand and leaned over to pick up a melted lock. She let it fall to the scorched earth. “What’s thepoint?”
“You can’t give up on this place,”Logansaid.
“I never wanted the ranch to begin with. I don’t know what’s gotten into me this week. I was supposed to just show up, clean out his stuff, and then sell it. Somewhere alongtheway…”
“What is it,honey?”
“Somewhere along the way I got caught up in wanting something I can never have,”shesaid.
“What?”
“Hope.”
“You can’t give up hope. It’s what makes life worth living,”hesaid.
“What does that even mean? I used to hope my father would stop beating my mother, but he didn’t stop. I used to hope he wouldn’t chase me with a hammer in one hand and a bottle of cheap tequila in the other. I used to hope…” her voice cracked. “Nevermind.”
“Tellme.”
“I used to hope I’d find someone to love,” she whispered. “But that never happenedeither.”
“Oh, honey.” He pulled her into his arms and caressed her hair. “You’ll find love. You just have to keep looking. Hell, I never thought Mack would get married and now he’s engaged. I know you don’t believe me when I say you deserved to be loved and cherished, butyoudo.”
“I don’t believe in love.” She tilted her head up and gazed at him through tear-drenchedeyes.
“Love isn’t something you need to believe in, it justis. It’s all around you. Your friends love you, your familylovesyou—”
“I don’t have anyfamilyleft.”
“I’m your family. My brothers are your family. Hell, everyone who’s lived here their entire lives are your family. This isn’t some big city full of strangers. There is a lot of love here, and I wish you could see it.” He clasped her hand and held it to her heart. “I wish you couldfeelit.”
Her throat swelled. As much as she wanted to believe him, she couldn’t. She’d never felt anything but fear and pain on the ranch, and she couldn’t ever imaginelivinghere.
“Come stay with me for a few days. I’ll show you what it’s like to have love all around you,”hesaid.
“Why? So I can loseitall?”
“No, I want you to stay. I want to have time to explore whatever this is that’s growingbetweenus.”
“A few naked rolls around my bed doesn’t mean anything’s happening between us,” shecountered.
“You sound pretty sure about that. But do you really think I’d keep jumping into bed with you if I only wanted sex?” heasked.
“I don’t know. You didn’t seem too discerning in highschool.”
“That was ten years ago. Haven’t you changed in the last tenyears?”
“Well,yes.”
“Then couldn’t I have changed too?” heasked.
“It’spossible.”
