“There are plenty of other girls out there waiting for a man like you,”shesaid.
“But none of themareyou.”
“I’m not special,”shesaid.
“Are you kidding?” he asked as he spun her around. “You’re fearless. When your father kicked you out, you found a placetolive.”
“A park?” She archedabrow.
“Well, you lived there for years,didn’tyou?”
“Yes.”
“See. You’ve also traveled through several states to get here in an unreliable bus with some questionablecompanions.”
“River and Meadow aren’t bad people,” sheprotested.
“That’s not what I said. But you have to agree that they’re really not paradigms of socialconformity.”
“Paradigms?”
“It means examples,”hesaid.
“What did you do, read the dictionary or something?” sheasked.
“I have an encyclopedia set. It was my father’s and he gave it to me when I went into high school,”hesaid.
“I bet you read some interesting stuff,” she said. “Sometimes I wish I’d finished school. I feel like I could have learned alotmore.”
“If you want to borrow the first volume, I could loan it to you. But you have to promise to give it back,” he said. “My dad will kill me if I break uptheset.”
“You’re so different from any man I’ve ever known,” shewhispered.
“Hopefully in agoodway?”
“Greg,” she took a step forward and he moved to wrap her in a tight embrace. “How can this ever work between us? Your life is here with your family onthefarm.”
“And you’re a free spirit out to see the world. I couldn’t hold you back. You’d hate me if I asked youtostay.”
“Would you ever leave?” sheasked.
“Sometimes I feel tied down to what I’m supposed to do, but I honestly can’t imagine leaving the farm. Eventually, I’d love to turn the farm into a horse ranch. We could give riding lessons and maybe even have a bed & breakfast. We get enough tourists through WestYellowstone.”
“What do your brothers think about your plans?” sheasked.
“My brothers don’t want to stay on the farm. They want to go out and forge their own place in the world. But how can I leave this place?” He released her and gestured toward the rolling green hills and glistening lake. “It’s my home. I would never leave it. But I’d like to find a woman to shareitwith.”
She pressed her face into his chest. If he asked her to stay, would she even consider it? Could Andy make it to Canada without her? Did she really trust River and Meadow not to abandon him on the side oftheroad?
“I know I’m a homebody,” he said shyly. “But it’s whoIam.”
“I’d never try to change you,”shesaid.
“I’d never try to change youeither.”
“Then there’s no hope for us,”shesaid.
He ran his hand through his hair as if distraught by the idea. But she had to be realistic about some things. Being a dreamer would only take her so far in life. There was a fine line between a dream and a delusion, and she knew better than tocrossit.
