Temporary.
Chapter 29
Never Had A Choice
? Slow Dance in Headlights - MaRynn Taylor
Ruby
Araindrop hits the windshield as the first tear falls. I rub my hand over my heart in hopes that it might ease the hollow ache in my chest, but it doesn’t. I know it won’t.
Another mile marker passes in my rearview. The sky opens up and rain pelts down against my truck in a heart-wrenching symphony. The pain grows the longer I drive.
I think back over the last few months with Liam, every quiet moment and reverent touch. For a short while, the dreams I’ve had for so long felt real and tangible.
I’ve fallen impossibly deeper in love with this man, despite his reluctance to open his heart. He knows me, inside and out, and has for a long time. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why I didn’t see this coming.
His words still echo in my mind like a phantom pain, but it’s not what he said that holds the answers; it’s what he didn’t say.
“I’m not good for you,” he had said.
The truth lurked just beneath the surface, buried under the hurt and pain he keeps hidden from the world—but not from me. “I’m not goodenoughfor you.”
If he could see himself through my eyes, maybe he wouldn’t be so quick to cast aside everything we’ve cultivated together—this beautiful life we could have if he’d give in to it.
When I’m outside the ranch gate, something inside me snaps—the final thread keeping me from running back to him.
It’s not the hurt or distance that makes me turn the truck around; it’s the realization that I broke a promise I made to myself. I said I would choose Liam every day if that’s what it takes, and at the first sign of trouble, I ran.
Liam’s spent most of his life putting everyone else first—it’s why he all but shoved me out the door. He thought he was protecting me, but I don’t need protecting. I needhim.
He’s letting his past come between us, and I can’t allow that.
“Where do you wanna go, Goldie?”
Home.
Hope blooms in my chest as I approach my destination—closer to the man I love wholeheartedly and without reservation.
My pulse races. I turn onto the side road and make my way up the driveway. I’ve been gone for less than fifteen minutes, but it feels like hours.
I put Dolly in park and rush up the cobblestone walkway. The rain pours down as I step onto the stoop, drenched from head to toe. I don’t know how long I stand there, water droplets and tears mingling, and cold water seeping through my clothing. Headlights illuminate the brick facade as Liam pulls his truck into the drive, making me feel like an utter fool for not noticing its absence in the first place.
His bootssplash in the wet earth as he steps out into the storm. “What are you doing, Ruby?” His voice is strained, and I don’t have to look up to know his restraint is paper-thin. “Come inside.”
“No.” If I had any self-preservation, I would listen, but I’m nothing if not stubborn. My entire body shakes as the cool air hits my damp skin. “I’m here foryou, Liam.”
His hands flex at his sides like he wants to reach for me. He doesn't. Instead, he crosses his arms over his chest and studies my mascara-streaked face. “I told you, I can’t give you what you need.”
For the first time, my confidence falters. I blow out a heavy breath before I speak. “Don’t I get a choice in that?”
He takes a tentative step in my direction, then another until we’re less than a foot apart. My stomach dips as he reaches for me, but he pulls back before closing the distance.
His hand flexes at his side. “You would choose me?”
I finally meet his hopeful eyes, and something like longing pierces my chest. My forehead creases as I place a hand over his heart. We’re both soaked through. It’s not the rain or the cold that has me trembling now, but my body’s visceral reaction to the rapid beating of his heart in perfect time with my own, like we’re two halves of a whole. “Every time, Liam. Don’t you see that?”
He reaches up to brush my wet hair away from my forehead, gently gliding his fingers along my cheek. I lean into his touch, savoring it like it could be my last.
