Page 76 of 11 Cowboys

I shouldn’t.

Her voice singsongs from above, followed by laughter.

I shouldn’t, but I’m gonna.

Sliding into the chair she vacated, the soft hum of the laptop beckons me in a way even my sketchpad hasn’t been able to lately.

I glance toward the stairs to be sure. The coast is clear for now.

I pull the screen closer, the glow bathing my forearms in pale blue. Her document is still open, and as I scan the page, my breath catches.

“They’re, annoyingly, everything I didn’t know I wanted.”

“They run a home together, raise children like their own, and love without keeping score.”

“They’ve built something rare: an unconventional family they choose, every single day.”

I sit back, stunned. I expected sharp wit, a little sarcasm with maybe some cool professional detachment. I didn’t expect reverence, understanding, and hope.

We’ve had others come and go. Curious women, bored women, idealistic women. None of them ever looked past the surface. Past the novelty.

Grace sees.

God help me; shesees us.

I drag my thumb over my bottom lip and read again.

“McCartney is the dreamer. He sketches, carves, paints, and builds, seeing the angles the rest of us miss. He moves like he’s got music playing in his heart that no one else can hear, and somehow, you want to find a way to hear it, too.”

I blow out a slow breath, moved beyond words. My fingers itch for my pencil, for my guitar, for anything that can capture this feeling. Instead, I do something reckless and stupid. I open the blank line under her last sentence and type.

The words flow faster than I expected without any kind of planning.

“You walked into a place not built for you,

Wove yourself into the dust and the dew.

Wild hair, sharp tongue, softest soul in disguise,

You see us through patient, forgiving eyes.

Stay, city girl, trade concrete for sky.

We’re looking for forever, so just don’t say goodbye.”

My throat tightens as I type the last line. I sit there, staring at it like an idiot, heart hammering harder than it should.

It isn’t a poem. It isn’t quite a song, either, but I already hear the melody.

I pull back and hover my fingers over the delete key. I could erase it. I should.

But I don’t.

I scroll her article back to the top, leave my scrawled confessional quietly nestled where she’ll find it later, and close the lid so it won’t be obvious.

The sound of her footsteps overhead jolts me back to reality.

Her footsteps grow louder. Grace is moving fast, laughing into her phone as she descends the stairs. I snap to attention, panic fluttering in my chest.