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“And what did you decide?”

Hope fluttered wildly against his chest. Me. Please let it be me.

“I want my own life, one where I’m not making decisions based on anyone else’s ideas of what that life should look like.” She laughed, spinning around with her arms splayed wide.

The joy wafting off her was contagious until the truth smacked him against the chest. He wasn’t responsible for that smile on her face one damn bit.

“Can you imagine how wild that is? To be thirty-two and just realizing your life is your own?”

He thought about Matt before he could stop himself. As much grief as Bennett gave his brother, Matt was the only one in the family who’d broken free and made his life his own.

Jax is trying, but you’re stopping him short at every turn.

“I’m proud of you, Maggie. You’ve been through hell, but you’re still finding a way to come out on top.”

“Thanks. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I mean, I want to let him off the hook, but at the same time I need to let myself off, too. All this time, I’ve been feeling guilty for leaving him here to work this land by himself, but he wanted that. At the expense of me working the land I loved, too. So, I need to finish what I’ve started here for myself, and for him.”

“Can I help? You don’t have to do it all by yourself, you know.”

“I do, though. If for no other reason than to prove to myself I can.”

He shook his head. He didn’t believe that accepting help and proving your worth were mutually exclusive, but how could he argue with the contented smile on Maggie’s face?

“Okay, then can I at least take you to dinner one evening this week?”

“Nights like tonight are fun, but they can’t be a regular thing, Bennett. Didn’t you hear me? I need to work on myself right now.”

“You deserve to have some fun, too. It doesn’t have to be all about the job.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” Her smile faltered and it sliced a thousand small paper cuts into his skin to see it. “I wanted that life you’re talking about when I was seventeen, trust me. All I thought about was taking strolls with you around the property, talking till we fell asleep on the front porch swing. But then I left Deer Creek and realized life doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t slow down for anyone and the only way I know to appreciate it is to get things done before I can’t anymore. Like, like…” She couldn’t finish, but he knew what she meant.

Like our fathers.

“Look what that kind of work did to them, Maggie. I think they’d agree that life is more than just the next job, the next thing that needs fixing.”

She shook her head while he spoke, her smile long gone and replaced with a deep scowl.

He shifted to wrap her in his arms, but she side-stepped to avoid him. “Let me care for you, Maggie,” he whispered.

“I can’t right now, Bennett. It’s not that I didn’t have a great time, but I need to grieve my dad and then get to work fixing what he broke. It’s all I have left of him.”

“Then please let me help. I can pitch in with the ranch stuff while you work on the equipment orders. Not as a nosy neighbor but a friend.”

And more, when you’re ready.

“Thanks, but that’s not necessary. You run a multimillion-dollar operation. You don’t have the time, either. I’m sorry.” She went to shut her door, but he held tight to the top of it.

“Stop. Please.”

Maggie gasped. “Bennett, let me leave. This day has been great but long. Please don’t ruin it.”

“I’m not trying to ruin anything. I just thought we had a good time and I’d like to do it again. On purpose this time. If I need to help you tackle your to-do list, it’s a small price to pay, Maggie.”

“And I told you I don’t need your help.”

Desperation clawed at Bennett’s throat. “It wasn’t just working too hard, Maggie. Your dad pushed everyone away and look where it got him.”

Maggie shoved the door out of his grasp but didn’t shut it. “You don’t get to accuse my father of anything, Bennett. You might have been here, but I’m his daughter and I saw how hard he worked for me.” She punched her chest with her finger, punctuating the sentence. “But now I get to make those choices and mourn him how I see fit, okay?”