Page 31 of A Montana Fake Marriage (Sagebrush Ranch Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Sammie’s disappearance hit Caleb harder than he wanted to admit.

He shut himself away from his family unless he was working.

The triumph about his patent left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth that he wasn’t prepared to clean out. He’d wanted to share his life with Sammie. He’d wanted to be everything to her. He’d been prepared to save her from her father and from herself, but she’d left.

Now, all he could do was focus on work.

Never had he been more determined to hide away from the misery that continued to chase him down. The nights he fell into bed and went right to sleep from exhaustion were the best ones.

The sheets still smelled like her.

Sammie’s lightly perfumed scent lingered in the room long after she’d gone. It clung to the bedding—sheets and pillowcases that he refused to put through the laundry. As soon as that happened, he’d lose her all together.

He hadn’t called her.

Couldn’t bring himself to do so after her betrayal. She’d left—without a single word.

“Time for a break,” Bo grunted.

Caleb shook his head from where he sat on his horse. The animal bucked beneath him, attempting to throw him from the saddle. Each jostling movement made Caleb’s teeth click together. Every muscle in his body screamed with how hard he’d thrown himself into every aspect of working at Sagebrush Ranch.

“I mean it, Caleb. You’ve been working since the sun came up this morning. And you worked until sundown yesterday. You can’t keep pushing yourself so hard. No one else is doing this.”

“I’m fine,” Caleb gritted out.

Bo reached for the reins of the horse, then nudged his horse into the animal to cage it against the corral.

The animal was close to being broken. He was hardheaded as the rest of them and let women ride him just fine.

But as soon as a man got into the saddle, he got skittish.

He’d need a lot more training before he could be used on the ranch or sold to someone else.

Caleb glowered at his cousin. “I’m. Fine .”

“Aunt Tana will kill me if you drop dead before supper. You’re running yourself ragged.”

“He’s not wrong, Caleb.”

Caleb shot a dark look in his brother’s direction. Mack was the only one who knew the whole story. He was the only one who understood why Caleb was struggling with Sammie’s disappearance. His best friend. The love of his life. How could he go on living without her?

“I can’t,” Caleb ground out. His gaze turned beseeching, pleading with Mack to back him up. “You know I can’t.” Every single spare second he wasn’t mindlessly busy only led to pain.. Her face filled his thoughts. Her eyes, her smile, her touch.

The memory of her plagued him.

“Have you called her yet?” Mack sighed.

Bo’s unwavering stare all but demanded that Caleb climb down from the saddle.

Caleb muttered an expletive and got down. He ignored his brother’s question and threw his hat on the ground before storming off toward the barn.

He didn’t have to glance backward to know his brother chased after him. The sound of his boots hitting the earth echoed his own. Soon, Mack fell into step beside him.

“When are you going to just accept that you made a mistake and call her?” Mack’s voice was edged with irritation. “Everyone can see it plain as day. You miss her.”

“Yeah, I miss her. So what? She doesn’t miss me.”

“You don’t know that.” Mack shoved Caleb’s hat into his chest. Apparently, he’d managed to swipe it up from the ground. “What if she’s missing you just as much as you miss her?”

Caleb whirled to face his brother. “If she missed me, she wouldn’t have signed the dang divorce papers. She would have confronted me and told me she refused.”

“Have you signed them?”

Caleb’s dark gaze shifted from his brother. Of course he hadn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to release her. He was breaking his promise to her. He’d told her he would let her go. He’d told her she could escape from the sham of a marriage they had, and they’d remain friends.

And yet he hadn’t been able to bring himself to call her; to ask her where she’d gone, to make sure she’d found somewhere safe to live.

She had her money. Of course she was fine. She was probably halfway across the country by now, settling in a city that called to her, sitting in a cute little apartment that suited her needs.

“You still dodging calls from the lawyer?”

Again, Caleb avoided his brother’s gaze.

“ Caleb .”

“What?” he snapped. “What do you expect me to do? He’s just going to ask for the divorce papers, and I’m not signing them. So there’s no reason to talk to him.”

Mack gave him a flat look. “If you’re not going to sign them, and you’re not going to call her, what on earth are you doing?”

“I don’t know!” Caleb laced his hands behind his neck and looked up at the sky. He seriously didn’t know what he was going to do.

He was being a coward. Even he could admit to it.

He’d fought falling in love with Sammie so hard that when he’d finally given in, it had been…

easy. Loving her had been the easiest thing in the world.

Kissing her had been heaven. Dreaming of a future with her had been…

there were no words for it. And he still couldn’t wrap his head around a life without her in it.

“Hey,” Mack said, quieter this time. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself. Either find the courage to move on, or go after her.”

Caleb froze. He stopped his pacing and turned his angry gaze on his brother. The man didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d never had his heart broken like this. “It’s not that easy.”

“Isn’t it? Two choices. A fork in the road.

Pick one.” Mack’s tone of voice grated on Caleb’s last nerve.

“I’ve sat back and watched you make mistake after stupid mistake.

What made you believe you were capable of living with your best friend, being married to her no less, and not fall in love with her?

What have Mom and Dad always said about finding someone to spend the rest of our lives with? ”

Caleb’s jaw tightened.

“Find someone you can laugh with, right? Marry your best friend.”

What Caleb wouldn’t give to wipe that smirk off Mack’s face. His little brother thought he was smarter than Caleb in this? This ?

“You know I’m right. The fact that you tried to fight it is laughable. And what happened? You did. You freaking fell in love with your best friend just like I told you would happen.”

“Get to the point,” Caleb muttered.

“The point is, you let her go.”

“I didn’t do anything. She left on her own.”

“ So ?” Mack spit out. “And you didn’t chase after her.”

“She doesn’t want me!” Caleb practically yelled. “I’m not going to chase after someone who would rather run home to her controlling and manipulative father than be with me.”

“Again,” Mack sighed with frustration. “You don’t know that’s where she is.”

“Where else would she be?”

Mack hesitated.

It was short, and Caleb might not have caught the tick in his brother’s cheek if he hadn’t been looking straight at him.

“Mack?” Caleb ground out. “What do you know?”

His brother fidgeted, digging his foot in the ground at his feet. “You’ve been working a lot lately.”

“Yeah, so? What’s happened? Has she called? Are you screening phone calls now?” Caleb started walking again, unable to sit still. He didn’t want to have to listen to another word his brother had to say—even if it had something to do with Sammie.

Mack shook his head. “But I might have seen her.”

Caleb’s whole body seized up. Then, slowly, he turned his head around so he could look his brother in the eye. “ What ?” This couldn’t be happening. His brother had to be mistaken. Sammie wouldn’t have stuck around. To do so, she would have had to find a place to stay.

Maybe she did just that.

The thought made him feel hollow inside.

Would Sammie be capable of sticking around in his town, keeping that information from him?

It wasn’t just his town anymore. He fought hard to remind himself of that fact. Sammie had lived here for the last year. Rocky Ridge belonged to her just as much as it belonged to him.

And with how he’d pushed her away—what had he expected to happen? Their friendship wasn’t exactly what it had been when they were in college.

Everything had changed.

Mack rubbed the back of his neck, not looking directly at Caleb when he murmured, “I think I saw her with Lacey Tipton—that waitress from the Steer House.” His gaze flicked up to meet Caleb’s.

“Are you sure?” He barely voiced the words. Part of him wanted to know that she was near. He wanted to hold out hope that she’d stayed not because she’d fallen in love with the town, but because she couldn’t let him go.

Mack nodded. “I’m sure. I think…”

“You think what?” Caleb snapped when his brother didn’t continue.

“I think she might be working there.”

Caleb nearly stumbled. She was working at the restaurant? Living in Rocky Ridge? And worst of all—avoiding him?

“Maybe she’s not over you?” Mack murmured quietly.

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tight. He hated how his brother’s words made him wish things were different. “Sammie wouldn’t stay unless something was wrong.”

“What do you mean? I thought you got the divorce finalized. That means she got the money, right?”

Flinching, Caleb shrugged. “I’m saying that if she got everything she needed, she would have disappeared. She would have chased after the life she’s always wanted.”

“So, she didn’t get the money?”

Caleb shook his head. “If she didn’t get the money, she wouldn’t be able to afford living on her own. She would have said something. Sammie wouldn’t have just moved out.”

“But I thought you said she moved back with her father.”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Caleb ground out. “None of this makes any sense.”

“So… it is possible… that she regrets the divorce.”

Anything was possible. But that scenario specifically was far more unlikely than Mack seemed to make it appear. Caleb refused to entertain the chance that his brother was right.

“If you could do it over…” Mack’s voice broke into Caleb’s fumbling thoughts.

Glancing over at him, Caleb waited for his brother to finish his question. He knew what his brother was going to ask. But he wasn’t prepared to answer it just yet.

“Would you… fight to keep her?”

Caleb’s shoulders slumped. If he could do it over? That was a loaded question. If he could do it over, he would have made sure her father wasn’t involved. If he could do it over, he would have shared more with Sammie than he’d done in the first place.

If he could do the whole thing over? He would have asked her to marry him because he loved her and not because he wanted to help her get her inheritance. Their marriage wouldn’t have been for convenience. Sammie would have felt loved, appreciated, and more like an equal.

“Yeah,” Caleb murmured. “I would have fought for her.”

Mack studied him for a long moment then gave him a sharp nod. “Then what are you still doing here?”

“What if she doesn’t want me back?”

His brother shrugged. “That shouldn’t matter, right? We’re talking about what you would do. You don’t know what she’ll say or how she’ll react. At this point, you have nothing left to lose. So, make a dang decision. Go talk to her, or stop moping around. Fate’s giving you another chance. Take it.”