Page 6 of Hayrides with Hank (Mountain Men Fall Harder #7)

HANK

“ I can’t fall in love with you.”

Maddie’s voice slammed into me as I was tightening up one of the rails on the hay trailer. I couldn’t believe they’d taken this thing around the property for a full day with the railing wobbling around like it was. Someone could’ve gotten hurt.

But at her words, I stopped everything and spun to face the woman of my dreams. The woman I’d been thinking about all morning.

“I want to,” she said, her face softening as I stared at her across the dozen or so feet that separated us. “In fact, it’ll take everything in me not to. I probably will spend the rest of my life regretting walking away from this. But I can’t become my mom.”

Until that very moment, I hadn’t realized just how invested I was in this new relationship. I never let my guard down this much.

I should’ve been ready to slam that wall up again.

To lock up my heart like it’s Fort Knox.

But no. There’s no way I could do that. No way I could walk away from here today and forget this ever happened.

I had to fight for her until I was sure she didn’t want to be with me.

Only then would I walk away with my heart shattered into a million pieces.

“Come on,” I said, gesturing for her to follow as I dropped my wrench into my bag of tools by my feet. I walked around to the back of the hayride and helped her up onto the trailer before climbing up myself. Then I led us to the hay bale nearest the tractor that pulled it.

When she wiped a tear from her cheek and sniffled, I realized this went deeper than just being a little upset. She was crying. If she didn’t have feelings for me, that wouldn’t be the case.

“What’s going on here?” I asked gently.

“When I turned twenty-one, I bought this RV,” she said.

“I’d been making my metal sculptures for years, even starting in high school.

I tried them out at a few local craft fairs.

They did well. So I decided to use it as an excuse to travel, as long as I could pay for fuel and find a place to park for free.

Now I’m actually earning a good living.”

I frowned. All of this was great, but I didn’t see how it related to what she’d said earlier about her mom.

“You don’t want to be stuck in one place,” I said. “You feel like being with me means giving up traveling.”

She nodded and swiped at her other cheek with the back of her palm.

“She was trapped. She always wanted to travel the world. The farthest she got was Florida. Her plan was to go on some trips with my grandma once we were grown. But she got cancer when I was in high school and never had the chance. I promised her I’d see the world. ”

My heart broke for her. Losing her mom in high school had to have been tough. I still had both my parents, thank God, even though I didn’t get to see them very often.

“You think being with me would get in the way of that?” I asked. “You think you’ll be like your mom, trapped at home?”

“She had three kids. I don’t think she would have done anything differently if she had the chance.” She sighed. “And I know I would be the same. I’d get married, have a kid, then two, and love everything about my life. But I’d be breaking my promise to her.”

I studied Maddie’s face, seeing the real fear behind her words. “You think loving me means giving up everything else.”

She looked away, but I gently turned her chin back toward me.

“Maddie, I fell for the woman who travels the festival circuit, not someone who’d give that up.” I took her hands in mine. “What kind of man would I be if I asked you to become someone else?”

“But relationships require compromise?—”

“Sure they do. But not sacrificing who you are.” I squeezed her hands. “What if we did the circuit together?”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“What if Maple Ridge was just our home base, not our prison?” I could see the idea taking hold, the fear in her eyes shifting to something that looked like hope, so I continued. “My business is seasonal anyway. What if we spent the off months on the road?”

“You’d really do that?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

I smiled. “Sweetheart, I’ve been stuck in the same place my whole life. Maybe it’s time I saw what’s out there.” I paused, watching her face. “But I have to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me.”

She nodded.

“What scares you more—losing your freedom, or losing us?”

The question hung in the air between us. I watched as she considered it, really considered it, tears streaming down her cheeks now.

“Losing us,” she whispered finally. “God, Hank, the thought of losing us terrifies me.”

“Then why are you trying so hard to make it happen?”

She was quiet for a long moment, staring down at our joined hands. “Because I don’t know how to be in love and still be me.”

“The right person doesn’t make you less yourself, Maddie. They make you more.” I tilted her chin up again. “And if I ever tried to clip your wings, you’d be right to leave me.”

A sob escaped her. “I’ve been looking forward to coming back here all year. Even before I met you, this place felt…different. Special.”

“Because you felt at home here.”

“But I was supposed to never want a home again.”

“Says who? Your mom wanted to travel, but that doesn’t mean home was her enemy. Maybe home was just supposed to be the launching pad for her adventures, not the place that kept her from them.”

She was crying harder now, but I could see something shifting in her expression. Relief, maybe. Or recognition.

“I want both,” she said, her voice shaking. “I want you, and I want to travel, and I want this place to come back to. Is that selfish?”

“That’s not selfish, baby. That’s smart.” I pulled her against me, and she melted into my chest. “That’s choosing a life instead of just surviving one.”

We sat there in the gathering dusk, holding each other on the back of the hay wagon, and I realized this was it. This was the moment that would define the rest of our lives.

“So,” I said into her hair, “want to take this thing for a ride? See where it leads us?”

She pulled back to look at me, and her smile was radiant. “As long as we always come back here.”

“Always,” I promised. “This is home. Everything else is just an adventure.”

She kissed me then, soft and sure, and I knew we’d found our way.

The hayride could take us anywhere—around the property, around the country, around the world.

But it would always bring us back to this moment, to each other, to the place where we learned that love doesn’t have to mean choosing. Sometimes it means having it all.