Page 96 of Reckless

“I want to move here, live here.”

My heart stopped. I turned away so he wouldn’t see the tears that had popped into my eyes, and focused on the beautiful stone fireplace that was the focal point of the den. We were done, we’d moved on—he’d moved on. And now he was coming back? I wanted to be able to have a friendship with him for the baby’s sake, butthis? I didn’t know how to handle him being so close.

“I-I…” I didn’t know what to say. “This is crazy.”

“No, not crazy, Kelly. I can’t stop thinking about us. As far as I can see, me and you are good, it isn’t us that’s the problem, it’s everything else.”

My heart went from a dead stop to doing cartwheels.He couldn’t stop thinking about us.“The rest of the world isn’t going anywhere.”

“I am. We tried to fit into each other’s lives, and it didn’t work. So, I think it would be much better if we blended our lives together.”

That sounded so good, it was everything I wanted and more…only I couldn’t grasp how it could work.

“But what about the paparazzi? What about all the media intrusion and stuff?”

“That’ll be over.”

I turned to him, confused.

“I’m retiring. Gaged’s last show is tonight. We may do a farewell tour at some point but not right now. Right now, I want to focus on this, on you.”

I wanted to say,not me—us. Two for the price of one. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My thoughts just crashed into each other, and none made it out of my mouth.

He grinned. “Did I mention there’s roughly a hundred acres? And a barn.”

“A barn?” The word squeaked out. I cleared my throat. “I’ve, um always wanted a barn.”

“I know! Let’s go check it out.” He held out his hand again.

I wasn’t sure my heart could take being opened up again, just to be shattered. But I could handle a walk to the barn.

Outside, Gage said, “I know we’ve tried twice, but I’m not ready to give up.”

Baaa-meh!

“What was that?” I stopped, turning to him, then toward the sound.

Baaa baa-meh!

“He’s not ready to give up either.” Gage pulled me to a tiny corral where the baby goat I’d admired at the Amish farm stood.

I fell to my knees in front of him.

Baaa-meh!

His white hair was soft and wiry at the same time. He’d grown so much and tried to butt the fence so he could get to me.

“I think he’s trying to say mama,” Gage said.

The next bleat sounded so close to mama that we both dissolved into laughter.

Once we’d recovered, I stood and wandered into the barn, breathing deeply of the earthy smell I loved. I turned in a circle, spotted the hayloft, and climbed the ladder just for fun.

There was actual hay in the loft. Delighted, I checked it out. When I turned to go back down to ground level, Gage was standing behind me. And he wasn’t moving out of the way.

Suddenly, I didn’t care about New York or the fans or the reporters, or even that too pretty tramp who had been on his arm. Despite everything, I could picture us really giving it a go here, living a gorgeous little farm fantasy, with our goats and our kids.

I had to tell him.