Page 60 of The Moments You Were Mine

“Nothing is falling apart, Fallon. And your staff needs you to role model resilience. They need to see it’s okay to continue living even in the face of tragedy. Plus, if you’re seen out there enjoying yourself, any worries your guests have will disappear.”

She hesitated. But I’d be damned if I let her sit here, dwelling on everything that happened and internalizing it all as somehow being her fault. Whoever was doing this, Fallon wasn’t responsible. She’d done the right thing every fucking time something terrible had made its way into her life.

Determined to get her out of the chair and this office with no windows, I pressed further. “Let’s go, Marquess. You can spare a few hours to entertain me and the kid.”

She finally stood up, defiance straightening her back and raising her chin. “Harrington. If you’re going to shorten my name, use the Harrington portion. It’s my goddamn legacy, after all.”

And I wondered if that was part of what was weighing on her. If she’d inherited a legacy she no longer wanted and would never admit to after forcing Rafe to spend millions of dollars to save it.

She’d never even breathed such a thought to me. If anything, she’d always insisted the opposite, that she loved the land and the home she’d been given. That she was determined to make both her Hurly and Harrington sides proud, as well as her dad and the Marquess name he’d taken on from his mother. Years of convoluted, twisted dramas had coalesced into Fallon being the soleremaining heir on all sides, and she’d always told me she wanted it that way. She wanted to take the bad of their past and turn it into something so good everyone forgot the turbulence of the ranch’s history.

But maybe her years in San Diego, going after different dreams, had shown her a different life than the one she’d once wanted. I’d never thought it would be possible for either of us to consider our lives having alternate endings than the ones we’d envisioned. We’d both been focused on one dream, one goal, one purpose, for as long as we’d known each other. It was yet another of the many ways we were alike and one of the many reasons our friendship had been so strong.

For the first time in my twenty-nine years, my goals and dreams were being threatened. I’d been handed Theo to raise—a child I had insisted I would never have because I would never want to leave one behind for months at a time. Will had said he was leaving the teams to ensure his son didn’t lose both parents. What would happen to the kid if he lost themandhis new guardian?

My gut turned sour.

Somehow, I had to figure out a way to right the ship without giving up everything I’d always thought I wanted. Maybe that was all Fallon needed too—time to figure out what her new normal looked like. Maybe we both just needed time to once more bend our lives toward the goals that had first shaped us.

Chapter Seventeen

Fallon

WANT TO

Performed by Sugarland

SIX YEARS AGO

HER: Dad said you’re coming with Jim and Whitney to the ranch.

HIM: I have five days. It was perfect timing.

HER: I’ve got three new bookshelves that need assembling for my room.

HIM: What do I get as payment for my manual labor?

HIM: Never mind. Don’t answer that.

HER: *** Chicken emoji *** I’ll have the inner tubes filled and ready to take us down the river. When we get to the snack bar at the bottom, all the food and drink is on me.

PRESENT DAY

After slathering Theo with sunscreen, Parkerstrapped a tiny life vest on him as I watched from my spot on a tube in the river. The sun filtering through the trees cast them in a mix of light and shadow, making them seem more painting than real. A watercolor image of a loving dad and his kid.

It squeezed my heart and had me jerking my eyes up to the sky, trying to control the rush of affection and longing that swept through me.

Twisting the inner tube slightly away from them, I kept one foot tethered to the river’s rocky shore so I wouldn’t float awaywithout them. The sound of the waterfall hitting the rocks muted Theo’s chatter. Mist rose from a deep eddy at the base of the fall, filling the air with rainbows. It coated my skin with a cool spray that barely eased the sweltering heat. After weeks of unseasonably cool weather, summer had slammed down over Rivers in full force.

The heat meant there were a million things to do at the ranch—livestock and crops to ensure were watered and cared for, painting of fences and buildings, repairs to a few roofs. I shouldn’t be here, lollygagging along on a river ride.

As I started to get out of the tube, Parker’s voice halted me. “No.”

I raised a brow in his direction, and he met my irritated gaze with a cool one over the top of his sunglasses. “Sit your ass back down and cool off, Ducky.”

“Ass!” Theo screamed.

I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me.