Page 97 of Wild and Wrangled

“It’s easier to be the one that leaves than be the one that gets left. I think you and Ada think similarly that way, but both of you have the same problem: You wait for the other shoe to drop, even though that’s never going to happen. Dusty’s putting down roots. You have roots already, and now both of you finally have a chance to let those roots grow together, to get so fucking tangled up in each other that you can’t possibly part again, and that’s a beautiful thing.”

“It’s a scary thing,” I whispered.

“See? I told you that you were scared.”

“How did you know?” Wes held his phone up for me to see. It was the message exchange between him and Ada.

Wes:Cam is here. I think it’s about Dusty.

Ada:I’m on my way home. Don’t let her talk herself out of him because she’s scared.

The front door to their house opened then, and Ada stormed in. She was breathing heavily, and her hair was mussed. “Don’t you dare fucking give up on you and Dusty, Cam, I swear to god” were the first words out of her mouth.

“Wes did a good job at talking me down.” Ada smiled. She walked over to where Wes was sitting on the chair and kissed him on the temple.

“Good,” she said. “I knew I could count on him. He knows a thing or two about skittish women.”

Wes smiled up at Ada, and my heart ached.

“So what should I do?” I asked.

“I think you already know what you want to do. I think you just need to say it.”

“I want to be with Dusty,” I said.

“That’s our girl,” Ada said. “Now go get him.”

Chapter 42

Dusty

There was a knock at my door. It couldn’t be her, could it? I let out a sigh and dragged my feet over to my door. It wasn’t her. Cam had a long cooling-off period—who knew when she’d be ready to talk to me.

God, I didn’t know how things went so wrong so fast. We were having such a good day. I almost told her I loved her over a container of pickles, for god’s sake. Maybe I should’ve. Maybe if I’d said it, things would be different.

Maybe she’d be able to see the future that I saw with her.

There were a lot of people I’d be shocked to find at my door on a Saturday afternoon, but I was never expecting to find Amos Ryder standing there.

“Uh, hi,” I said.

“Hey, Dusty. Want to go for a walk with me?”

I couldn’t say no. Could I?

No, I couldn’t.

“Uh, sure,” I said. “Let me put some shoes on.” I grabbed the pair of boots closer to the door and slid them over mysocks. I stumbled a little bit, nervous about what was about to happen on this little stroll.

I had a leather jacket hanging by the door, so I slid that on, too, before meeting Amos on my stoop.

“Nice day,” he said with a smile at me. He had the kindest eyes.

I nodded. It was a nice day. There was still plenty of that winter chill in the air, but it was nice and warm when you stood in the sun. I loved being outside. I was like a sunflower; I always turned to face the sun and bask in it for just a second.

“There’s a nice walking trail off the big trailhead,” I said. “It’s low and there isn’t any elevation gain.”

“Sounds good,” Amos said, and we started walking. The earth crunched under our feet. “I was happy to see that you’ve taken a couple Saturdays off.”