Too bad it’s too soon. I’ve waited for her for what seems like forever. I can wait a bit longer.
I finish paying my respects to Jack and head towards where Peyton is fleeing. It’s a horrible day for her, but I want her to know she has options.
Stepping onto her front porch, I stop in my tracks. She’s at the screen door already.
“Hi Levi, how are you?”
“Hey Pey, it’s been awhile. I’m okay, you holding up okay?” I ask her, resisting every urge I have in my body to bring her into my warmth. Her arms are wrapped around her body, making her appear smaller than ever.
“As good as can be. Buck said you and Dad were talking about buying the ranch. Is that something you’re still interested in?” She opens the porch door and I walk into the house.
“Yeah, about that,” I clear my throat, suddenly nervous that she’ll tell me to take a flying leap.
“Oh, is the offer off the table?” She questions.
“No, no. Let’s go talk at the kitchen table,” I counter, and she leads the way. The black dress she’s wearing is clinging to her backside and these next six months are going to be torture. I can fucking feel it.
It takes us no more than an hour and we’ve started to hammer a deal out. She wants Buck to run the ranch until she’s back home from college. Then we can start the proceedings of me buying the ranch. It’s going to take time and she still wants to oversee a few things until everything is taken care of, but it seems it’ll be something we both can agree on.
“Thank you, Levi. I know this isn’t the way you initially wanted to buy the ranch, but this is a huge relief,” she whispers out. Tears are gathering in her eyes and I’m not holding myself back now.
I bring her into my arms and wrap her up in my body. She let’s go and starts to crumble to the ground. I don’t let her. I pick her up and carry her to the couch where I sit and let her get it all out.
One day, I’ll be the one that holds her through the smiles, the laughter, and even the crying when, God forbid, that happens.
I tip my head back and kick my feet up on the coffee table and she snuggles deeper into my body. This right here, with Peyton. It’s where I always want to be.
1
Peyton
Six Months Later
These past six months have been brutal. I was always in a state of worry. This constant state has taken its toll on me, yet the phone calls and texts from Levi have been the one thing that’s brought a smile to my face.
He even showed up to my graduation when I didn’t want to walk across the platform. Buck said he couldn’t make it out. They had a couple of buyers coming to look at some new foals. When I mentioned it to Levi, he said, “Fuck that, I’ll be there. You’re walking and getting your diploma.”
He was there and when they announced my name you could hear him whistling over the whole crowd.
He had to have been the most handsome man there, his hair cut short on the sides and longer on the top. The shade is something that changes depending on how much he wears his hat outside or not. Somedays it’s dark in color and some days it has shots of blonde through it. His eyes, goodness his eyes. I swear they get me every time, the green resembles the bright grass in the fields we have at home during the summer months.
The few times we Face Timed, I could see them sparkle with laughter even when he was just grinning at something silly. It was usually me acting like a goof, he never laughed at me. Even when I dropped the phone because I stubbed my toe on the wall because I wasn’t paying attention. I was laughing my ass off, literally sitting on my butt laughing and holding my toe. He just smiled, and when he did that, it hit me right in the heart. I was slowly falling for Levi.
Now that I’m back home and starting my new job at the clinic in town in the next few days, I can only hope Levi and I can continue to build on our friendship and maybe become something more.
Even when I was going to tell him my feelings on our phone calls, I always chickened out. Like maybe he was just calling out of pity and to make sure I wouldn’t pull the cord on him buying my ranch.
I won’t do that, not just because I don’t want to run the ranch. Because when he talked about everything he saw in the future with both ranches, it was nothing short of amazing.