“Even if he does care, he’s not going to forgive me. Just like you and Lucas wouldn’t forgive each other.”
Miss Gertie sent her a pointed look. “Then that’s it? You’re just gonna leave town and accept the way things are? That’s what I did. I accepted that Lucas hated me for not accepting his marriage proposal. But I had another choice. When he came back here after quitting the rodeo, I could’ve gone to him and told him how scared I’d been about our age difference and about losing my beloved boardinghouse and about him loving the rodeo more than he loved me. I could’ve fixed the mess I’d made of things. Instead, I chose to act like I hated him as much as he acted like he hated me.” She shook her head. “Our stubbornness made us lose a lot of years.” She looked at Maisy. “Are you going to let your stubbornness do the same thing? You don’t have to leave, Maisy. You have another choice. You can fight for the man you love.”
“But he’s going back to the rodeo. Am I supposed to follow him around like a whipped pup begging him to forgive me?”
“If that’s what it takes to find your happiness, yes. That’s exactly what you need to do.” Miss Gertie’s eyes narrowed. “Although if what you say about his concussions is true, you need to figure out a way to keep that boy from going back to bronc riding.”
“Dixie and I have tried everything we can think of. Now he’s dug in even deeper just to show me and all his friends that he won’t be manipulated.”
“Then don’t try to manipulate him. Love him.” Miss Gertie paused. “You did tell him that you love him, right?”
Maisy shook her head. “I was waiting for him to tell me first.”
Miss Gertie rolled her eyes. “You remind me of me when I was younger. Too prideful for your own good.” She blew out her breath. “Well, I’m not going to let you make the same mistake I did. You’re not leaving town until you tell that boy you love him.”
“It might be too late. He might already be gone.”
“Well, then you need to call out to the Double Diamond Ranch and find out.” When Maisy hesitated, Miss Gertie snapped her fingers. “Now, girlie!”
Maisy pulled out her cellphone and made the call. Lucas answered. Sawyer must not have told him what happened because the old cowboy was friendly when she told him who she was.
“Well, hey there, Maisy. I’m guessing you called to talk to Sawyer.”
“He’s still there?”
“He is.” He paused. “But not for long. He’s packing up now.”
Maisy’s heart fell. She glanced at Miss Gertie and lowered the phone. “Sawyer’s leaving now.”
Miss Gertie jerked the phone out of her hand and held it to her ear. “You will not let that boy leave, Luc. Do you hear me? I don’t care what you have to do. We wasted a lot of years with our stubbornness. We’re not going to let these two kids do the same thing. And if you can figure out how to get him to stay, I’ll have a special reward waiting for you . . . and I’m sure you know what I mean.” Maisy couldn’t hear what Lucas said, but it must’ve satisfied Miss Gertie because the old woman nodded. “I think that will work just fine.”
Miss Gertie handed her back the phone and winked. “Your bad boy isn’t going anywhere.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Okay, who took my battery cables?” Sawyer walked into the kitchen where Chester and Lucas were eating lunch. Neither old cowboy looked up from their chili.
“Battery cables?” Chester said. “Hmm? Have you seen any battery cables, Luc?”
Lucas shook his head. “Nope. Can’t say as I have, Chess.” He glanced up at Sawyer. “Maybe you should ask your horse. You two have quite the conversations.”
Sawyer placed his hands on his hips. “Very funny. Now which one of you took them? And where are they?”
Lucas put his spoon in his bowl and pushed it back before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I did, but I’m not telling you where they are. You need to stay put for a while.”
“I know why you’re doing this,” Sawyer said. “Y’all want to have an intervention to get me to quit bronc riding. Well, I’m not waiting around for my so-called friends to show up. I don’t want to see any of them again. If you won’t tell me where my battery cables are, I’ll just call a tow truck.” He reached for his cellphone in his front pocket, but then remembered he’d left his phone in the barn while he was working with Angel that morning. He walked out of the kitchen and grabbed his cowboy hat off the hook in the hallway. But before he could head to the barn to get his phone, Chester stopped him.
“If you’re going to the barn to get your cellphone, it’s not there.”
Sawyer let the screen door slam shut and turned to Chester and Lucas who were both standing there with big grins on their faces. “I suppose you hid that too.”
Lucas nodded. “Along with all the phones in the house.”
It was hard to keep his cool. He wanted to yell at the two stubborn cowboys in a bad way. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Fine. I’ll take Angel and ride into town and get battery cables.”
“That’s a mighty long ride,” Chester said. “Especially when while you’re gone, I’ll just take something else from the engine. Not that I need to take anything with how that old truck runs.”
“You can’t keep me here forever.”
“No, we can’t. But we can keep you until the boys get here.”
Sawyer glared at the two old men. “They won’t change my mind about returning to bronc riding.”
“This inter . . . convention, or whatever you call it, isn’t just about you, Sawyer,” Lucas said. “It’s about your friends doing as much as they possibly can to save someone they love. Let them have their say and get all their fears out. And then if you still decide to go back to bronc riding, they won’t blame themselves.”
“Why should I do anything for them when they’ve spent the last few weeks keeping secrets from me? And not just any secret, but the secret that Maisy wasn’t pregnant because there was no way she could be pregnant.”
“I wasn’t keeping that a secret. I didn’t know.”
Sawyer turned to see Lincoln standing on the front porch. Now here was someone Sawyer could take his anger out on. He strode to the screen door and shoved it open, then stepped out on the porch and let it slam behind him.
“Don’t lie, Linc. If Dixie knew, you knew.”
“That should be the case, but I discovered my wife still keeps secrets from me. She knew if I knew about Maisy’s lie, I’d tell you. While I’m not really happy about Dixie keeping secrets from me, I understand why she did.”
“Yeah, I know. She wanted you and the boys to talk me out of going back to bronc riding.”
Lincoln nodded. “That was one reason.”
“There was another?”
Lincoln hesitated for a few seconds before he spoke. “Dixie is a romantic. She was hoping you’d fall in love with Maisy and both of you would decide to stay right here in Simple.” A few weeks ago, Sawyer would’ve laughed at Dixie’s plan. But he wasn’t laughing now. “But no matter how good my wife’s intentions were, it was still wrong,” Lincoln continued. “I’m sorry. I know the last few weeks have been stressful for you.”