Chapter 9: Chapter Eight

She messed up. Holy cow, did she mess up.

Ella never thought the words “I’m done” could tear through her, leaving her wounded with ripped and tattered edges. But when Ty uttered those words, hurt and anger and spite cutting across his face as he did, she felt like she was being torn apart.

The rest of the visit had been awkward, and she’d been grateful that Ty was suddenly called on an emergency visit that stopped the session short.

Ty came by the next day, barely acknowledging her with an imperceptible nod and nothing else, as he fed her horse and pony. She didn’t know what this meant for Red’s future therapy, but more importantly, she didn’t know what this meant for her and Ty.

Now that the situation was blown wide open, and she realized that Ty was never involved, she felt foolish she had even believed that he could be. Ironic because the whole reason she even held the grudge was to prevent herself from appearing foolish in the first place. She’d been so sick of people looking at her like she was less than, that she had taken the opportunity to have a toehold above someone. And the person she picked didn’t deserve her wrath one bit.

She needed to figure out a way to fix the situation. At the very least, she needed to apologize to Ty. He had to know how awful she felt, even if he never did forgive her.

She had told Ty to go ahead with Red’s therapy the next couple days without her. There was no way she could handle the twenty-minute drive to his place and back. Not with the stunted conversation and the dark tension between them.

The trip back to her place after the blowup was bad enough. He didn’t look at her, didn’t talk to her. Just drove her to her place, dropped her off, waited until she was inside and drove off.

At least she knew that he would take care of Red in the best possible way. Leave it to her to realize that she did trust the straightforward vet once he wanted nothing to do with her.

Ella opened her cupboard and sighed as she looked at the meager offerings. The only things left were the jar of peanut butter, the end pieces of bread, and some tea.

Ty had previously mentioned groceries to her, but she couldn’t call him up and ask him for help after everything that went down. Jordan would be back in another four days, but there wasn’t enough food to hold her over. Which meant asking Ms. Minna or finding someone else.

Her knee twinged in complaint as she thought of Ms. Minna’s endless shopping trips. Maybe there was someone else she could consider.

Ty had accused her of not being able to accept help, and maybe he had a point. After all, she was part of this community, right? Someone had to be willing to help her.

Grabbing her phone, she started scrolling through her numbers. Quite a few of them were ones she had added after she started winning and more people approached her at bars, in public, at her job.

Maybe it was because she hadn’t seemed as guarded once she saw herself as a winner.

She stopped on Gus Jones’s number. She and Gus had known each other a long time. They weren’t best friends, but they were close enough. She liked Gus with her grit and construction boots. Sure, she was dating Colton Hartman, but Colton seemed like a decent guy. And from what she could tell, the cowboy certainly made Gus happy.

Gus would be a good first step.

Taking a breath, Ella hit the number and waited for it to ring.

To her surprise, Gus picked up immediately.

“Ella?”

Ella straightened and cleared her throat. “Gus? Uh—hi. I’m sure it’s strange I’m calling out of the blue…”

“Oh, not at all,” Gus sang into the phone, and she sounded like she truly meant it. “What’s up?”

“I—” Ella closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. It was now or never. “I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

Gus laughed. “I live to help people. Of course. Tell me what it is.”

Ella sagged against her kitchen counter in relief, releasing the breath from her lungs. Despite the fact her life felt like it was in utter turmoil, she found herself smiling as she made her request.

Maybe Ty had a point.

Ella had been giving him space over the past three days.

Part of Ty—the angry part—was relieved. He didn’t want her around. He didn’t want to deal with a woman who had such a low opinion of him while he helped her out and worked on her horse.

The other part of him—the part that had been attracted to her for so long—wondered if she was doing okay. It was that part of him he wanted to bury down deep. This attraction had lasted way too long. It was time to move on.

He did feel for Ella being the butt of Lindsey’s prank. It was horrible, and if he had known about it at the time, he would have said something. However, Ella was so determined to not appear as less than that she ended up hiding herself away and looking down on others. And he wanted no part of it.

The day had been a busy one. He had a full plate of animal patients that didn’t stop until he closed his office doors an hour later than usual. Afterward, he stopped off at Ella’s to feed her horse and pony. Thankfully, she didn’t come out when he dropped by. It felt like a knife to the chest to even look at her right now. Then when he got home, Colton came into the house looking grim with the report that the electric fence at the steer enclosure was down.

Jace was hidden away in the office, no doubt researching studs. He and Colton had decided that Jace could do the research for a new stud horse to purchase. Ty and Colton had given their brother some recommended requirements, a budget, and some bloodlines they were looking for, and then let Jace at it. Jace had taken the task reluctantly. At first it was clear that their brother wasn’t thrilled with the idea. The fact that he knew so little about horses probably didn’t sit well with Jace.

However, Ty knew they would guide Jace in the right direction in the end.

What they hadn’t expected was that Jace ended up taking the task very seriously, spending hours researching bloodlines and studs for sale. Which was why when they saw the closed office door, Colton and Ty headed out to fix the fence themselves.

“Alright,” he called to Colton as they finished repairing the smooth wire. “We can turn the juice back on.”

Colton nodded, and they trudged back to the house together, their strides in sync.

Jace met them halfway to the house. His movements were beginning to mirror the head-down, address-the-issues-as-they-come approach that both Ty and Colton had learned from growing up on the Rocking H.

Ty smiled to himself. Despite Jace thinking he didn’t belong on the ranch, it was quite clear the ranch was having its effect on Jace. It fit Jace better than he realized.

“The neighbor kid called. He asked if we wanted him and his brothers to help cut and bale hay again,” Jace said as he fell in line as they headed inside.

“Great,” Ty said. “Works for me.”

“Me too,” Colton added. “Do you want to call them back and let them know?”

Jace nodded as he pulled gloves from his back pocket and tossed them into the basket on the counter by the front door. Ty smiled at Hailey who was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop open, her cell phone by her side. Next to her was a small stack of papers and a notebook.

As Ty moved farther into the kitchen, he noticed the stack of papers were horses.

He pulled the top page off and studied it. To his surprise, the gorgeous sorrel stud had impressive bloodlines. In the photos, he had a strong build, a good head, and a nice line in his back. The price was a little high, but Jace was certainly going in the right direction.

“Hey,” Jace came over and pulled the stack out of his hand. “I’m still researching.”

The notebook and the pile of horses for sale disappeared from the table as Jace squirreled them away to the office.

Hailey smiled up at Ty once Jace was out of earshot. “Thanks for setting him on the task. He’s been talking about horses for days now.”

Ty took that as good news. If Jace cared so much about the stud, then he clearly cared about the ranch. Why bother with this research if he was going to leave it all behind?

At least there was one ray of brightness in his life right now.

Jace reappeared, the notebook now safely stashed away, and toed off his boots. “How’s the barrel horse looking?”

That ray of brightness dimmed.

Unfortunately, while Red was quickly improving, the mare’s recovery was still taking longer than expected. The location of the injury was in a terrible spot. There wasn’t a lot of blood flow where the tendon was located because the leg was so narrow. While he expected the pressure point therapy was helping Red recover at a quicker pace than he expected, it wasn’t working at the pace he had promised.

Problem was, he didn’t know how to tell Ella or Jace.

Jace was expecting the success of the therapy to set up the ranch as a profitable vet practice. Ella was expecting to make it to the NFR.

“It’s going,” he hedged, keeping it vague. “She’s healing well.” Just not on their original timeline.

Footfalls echoed on the front porch and seconds later, Gus walked in, interrupting the conversation.

Never had Ty been more grateful for an interruption. He smiled hello, then watched as Gus’s dark eyes landed on Colton and the smile on her face lit up the entire room.

Envy chased by a deep sense of loneliness shot through him as Gus headed straight to Colton and kissed him full on the mouth.

He liked both Hailey and Gus, and he felt his brothers had truly won out with the amazing women in their lives. Hailey and Gus clearly brought out the best in his brothers, and Colton and Jace both looked happy whenever they were around.

It was just that every time he saw how happy the two couples were, Ty felt even more alone.

“Hi.” The feminine voice behind him was hesitant.

Whirling around, he spotted Ella, standing awkwardly at the threshold of the front door. Her chin was tilted down, her dark hair pulled over one shoulder like a curtain protecting her. The skin around her eyes was pinched, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

Ty could feel everyone’s eyes turn to him.

“I didn’t mean to just drop in. Or I guess I did. Gus took me grocery shopping, and I asked…” She waved her hands, looking around, as though realizing that she and Ty were the center of attention. “If she’d mind bringing me over to talk with you for a few minutes.”

She was taking her horse.

Probably an irrational thought, but nonetheless, it was the first thing that popped into his head. After all, why would she want to keep her horse with the vet she despised?

The thing was, he needed to keep Red here. He needed to follow through with the therapy and prove that it did work.

He should have thought twice before blowing up at her the other day. He could have just accepted her judgment, swallowed his pride, and put on a front until Red was healed.

But no, he had to give her what-for.

“Fine,” he growled, his mood now sour. “Let’s talk outside.” Away from the prying eyes and ears. He motioned out the front door.

“I’ll be here when you’re ready to head home,” Gus called to Ella as he followed the dark-haired cowgirl out the door. The steps were probably a little treacherous on crutches, but he stopped himself from offering help, and she didn’t ask.

He led her over to the barn where they could get some privacy before turning to her.

“Can we make this short? It’s been a long day and I still have some things to do.” Granted his to-do list was laundry and coordinating with Colton and Jace when to move the bull out with the cows, but she didn’t need to know that.

“I won’t keep you long.” She looked up, her lips pressed flat, and her eyes serious. “I want to apologize.”

“Great.” He clapped his hands together. Apology done, time to wrap this up.

“There’s more,” she said softly, and something about the misery in her tone stopped him from heading back to the house. “I judged you by what I expected from someone like you rather than by the actions you showed. While I can’t take back the past, I am sorry for my shortsightedness and for hurting you. You, of all people, don’t deserve that. You have been nothing but wonderful to me, and I want to let you know that my perception of you was completely wrong.”

The barrier he had mentally planted around himself crumbled a little at her words.

Her eyes were big and soft as she looked at him. “I’m not expecting you to forgive me, but I thought I could share with you why I was acting the way I did.”

“Shoot.” He shrugged, trying to look like he didn’t care.

Only he did care.

Gazing off into the distance, she took a breath before turning back to him, her expression resigned. “I’m sure you overheard at the dance that Jeff and I had a…thing going. I hadn’t realized that he and Lindsey were still together. It’s one more issue between Lindsey and me.” Heat bloomed on her cheeks. “Anyway, Jeff led me to believe he and Lindsey were no longer together, so we started hooking up.”

“Okay,” he said, his interest piqued. How Ella could fall for someone like Jeff was beyond him.

“At first, it was fun,” Ella continued. “And so easy to fall into it. He’d come over at night, sweet and charming. And honestly, it was flattering that a handsome cowboy was interested in me. I never thought someone in this town would actually be interested in me.”

That was bullshit. There were plenty of guys—

“Turns out, he wasn’t interested in me. He just wanted sex,” Ella continued. “I started asking why we weren’t going out on dates, or why he didn’t want me to hang out with him at his place. Turns out it was because he and Lindsey had not broken up. It took me weeks to piece it all together. One night, he came over, and his phone started buzzing like mad. He kept ignoring the calls and put the phone on silent. A few minutes later, Lindsey showed up at my door.”

Ella’s jaw was tight, as she swallowed.

Ty felt his muscles bunch as Ella struggled to say her next words. The next time he saw Jeff, he wasn’t going to be so nice.

“Lindsey and Jeff were still together. I was the side piece.” Her voice had become robotic. As though she were trying to recite the facts without the emotion, but everything about her curled forward, as though protecting a wound. Her eyes glazed over, and she looked like she wanted to imagine the whole situation away.

“I was furious.” Her voice cracked, and he moved forward. Ella moved back. “No, I need to get this out. A few days later, I drove to his house and demanded to know why he would do something like that. You know what he did? What he said?”

No, and Ty was pretty positive that he was going to destroy Jeff once he heard.

“He shrugged. The asshole actually shrugged and asked what else did I expect. I got the most I was ever going to from someone like him, and I should be happy with it.”

Ty saw red. His jaw ached as he clenched his fists. If he ever saw Jeff again, he was going to make sure that guy regretted the day he set his sights on Ella.

Ella was sniffing, her nose and cheeks red with suppressed tears. More than anything, he wanted to pull her close and just hold her. Of course she deserved better. Far better than someone like Jeff.

“You didn’t deserve that,” he said vehemently.

“I’m surprised you would say that after our blowup the other day.” Ella let out a dry laugh that sounded hollow. “I just…” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I guess after Lindsey and Jeff, I didn’t want to feel like a fool again. I was determined to prove to everyone I was worth something. I wasn’t some bottom-of-the-barrel person without any feelings or dreams. I wasn’t less than.”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Of course you aren’t less than. You’re better than either of them.” He would pick her any day of the week.

Ella gave a wry smile. He couldn’t help but notice that her knuckles around her crutch grips were white.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I’ve been attracted to you for years. I had a crush on you back in high school, and I guess it never really went away.” She let out another laugh, only this felt shy. “But after Jeff, I wasn’t willing to put myself out there again. I didn’t mean to hold onto a high school grudge, it was just so much easier to protect myself by holding onto old hurts. So, I did. And in return, I’ve hurt a really great guy who didn’t deserve it.”

“I get it,” he muttered. Did it bother him? Yes. Did he understand? Yes. Moving close, he wrapped his arms around her before she could escape. “You didn’t deserve that. You are not lesser than the Jeffs, or Lindseys, of the world. You’re just as good. Better.”

“Not better,” she sniffed. “If I was better, I wouldn’t have hurt you.”

“But I get why,” he started. Ella pressed her cheek against his shoulder, the movement feeling strangely natural. As though she were meant to always be there. She let her head rest against him for a minute before she pushed back.

“I want to prove to you that I’m not hiding away. That I can move on.”

As far as he was concerned, she didn’t need to prove anything to him. He understood. “Don’t feel like you have to—”

“Yes, I do,” she insisted. “This may sound a bit dumb, but trivia night is coming up this week.”

Trivia night at the Last Saloon was a popular monthly occurrence. He went on occasion, and even saw Ella there once or twice. He hadn’t been planning on going, but he was curious where she was going with this. “Okay, what does that have to do with proving you’ve moved on?”

“I wondered if you’d want to go with me. I normally go with Jordan and we keep to ourselves, but I can go with you, hang out with you and your friends.” She shrugged, as though it explained the rest. When he didn’t move, she added, “It shows I’m willing to put myself out there for you. Despite the gossip, despite being afraid I could be hurt again, I want to show I can move past old hurts.”

“I get it.” And he did. “You want to prove that you aren’t hiding anymore.”

She bit her lip. “For you. I want to prove that to you.”

“Why for me?” he found himself asking.

Her cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red, and his pulse quickened in response. He leaned forward, closer to her, wanting to hear whatever she had to say that made her blush like that.

Then she spoke the words he’d been craving for years.

“Because I still like you,” she said.