Once Upon a Cowboy by Maggie McGinnis Page B

stay.”
    “Ah.” Daniel nodded. “You ever think about how things might have been different if you’d gotten into Stanford?”
    Cole stared at his beer bottle, spinning it slowly. “I did get into Stanford.”
    Daniel twisted toward him. “What? How didn’t I know that?”
    “I never told anybody.That’s how.”
    “Shit.” Daniel took a slug of his beer. “Are you serious? I thought after your dad died—that you just didn’t apply, you know, since you were—here.”
    Cole shrugged. “I knew I couldn’t go, but I just had to know if I could have. It was a stupid waste of fifty bucks, but I had to know.”
    “Do you ever regret it? Not going?”
    “Course I do. I could have been Doctor Driscoll by now, right?”
    Daniel laughed. “That’s frightening, I don’t mind saying.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Ever resent Decker for getting the chance?”
    “No.” Cole shook his head. “Not the way he had to go.”
    “I know, but you know what I mean. Maybe he didn’t choose to leave, but at least he got the opportunity to see what else was out there. You kind of—didn’t.”
    “There’s no
kind of
about it.” Cole took a drink, set it down slowly.“But I’m not dead yet, right? I could still take off and see the world.” He rolled his eyes like he found the idea ludicrous, because he knew that’s what people expected.
    “You tempted to?”
    “To leave? I don’t know. Maybe? Once Decker came back, it seemed like maybe I actually could, you know? Leave him to do the ranch thing instead of me. I don’t know.”
    “Wow. I had no idea.”
    Cole shrugged.“I don’t exactly advertise it.”
    “This why you haven’t had a serious girlfriend—like—in forever? You’ve got one proverbial foot out the door?”
    “Well, that—and the fact that most of the girlfriend candidates out here are like—her.” He tipped his chin toward Marcy. “I don’t know, Danny. I just can’t get this feeling out of my gut that maybe there’s something else out there.”
    Daniel took anotherdrink, thoughtful. “Maybe it’s me, but I’ve always thought you lived and breathed that ranch, and not because you had to.”
    “I did. I do. But Whisper Creek isn’t what it used to be. I miss the days when it was just us and the horses. I even miss the damn cows, because it was simpler then. Fewer humans in the mix. Now the damn place looks like a ranch version of a spa, and
that
is something I thoughtI’d never see.”
    “Maybe you just need to step back a little and find the parts of it you still love. Thought of that?”
    “No, Doctor Phil. Haven’t thought of that. No frigging
time
to think of that, with all the work we’ve got. I love Kyla like my own sister, but if that woman comes up with one more idea, I might have to lock up her damn notebook and pens.”
    “Might help if Decker wasn’t so busywith the development.”
    “It would
definitely
help. Kind of hard for me to think about leaving when he can barely step foot out on the trail without getting a phone call.”
    Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know, Cole. Hard to imagine Whisper Creek without you in the equation. And maybe I’m wrong, but I think your roots are firmly planted here, whether you believe it or not right now. I can
not
seeyou walking around some sidewalk in some city, or living in a cookie-cutter suburban development somewhere in Ohio. Sorry. Does not compute.”
    Cole laughed. “Not going to Ohio.”
    “You’d miss it here. You’d miss
us
. You’d be calling home begging for a care package of Jenny’s cookies in two weeks, guaranteed.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” Cole rolled his eyes.
    “Well, in the meantime, since it looks like you’restuck for at least a while longer, I think you should take the risk and see what could happen with Jess.”
    “And here we are, back to Jess.”
    Daniel shrugged. “Just saying. Maybe your destiny’s here, knocking on the door for the
third
damn time. Maybe you’d better listen this