Shay pressed her tears back, choosing to be strong in this moment when she felt so weak. Austin was clearly doing the same thing, and she wanted him to understand. The only way that would happen was if she talked. He would listen.
“For a while there,” she said. “I couldn’t accept that I’d lost the ranch. Of course I wanted it back.”
Austin simply waited, those eyes encouraging her to continue. “But of course that’s not what I think is actually going to happen. And nowhere near the reason why I agreed to go out with you.”
He folded his arms, his gaze steady, unwavering. His stance basically said, “And?”
“I was talking to an old friend of mine from the base in Georgia, and I haven’t spoken to her in…a long time, and she didn’t understand a lot of the family dynamics, or the mess I found
