Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
He drops the bag and instead of walking back to his truck, like I was hoping, he walks toward me. “I’m so sorry about your father. He was a real good man,” he says, forcing a grin.
“Sure was, the best. The best guy you could ever imagine, yet he finds humor in torturing me from the grave. He wants to make a point, or ruin my life, or hell, maybe he just wanted to see if he could get me to cry. I don’t know, but yeah, he was a good man,” I nearly shout.
“Damn, what the hell did he do to you?” he asks, folding his muscular arms across his chest. Arms, I might add, have ink all over them. Arms that look like he’s been working his life on a ranch, not living in luxury. Arms that right now, in the most vulnerable state I’ve ever found myself in, I wouldn’t mind wrapped around me.
“Hey, did you hear me?”
I snap out of the weird emotional break down I’m clearly having and shake my head. “He decided to have his lawyer contact me telling me if I’m not married by the time I’m thirty, I’ll lose the ranch.” I shrug, trying to keep the tears from falling again. It was humiliating enough once, I’ll never let that happen again. “But what can I do?”
“When do you turn thirty?”
I can see the pity in his eyes and I hate it. It makes me feel weak and I’m anything but weak. I’m stressed, exhausted, and clearly on my way to a breakdown, but I’m not weak.
“Two and a half months. Well, closer to two months now,” I admit.
He shakes his head, still keeping his gaze on mine. “That’s pressure no one should ever feel. I’m surprised your dad would do that to you. He was always so proud of you and everything you did, I mean do, on this ranch. He always spoke about how you loved it as much as him.”
“Yeah, well, I guess dying people say dumb shit.” I try to force a smile, but it feels as fake as it is.
“So, you need to find a husband? How’s that going to work?” he asks.
I feel like a fool for not only being caught crying, but telling Callum Atwood my personal situation. I don’t even know him well. I hardly know him at all. I’ve seen him before, but this may be the first time we’ve ever actually spoken.
Yeah, I’m 0 - 2 today with being humiliated. Atta girl, Violet.
“Look, I shouldn’t have said anything. It was a bad moment and one I’d like us both to quickly forget. So, how about we just get the rest of the grain and we both get back to work?”
I go to step around him, but he stops me with his arm. The same damn arm I was nearly drooling over moments ago.
“I’ll bring in the grain, but after I do, I think you and I should have a serious conversation.”
A serious conversation? About what?
I glance up at him and realize just how tall he is. It’s kinda nice to have someone taller than me in my boots.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts and nod. “You have five minutes until I need to get back to work. So talk quickly.”
He’s lucky I’m giving him five minutes. Every minute on this ranch counts.
Chapter 4
Callum
What the hell am I doing? Seriously, what the hell am I doing? Am I actually thinking about marrying this woman?
My heart is hammering against my ribs, a relentless pounding that matches the riot in my brain. My nerves are shot, every breath I take feels shallow, like I’m on the edge of a cliff about to jump. There's this feeling rushing through me—one I can’t name, something between fear and exhilaration, maybe both. It’s terrifying.
But I can’t stop staring into the soft, blue eyes of Violet. They have this warmth, like a lake shimmering in the light of the sun, and even though they're clouded with sadness, they're still so beautiful it hurts. Her fiery hair tumbles in loose waves, framing her face perfectly, but today that familiar spark of hers is missing. It kills me to see her like this, the usual vibrancy dulled.
I hate seeing her sad.
It’s strange, really. I’ve never once in my life thought twice about Violet Daniels. She’s always just been… there. A constant fixture in the background, someone I could rely on but never really noticed in that way. But today, I can’t seem to stop my brain from spiraling, overthinking every glance, every little thing.
Here’s the thing: all of my younger brothers and my sister—they’re all happily involved with someone. Every single one of them has found their "forever person," their happily ever after. And don’t get me wrong, I’m genuinely happy for them, but… there’s this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s not jealousy, not really, but there’s definitely something missing. Something I can’t quite put my finger on. Like an empty space that I’ve ignored for too long.