Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Why are you looking around?”
“No reason. We need to talk about what?”
She drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. “Things have changed.”
“What things?”
“Us.”
I swallowed even harder. “What do you mean? I thought we were happy; we talked about waiting until we were thirty to get married. I’m building a damn house for us on the ranch, Rach.”
“That’s just it, Caden. The ranch. When you told me the other night after dinner with your parents that the ranch isn’t going to you, I realized that you and I wanted different things.”
I let out a disbelieving laugh. “Wait, you realized we want different things? Since when?”
“Since I heard you weren’t getting the ranch. Caden, I thought all this would be yours, and we’d be set.” She gestured all around us with her hands. “I don’t want to live in River Falls my entire life. I want a better life, one with more opportunities—I mean, I don’t want to be a rancher’s wife for the rest of my life.”
Everything started to spin, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut. I drew in a few deep breaths and exhaled.
When I opened my eyes, Rachel was just staring at me. “You don’t want to be a rancher’s wife. At what point in the last sixteen fucking years did you not realize I was intending on being a rancher? Even at fourteen, when we started dating, that was my dream. I went to college for it, Rachel. You went for fashion; I went for ranch management. This is something I talked about every damn day! When were you going to tell me this wasn’t the future you wanted?”
“Honestly?”
“I would appreciate a little of that, since it feels like you haven’t been.”
“I think I’ve always known, deep down. I thought you would take over ownership and we would have money. That if I was going to have to stay here, at least I’d be comfortable.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I asked, “How much do you think we make from the ranch?”
She shrugged. “Lori Vibes—you remember her, right? Her fiancé owns a cattle ranch in Texas, and he’s a millionaire. He took her to Paris when he asked her to marry him.” She glanced around. “I mean, I get that you thought this would be romantic, but I have to be honest with you, Caden. I’m tired of waiting for the life I deserve.”
Stunned, I stared at her for a few moments. “The life you deserve…”
“Yes—money, houses, cars, trips to France and Italy and wherever. Like my friends. Seeing their lives outside of River Falls has made me realize I deserve that too.”
“How long have you felt this way?”
Rachel looked down at her skirt and picked something off of it, flicking it away. “A few years now. I was waiting to see what would happen with the ranch, was hoping you’d grow out of this ridiculous obsession with it.”
My entire world felt like it had just imploded.
“So you were waiting to see if I would bring money to the table before you’d consider a future with me. Even though we’ve had sixteen years together, money was your only driving force.”
“Don’t make it sound like that, Caden.”
“Why not? That’s what you just told me! You can’t be with me because I can’t give you the materialistic life you want. Is that not what you just said, Rachel?”
“I wanted it to work out! I really did. I mean, we’ve been dating since we were fourteen, but I always thought you’d be coming into money with this giant ranch! Everyone in River Falls knows the Wilde family is successful.”
I stood, feeling like I was about to get sick. Slowly, Rachel stood as well. “You’ve known this whole time I was never going to leave River Falls. I’ve never led you on to think I’d ever want to leave. My life was always going to be tied to this place.”
She sighed. “I know. I was just hoping you’d change your mind, or that you’d take over completely and make it more bearable for me to stay.”
“And if I didn’t? What were you going to do? Take my money and go have a good time while I worked the ranch?”
“I was hoping I’d be able to convince you to travel with me.”
“And what about kids?”
Now she looked sheepish. “Truthfully, I’ve never once said I wanted kids. You’re the one who always talked about it.”
I quickly tried to run through my mind all the times we’d talked about our future. The moments were few and far between, I had to admit that. How could I have been so fucking blind?
“So, basically, you just went along with me talking about the ranch, building the house, waiting on…what?”
Her cheeks turned red.
“Holy shit. You’ve been waiting for my parents to die?”
“No! I thought it would be your grandparents…and with your dad not wanting the ranch because he has his store, I figured the ranch would go to you.”