Delivery to the Farmhouse (Havenwood Cowboys Romance #4)

Epilogue

L ife was weird, Cambry decided. That was all. Just plain weird.

Her first semester had ended. She’d come home, and even though she was in her room back in her childhood home, it was so different now.

The awards she’d gotten from 4H hanging on her wall—from her drawings, from cooking, from archery, and that one time she’d built something out of Legos and had submitted it—they all still hung where they’d always been.

Her bed looked the same as it always had, too.

So why did everything feel so out of place?

She set her overnight bag down and circled the space, crossing to the window to look out onto the street. Several of the kids she used to babysit when they were younger rolled in front of her house on their bikes, and her heart gave a little squeeze.

Life was moving on.

She was moving on.

She had moved on.

Apparently, her parents had, too. Neither of them were home. And since all of her siblings were older—off and married with lives of their own—she was used to being here by herself.

But being home alone had never played with her mind like it was now.

It was one of those existential crises she’d learned about in her preliminary psychology class, she supposed. How change affected the brain, and the way she viewed herself as she was getting older.

Didn’t everyone experience weirdness like this when they turned eighteen?

So much was different now. She was an official adult. She could vote. She even had to serve jury duty if it came to that. But those weren’t the reasons she felt so off.

She’d been doing so much introspection lately, it should be illegal. Did she really have to have life all figured out by now?

She thought she had.

With a sigh, Cambry sank onto her bed while another reason this room tore her emotional guts apart came through: every spec of this space reminded her of Kyler Holden.

The fluffy sherpa blanket folded at the foot of her bed had been a birthday gift from him. The string of beads dangling from her mirror reminded her of the night they’d danced in the street when they’d gone to see a live band perform in Burley. They’d even made out on her bed a few times when her parents hadn’t been home.

A stark longing pricked her chest in a way she hadn’t expected. It was so noticeable, she rubbed the spot with her fingers.

She missed him.

She’d been fine since the breakup six months ago. She’d lost herself in her classes, in dating other men on campus, in going out with her friends and living in the moment.

But now, that feeling scorched through her, burrowing deeply in her chest. It was the same question she’d wondered back when she’d visited Jo at work and Natalie had told her to give Kyler some space? —

Had she made a mistake letting him go?

“Why did I even come back here?” she muttered to herself.

She’d go back to Pocatello. Her old job as a waitress would be there for her, wouldn’t it? Jimmy, her manager, had said she was the hardest working one there and he hadn’t wanted to let her go.

Paying rent was the killer, though. Just another fun part of becoming an adult. But she could handle rent.

Jo was still in Pocatello. Maybe she could use another roommate.

The worst part was, she didn’t know what Kyler was up to these days. He hadn’t stayed in Pocatello. After the breakup, she’d thought she would have to deal with seeing him around campus and around the complex they’d both decided to live at.

But he’d left. School. Town.

He’d removed himself from her life completely.

That fact made the longing for him burrow a little deeper in a way it hadn’t since she’d broken up with him.

A humming noise came from her purse. Ready for the excuse to look anywhere else, to think of anything else, she dove into the yellow bag’s open zipper and found her phone.

There was a text from a number she didn’t recognize.

Unidentified: Hi Cambry! This is Belle Holden. I heard you’re back in town for a little while. I got your number from Bex.

Cambry’s stomach squirmed. She’d loved babysitting for Bex. Her kids were some of her favorites. Kody and Paisley had always loved to have Cambry read to them, and they’d been some of the cuddlier kids she’d watched. Cambry was all about the cuddles.

But why was Belle texting her? She never had before.

Cambry: Hi Belle. What’s up?

Belle: I just had my baby, and I was hoping to get a little help while I’m readjusting and working. I wondered if you’d be up for discussing a job. How long are you planning on staying?

Cambry squirmed. She loved newborns. She loved babies. Nothing compared to holding a tiny person in her arms and feeling their soft skin and their tiny heartbeat. Looking at their soft lashes.

But Belle was Kyler’s sister-in-law.

Would he be around the farmhouse? Was he back in Bridgewater?

That thought skidded to a stop in her brain. She couldn’t risk seeing him again. She had to go back to Pocatello, back to the life where memories and longing for him didn’t threaten to overtake her.

Because even though she did miss him, even though the feelings she’d had for him held on with a vengeance, that didn’t change all the reasons she’d ended their relationship.

She wasn’t ready to be tied down to one person. Not yet.

Cambry: Sorry, but I’m not staying in town that long. Congrats on the baby!

And without even unpacking or waiting for her parents to come home, Cambry took her suitcases back out to her car. She locked the house behind her.

And she left her life—and Kyler Holden—behind.

Too bad she couldn’t leave her thoughts and longing for him behind quite as easily.

The End…