But she hoped to find a good man to love them. Someone who would love being Hallee’s dad. She thought about Mason. She hadn’t really stopped thinking about him. But being a single, working mom left little time to pursue a guy who didn’t even know she was interested in him.
“I can’t believe it’s been a year. I can’t believe we lost the house, everything of his, and we started a whole new life here.”
“Maybe, in some ways, it’s better that way. A fresh start for you and the kids. From what you said over dinner, you love your new job and the kids are settling in at school. You said they seem really happy here.”
“They are. Part of that comes from being around family. They love it when Mom wakes them up with tickles in the morning. Riding the horses has really given them a sense of accomplishment and confidence.”
That was interesting. “So they spend a lot of time with Mason.”
“Several nights a week if Mason doesn’t have any late-night meetings. He loves having the boys over. His horses like the exercise. Danny is in love with this mare named Goose.”
The name made Heather smile. “After the bird or Top Gun?”
Sierra chuckled. “I’ll have to ask Mason.”
“I bet Hallee would love to see the horses.”
“You should bring her over tomorrow afternoon. Mason takes the boys riding after lunch on the weekends.”
“Do you think he’d mind if I just showed up?”
Sierra waved that away. “Not at all. We’ll all be there.”
“So it’s like old times. You and Mason picked up where you left off.” She’d always thought it weird that her sister was better friends with Mason than most of the girls she went to school with.
“In a lot of ways, it seems that way. He’s been so great with the boys. They’ve really come out of their shells around him. I can see how much they miss their dad and Mason is so good about being that guy in their lives who teaches them things and shows them how to be a good man. They need that. They love him.”
“I wonder if he thinks about getting married and having kids.”
Sierra picked up her wine glass and said over the rim, “He’s hinted at it,” before taking a sip.
“I wonder why he and his fiancée broke things off.”
Sierra shrugged. “People break up for lots of reasons. Mason’s been career oriented for a long time. He wanted the relationship to work, but in the end his feelings weren’t deep enough. Relationships only work when both people put everything into it. I’m sure you know how that goes.” Sierra set her glass back on the table. “Any hope for you and Hallee’s dad getting back together?”
Heather gave her the truth. “At one time, I dreamed it could all work out. He’d marry me. We’d raise Hallee together and be happy that we had each other. But . . .”
Sierra’s hand covered hers on the table and Heather swallowed the lump in her throat. “But what? What happened? Why doesn’t he visit you and Hallee? Why isn’t he in her life?”
Everyone always wanted to know who he was, not why he wasn’t here. The why tore her apart. “Not everyone gets to keep the love of their life.” She was never meant to have Hallee or her father. But she’d loved him with her whole heart and didn’t regret the time they shared, only the consequences.
Sierra sat back in her seat. “I’m sorry you lost him, Heather.”
They sat quietly, both of them thinking about what they’d lost, the pain and sadness a match, though they’d experienced it all in different ways.
Heather had to live with the choices she’d made, taking what she wanted when she knew it would be impossible to keep and cause so much pain despite the unbelievable joy and love she’d felt and the wonderful gift she’d gotten out of it.
She’d been selfish.
She’d loved and lost and had no one to blame but herself for how it ended. She didn’t know heartbreak could hurt this much and cut so deeply.
Tears glistened in her eyes but she didn’t let them fall. She didn’t expect Sierra to comfort her. Not today. Not on the day she’d lost her husband, the boys’ father, the man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with and had to learn to live without.
Heather understood that kind of pain and wouldn’t make this about her.