“I can’t stay.”
“Is this about your dad?”
He shook his head, though Ginger knew more about Spencer’s past than anyone else. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately, but this move isn’t about him.”
“What’s it about? I didn’t think you were unhappy here.”
“I’m not unhappy here.” He reached up and ran his hand through his hair. “Ginge, I just…I thought I’d have found what I was looking for here, the way you have. I mean, look around you. You’ve got this amazing, brand-new house. A husband who loves you. Two amazing kids.”
He gestured toward his cowboy hat on the piano, indicating the house beyond the front door, where he lived. “I still live in the Annex. I’m still sharing my space with a bunch of other men. I haven’t dated anyone with any level of seriousness in what? Four years?”
At least four years, he thought. “I need a change, that’s all.”
Ginger’s dark green eyes shone with compassion and displeasure, but at least she took a few moments to consider all that had come spewing out of his mouth. “Where are you going?”
“Sweet Water Falls Ranch,” he said, already holding up one hand. “I don’t want you to say a word about Clarissa Cooper.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Yes, you were. Your eyes turned into moons.” He grinned at her. “I’m not going to Sweet Water Falls because of her. She’s leaving for a job in San Antonio anyway. She won’t be there.”
Ginger turned back to the boys as Connor said he’d just finished scooping the cookies. “What do you think will be different there?” she asked. She picked up the tray and put it in the oven before facing him again.
Spencer honestly didn’t know how to answer her question. He’d had the same one so many times over the years as his father had moved the two of them from place to place, always searching for the greenest grass.
They never had found it, and Spencer had left home the very day he’d graduated from high school. He hadn’t even been an adult yet, but he’d lied to his first foreman, and he’d worked all over the Texas Hill Country for over six years before permanently landing at Hope Eternal Ranch, further east in the Coastal Bend.
He’d liked the beach feel of the town, while still having a horse-focused job on a ranch.
“I don’t know what will be different there,” Spencer said. “I just know I can’t stay here anymore.”
“It’s because all the ladies are gone, isn’t it?” She smiled as she looked at him. “I need another account manager. You can sit in on the interviews.”
He grinned at her and shook his head. “No, I’m done dating people I work with.” That had never worked out for him, and yes, he’d sat on the sidelines while every new man that had come to the ranch in the past few years had married women he’d tried relationships with.
In that moment, he realized what had changed. “I’ve changed, Ginger. I think I’m finally ready.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Really?”
“Really,” he said. “I’m not angry at every woman I see anymore, and I’ve seen how happy you are with Nate, and Emma with Ted.” He stopped there, because he’d tried a relationship with Jess, but she’d felt like his little sister. Then she’d gone and fallen in love with Dallas Dreyer, become a mom to his two kids, and they had one of their own now too. Even they were a good example of the fact that marriage could work.
“I’m starting to believe in marriage,” he said. “I’m not afraid to commit anymore. I’m not.”
Ginger’s face softened and started to crumple as she stepped over to him. “I’m so happy for you,” she said.
“Don’t cry,” he said, hugging her. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Yeah,” she said, pulling away and wiping her eyes. She sniffled and tried to smile through it. “I hear Old Man Wayne Cooper is no softie.”
Spencer chuckled, because Wayne Cooper did have a reputation around Sweet Water Falls and the surrounding area. He remembered how fast the man talked, even if his legs limped a little bit. “No, he’s not.”
“How’s Chrissy?”
“You know, I don’t know.” Spencer sat down at the bar and accepted another dough ball from Connor. “Wayne didn’t let me in the house.”
“She’s been battling that cancer for a long time,” Ginger said, and Spencer recognized the look in her eye.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.