The One I Left Behind

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>It's the classic story-boy goes off into the world to fulfill his dreams and leaves the girl behind.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Not every boy returns home and I wish Ben Noughton wouldn't have come back to our small ranching town at all after he retired from playing professional football.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I figure it's a quick layover for him. He always wanted out of this town and off his family's ranch. I just have to bide my time until he turns his back on all of us again.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Then he takes on the coaching position for the high school football team and starts milling around too much bulldozing the protective walls I've built around myself. But he goes too far when he takes my son under his wing to help him be the best player he can be. Leaving me to protect not only my own heart but my son's too.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Because I promised myself a long time ago that I'd never be the girl in the rearview mirror again. </span></p>