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Rebecca eventually says yes.
Not immediately. Tim spent weeks stumbling over himself whenever she visited, following her around with the nervous loyalty of a stray dog, and Elliot had almost managed to convince himself it wouldn’t go anywhere.
Then one night Rebecca laughed at one of Tim’s terrible jokes.
And that was the start of the end.
After that, Tim started showing up everywhere, because as much as Elliots parents didn’t like each other they wanted their children to to get along, ugh.
Elliot would work mornings and be serving breakfast only to see Tim sitting at a table with Rebecca, both of them drinking coffee while George loudly complained about feed prices or weather reports.
Sometimes Tim came over for dinner.
Sometimes he stayed late enough that Elliot watched his headlights disappear down the road from his bedroom window.
It became normal.
Which was probably the worst part.
Because Elliot could survive heartbreak. He could survive longing and jealousy and the sick twisting feeling in his stomach every time Tim looked at Rebecca like she’d hung the moon itself in the sky.
But normalcy?
Normalcy settled into his bones.
The town loved them together.
People at the store stopped asking Elliot for details eventually because they already had all the details they wanted. Everyone had apparently decided Tim and Rebecca were inevitable.
And maybe they were.
Tim looked happy.
Rebecca looked happy too.
So Elliot learned how to live around the ache.
He spent more time helping his father with the flock. More late nights reading in the barn loft while sheep shuffled quietly below him.
More mornings waking before sunrise because if he stayed busy enough, maybe his chest wouldn’t feel quite so hollow all the time.
It never completely worked.
But the sheep still needed feeding regardless of whether Elliot’s heart was broken, and there was something strangely comforting about that.
Life continued.
The seasons changed. Lambs were born. Tourists still got lost trying to find the highway. Denbrook remained small and familiar and stubbornly unchanged.
And Elliot stayed.
Because despite having to stand beside the love of his life as that love got married to someone else; at least he got to see his love be happy.