Chapter 20 #2
Hayden raised an eyebrow, already bracing. ‘Okay, sounds a bit serious; is everything okay?’
Tilly hesitated a moment, her hands sliding into her back pockets as she looked up at him with a gentleness that didn’t soften the gravity in her eyes.
‘It’s about Brianna. About that dare or bet, or whatever it was, that you and my silly husband made, Hayden.
I think it’s time she found out about it, don’t you?
Before it becomes way more of a drama than it should be. ’
Hayden’s shoulders tensed, and the easy warmth in his expression slipped as he looked past her, and out towards the paddocks, before slowly meeting her shrewd gaze again. ‘I know, you’re right, Till. She deserves to know, and sooner rather than later.’
Tilly finally climbed the step beside him, the boards creaking gently under her weight as she leant on the verandah railing. The silence stretched for a moment, companionable but heavy.
Hayden pushed off the post and walked over to the drinks fridge. ‘Beer?’
Tilly smiled faintly. ‘If you’re offering.’
He cracked open two stubbies, handing one to her, then dropped into a chair with a sigh. Tilly settled beside him.
‘It’s funny,’ he said after a long pull from the bottle, ‘how one stupid moment can tailspin into something this real. This big. And I kept thinking I had time. Time to earn her trust before wrecking it.’
Tilly took a quiet sip. ‘That’s the thing about time. It runs out when you least expect it.’
‘And don’t I know all about that.’ He nodded, watching the breeze stir the grass.
‘I just want to be the kind of man Bri believes I am. The man that helped her dad, the man who shared so many wonderful times with her.’ He cleared rising emotion from his throat.
‘Not the idiot who thought a dare was a good way to prove a point to Gav.’
Tilly bumped his shoulder lightly. ‘Then be that man. Tell her the truth. And let the rest work itself out.’
He exhaled, dragging a hand through his hair. ‘I was going to tell her ages ago. I wanted to, but then everything happened. Jack. The arrests. The court case.’
‘I know,’ Tilly said. ‘But those were the moments to show her who you really are, Hayden. And you did. But this, this is still hanging over you both. And if she somehow hears it from anyone else … it won’t be from me, but you know how private stuff seems to get around this town like wildfire.’
‘I know,’ he repeated, with guilt lacing his voice.
‘She trusts you,’ Tilly continued gently. ‘That trust is real. Don’t chip away at it now by choosing the easy option of staying silent about it.’
He glanced at her, shame flickering in his eyes. ‘It started as nothing. Just a dumb joke between blokes. But the moment I really looked into her eyes, well, I was a goner, and it wasn’t a dare anymore. I didn’t expect her to mean so much. I didn’t expect to fall so bloody hard for her.’
‘She’s a good person, smart, funny and very pretty, so of course you fell for her,’ Tilly said. ‘Aaaand, you saved her dad. So that chick’s already halfway to loving you, maybe more.’ She paused, took a breath, sighed it away. ‘But if she finds out on her own, about the bet, it’ll cut deep.’
Hayden nodded slowly, shoulders sagging. ‘You’re right. I hate that I’ve put it off.’
Tilly reached out, squeezing his arm. ‘Then tell her and let her decide what she wants to do with your truth.’
Hayden let out a long breath, his gaze trailing towards the far end of the property. ‘I will. Before the dinner. I can’t spend another get-together with her, keeping this to myself.’
And that afternoon, with the slowly sinking sun slanting low across Sweetwater Acres, throwing long shadows across the yard, a now showered and shaved Hayden waited, anxiously, on the front verandah.
His bare feet rested on the railing, but he hadn’t moved in a while.
Not since he’d made the decision that it was time.
Brianna had phoned just as Tilly was leaving, asking if it was okay if she popped in to check on Duchess and Maverick.
And of course he’d said yes. He always did to her.
Now two months old, Maverick had become a fixture on the property, bounding around his mother with coltish energy.
He was all long legs and endless curiosity, a bundle of momentum that had stolen Brianna’s heart the moment he entered the world.
And his, too. Maverick was more than just a foal, he was a symbol of hope, of beginnings that had nothing to do with heartbreak or loss. Just pure, unadulterated growth.
He heard her Hilux before he saw it, and when it pulled up near the gate, he stood, a little too quickly, a little too rigidly.
Brianna stepped out, her long hair pulled back, wearing one of her soft cotton work shirts, sleeves rolled to her elbows.
She looked relaxed. Comfortable. The sight of her almost made him falter.
But there was no going back, no chickening out, because she deserved the truth.
‘Hey,’ she called as she approached.
‘Hey, Bri,’ he replied with a faint smile.
She climbed the steps slowly, her piercing blue eyes never leaving his face, and came to stand beside him.
Closer now, her gaze searched his, and something quiet and perceptive settled between them, as if she already sensed the shift, the weight that he carried.
A prickle of tension threaded through her posture, softening only when she leant onto the railing next to him.
‘You okay, Hayden?’ Her voice was soft, cautious.
‘Not really.’ He turned slightly to face her, with his sprinting heart vaulting into his throat. ‘I need to tell you something, and you’re not going to feel comfortable with it.’
She blinked, her smile fading a touch. ‘I’m sure it can’t be that bad.’
He took a breath, then all the words he’d practised jumbled in his throat as panic rose, sharp and suffocating.
What if she never looked at him the same way again?
What if this broke something between them that couldn’t be mended?
The idea of her turning away, of her laughter vanishing from his world, of her Hilux never rolling up the drive again, just hollowed him out.
She wasn’t just someone he cared for. She was woven into everything good that had happened since she’d set foot in Sweetwater.
Losing her would mean losing the calm he’d finally found, losing this amazing feeling deep down in his soul when she was near, losing the chance at something so very real.
And it would be no one’s fault but his own.
Just as the silence stretched too long, Brianna gently reached out, her hand brushing his arm. ‘Hayden,’ she said softly, ‘whatever it is, you can tell me. It’s okay.’
Her voice anchored him, eased the tightness in his chest, and he looked at her, really looked, and in her eyes he saw something that broke him a little more.
He saw care. Real, unshaken care. The kind that made his chest tighten in a whole new way.
How could he say the words now? How could he admit to the dare when she stood there with such open trust?
Brianna studied him quietly, then tilted her head, her voice even softer. ‘Is this about Casey?’
That certain something inside him snapped.
She offered a faint, sad smile. ‘Molly told me, a while back. Not all of it, just enough to know. I figured you’d tell me when you were ready. And if that’s what this is, honestly, I’m ready to listen.’
The memory of Casey surged up like a rip current, raw and relentless.
That kind of loss didn’t heal. It scabbed over, maybe.
But it never left you. And now, standing here with Brianna, the thought of wounding someone else he cared about made his voice catch all over again.
He hadn’t just lost Casey, he’d lost the man he had been before her death.
And with Brianna, he’d found fragments of that man again.
The hope, the steadiness, the faint promise of a future.
If she walked away now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever come back from it.
‘Hayden …’ Brianna’s voice wavered into his blur of memories, shame and heartbreak. ‘You’re really starting to worry me, so come on, please, talk to me.’
He opened his mouth, trying to find the right words, but they tangled somewhere behind his ribs. He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes dropping to the boards beneath their feet. ‘There’s something important I’ve been meaning to tell you, and no, it’s not about Casey.’