Chapter 8 – Lilah
Chapter Eight
LILAH
M y eyes blink open twice as I see the darkness from the outside pouring into the house. The images of Lucy flashing through my mind come to me again and again. All night long, all I could dream of was the way her eyes looked. I had no idea how she came to be. I had no idea what her story was, but what I did know was she was broken. She reminded me of a scared girl who came to Mustang Creek, one who trusted only her parents and no one else.
The alarm rings as I reach out to shut it off before getting out of bed. I walk over to the bathroom, stretching and feeling aches all over my body. My eyes feel like they weigh a thousand pounds as I turn on the cold water and splash it on my face. I get ready for work, but instead of going over to the barn, I head to see Juliet. I need to ride with the wind on my face. Parking at the side of the barn, I look over at the darkened house before I make my way inside. Grabbing my saddle, I walk over and put it on Juliet. “Morning, girl.” I kiss her side. “Want to go for a ride with me?” I ask, walking outside with reins in my hands and then mounting her, throwing my leg over her and sitting down. “Let’s let loose, baby girl,” I urge her and kick her side with the heel of my boot, and she takes off.
My head clears as she beelines toward the field and runs to the tree line before turning and running back. Zigzagging back and forth, I free my mind of everything, but the minute I stop, I can’t help the pull of looking at the house. I shake my head, telling myself I should leave it alone. After putting Juliet back in her stall and adding some water, I see Hector coming in with a pail of grain for the horses. “Morning.” I smile at him as I head out of the barn and toward my car. At the same time, I see the front door open, and Lucy steps out first, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt. On her feet are boots, unlike the running shoes she wore yesterday when she arrived. Emmett steps out after her as he closes the door behind him.
I stop looking at them as I pull out of the parking lot and head toward work. Pulling in at the same time as them, I pretend I didn’t just watch them like a creepy stalker when I get out of my own truck with my water bottle and my lunch box. “Good morning, guys,” I greet them more chipper than I should, borderline fake. “How is everyone doing?” I look at Lucy, who doesn’t say anything before Emmett speaks.
“Morning,” he says, and for the first time since the beginning, it comes out a touch softer than the grunt I usually get.
“Are you joining us at work, Lucy?” I ask, and she doesn’t answer me. Instead, she just nods.
“Do you want to come and help me say hello to the horses?” I ask, then look at Emmett. “If your dad says it’s okay.” Your dad , even the words feel foreign in my mouth. It was no secret that Emmett was a player. I mean, it’s not like he flaunted it in your face, but you knew he got around. The whispers about it always leaked in from the bar to the work area. He also never said a word when they would ask him about the girl he left with the night before. Each and every single time, it felt like a dagger in my heart. I became used to the pain until I saw his daughter. It felt like someone took the knife out of my heart, and it was like it was a plug, and as soon as it was out, the pain poured out of the wound.
“Do you want to go with Lilah?” he asks Lucy, who nods at him, and he looks at me. “I’ll be at my desk,” he says. “Come find me when you’re done.”
“Sounds good,” I reply, then look back down at Lucy. “Are you ready?” I ask, and she nods. I turn to walk to the kitchen to store my lunch. “Okay.” I clap my hands together. “Let’s go wake up the horses.”
We walk toward the barn and stop when I see Sammy. “Hey, Sammy,” I call to him, making sure Lucy is right beside me.
“Hey, Lilah, you didn’t come and get your ride in today,” he notes, and I shake my head.
“I went to ride Juliet,” I tell him, “but I’ll see about going out with Rosy today on my lunch break.” He nods at me before he rushes out to the other barn.
“Okay, let’s start here,” I state, looking at the horse in the last stall. “Do you remember what I told you yesterday?” I ask, and she nods. “Of course you do. You’re a smart girl.” I wink at her, and she smiles at me. I put my hand in the stall and she does the same as me. “We’ll let him smell us and then go in and say good morning,” I say of the horse that was a bit testy yesterday. He walks up to us and is not sure if he’s going to like us or not. “Sometimes it takes him a bit of time to decide whether he’s going to like us or not,” I say, and she looks at me and then at the horse.
“So how old are you, Lucy?” I ask, wondering if she’s going to talk to me. I wait a couple of seconds, and when she doesn’t answer me, I smile big at her. “Are you fifteen?” She laughs now. “Okay, is it higher?” I tease her, and she shakes her head. I move my head side to side, thinking of what to say. “Okay, four?” She shakes her head. “Maybe five?”
“No,” she says in the most angelic voice I’ve ever heard, “I’m eight.”
“That was my next guess.” I try not to be in shock that she actually spoke to me. Instead of bombarding her with more questions, I stop talking for a bit. It isn’t awkward since the horse comes and tries to lick our hands, making her pull her hand out and wipe it on the back of her jeans. “Let’s go to the next one.” I pull my hand out as we walk over to the next stall.
We get to Coffee’s stall. “Hi, Coffee,” I say, opening the stall and stepping in with Lucy behind me. “Lucy and I came to say good morning,” I tell Coffee, who gives a huff as if he is talking to us.
“That’s him saying good morning.” I smile over my shoulder at her. “So what grade are you in, Lucy?” I ask, sticking my hand out for Coffee and watching her follow my actions. This time, she doesn’t back away when he comes at her.
I wait to see if she’ll talk to me or retreat again, but with her focusing on Coffee, she speaks to me, forgetting that she hasn’t really spoken to me at all. “I just finished third,” she answers. “I’m going into fourth.” I nod at her.
“Oh, cool.” I react as if her voice isn’t warming my soul. “Do you like school?” I ask, and she nods. I now see I have to ask her questions that don’t have a yes or no answer.
“What’s your favorite subject?” I ask, and she watches Coffee walk to her as he sniffs her hand.
“I like math and reading,” she says.
“I loved reading. I have a book club with just me and my best friend, Sierra,” I say. “My favorite story in fourth grade was Charlotte’s Web ,” I share with her, and she looks at me. “It was my favorite, and I wanted to get a pet pig,” I admit, and she smiles, “but then my parents refused. I didn’t talk to them for two days.” I shake my head. “I also went searching for spiderwebs all over my house, thinking they were secretly writing words for me.” She laughs at me. “They weren’t.”
“My favorite book is Sleepover Princess Diaries . It’s a fun one.”
“Oh, really? What’s it about?”
“It’s about a princess who doesn’t go to school, so she has no friends since she has to be in her castle all day long,” she tells me about the story. “Every night, she writes in her journal about what she would do if she was at a sleepover. Every night is a new adventure for her with her four best friends—her cat, dog, hamster, and goldfish.”
“That sounds like a good group of friends,” I say, turning and walking out of the stall with her nodding. “What are the names of her friends?”
“There is Blue, the cat, even though he’s black,” she rambles as we walk to the next stall, “and then Buster, the dog, who doesn’t like the cat. Humblepie is the hamster, and the goldfish is called Jaws.”
I laugh at the last name, and she laughs with me as we open the stall for Rosy. “That’s a funny name for a goldfish,” I say. “Good morning, Rosy.”
“One adventure,” she says as she holds out her hand before mine for Rosy, “is that it rains gumballs.”
“Ouch, that must hurt.” I wince but then look at her shyly. “But then I’d eat all the yellow ones.”
“I like the red ones,” she whispers.
My phone beeps from my back pocket, and I pull it out to see it’s Courtney.
Courtney: Hey there, stranger. It’s been over a week, and you were supposed to call me right back. Want to catch a movie this weekend?
I’m about to answer when Sierra texts me.
Sierra: Want to do an impromptu book club meeting on Saturday night?
I’m about to answer her when I get a message alert from one of my social media accounts, and my heart stops when I see who is trying to message me. The back of my neck feels like it’s on fire when I read the name. Derek Honeywell wants to send you a message . I can only see the first sentence of the message before I almost drop my phone.
I put the phone away in my back pocket, trying to control my breathing, when I look over at Lucy watching me. Her eyes fill with worry, probably taking in the panicked look on my face at the same time as I try to control the way my body shakes. “I’m fine,” I try to tell her, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she walks over to me and slides her hand in mine. Exactly like I did to her yesterday when she was scared.
I’m about to say something else to her when I hear boots coming our way. “Yeah, she might like that,” Emmett says. Then I see Charlie and him walk by the stall and stop when they see us.
“There they are,” Charlie announces with a smile. “Hi, Lucy,” he says, but Lucy doesn’t say anything to him. “I was looking for you. Autumn is going to go to the park with baby Landon, or, as we call him, Billy, and was wondering if you wanted to go with her?”
Emmett stands there watching me, and his eyes go to our hands that are linked together. A look I’ve never seen on his face washes over him. “It’ll be fun,” he says to Lucy, who just squeezes my hand like I told her to do the day before if she was scared.
The words get lodged in my throat, and I’m about to say something when Autumn comes in with Landon in his stroller. “Hey,” she greets us, and I smile over at Lucy. “There she is,” she says and looks at me, and I raise my eyebrows. “Are you having fun with the horses?” Autumn asks Lucy, who lightens her grip on my hand. “I was going to see my friend at the donut shop and then go to the park and thought you might want to come.”
“Oh, fun,” I state, trying to make Lucy look at me so I can see her eyes, and she does. “They have the best donuts I’ve ever had. They are this big.” I pick up my other hand and show her. “Can you bring me back one?” She looks at me, then at Charlie and then Emmett, before looking back at Autumn. She nods and lets go of my hand, and my fingers absentmindedly move to grab her hand back. But she walks away with Autumn with her head down. I watch Charlie look at me and then look back at Emmett before he follows Autumn.
“Thank you,” Emmett says, walking into the horse stall with me.
“There is no need to thank me. She’s amazing,” I say, and my phone vibrates in my back pocket. “I think she would love to ride,” I suggest, and he nods at me the same way his daughter did to me not too long ago. “I can take her.”
“No,” he snaps. I try to hide the hurt, but I’m afraid I’m not fast enough. He says something, but I hold up my hand.
“I understand.” My eyes get dry, and my nose pinches. Before I lose it, and he sees how much that hurt me, I walk away from him. “I’ll see you later.”