Chapter 11
Ryan had taken three more steps before I was able to snap out of my surprise.
“Don’t touch her.” I’d never seen Ryan’s friendly eyes so fiery as he strode toward James.
I shifted between the two of them and put my hands up. “Whoa, Ry. Hold on.”
He tried to go around me.
I stopped him with a hand on his arm. I was not about to let James get knocked out for helping me.
Not that I was convinced he would be. He could certainly hold his own against Ryan.
Two decades of wrestling each other had kept them on the same level, but the last eight years had given James a noticeable physical advantage.
“Ryan,” I said, loud and firm.
His focus finally shifted to me.
“He’s helping me,” I said.
“Why?”
I took in a shaky breath. This was not how I’d intended to tell him. “It’s a long story, but…I needed some maple syrup for the dessert, and I asked him to bring it.”
I realized that this would naturally lead to follow-up questions about how I had James’s number or even knew he was in town when Ryan hadn’t.
“I can explain it all later,” I said, trying to head questions off, “but I really need to get this maple inside.”
“He can explain it to me.” Ryan’s gaze didn’t waver from James. His jaw was hard, his chin high, his demeanor like a snake coiling before the strike.
“No,” I said flatly. I turned to James, who was looking at Ryan with an expression I found impossible to read. “You should go.”
His eyes met mine. He hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod.
“Stay away from my sister, Carver,” Ryan said as James opened the door.
James paused, his back to us, then got in and shut the door.
The engine rumbled to life, and I pulled Ryan out of the way so James could reverse.
He watched the truck like it might kiss Lily if he so much as blinked. When the headlights disappeared after turning out of the parking lot, he finally shifted to me.
He didn’t say anything.
I wished he had. The anger was fading from his eyes, hurt and betrayal taking its place.
“I know you’re upset and you have questions,” I said, my voice trembling like my hands, “and I promise to explain it to you later. But I have to get this maple glaze done, or I may not have a job come Monday.”
Ryan shook his head and turned away.
“I’ll come to Mom’s after the party,” I called out as he strode back to the door.
I took in a shaky breath and blew it back out through rounded lips, but I didn’t have time to do any more than that.
Heavy bag in hand, I hurried to the kitchen door.
The students were at the stove, two stirring the butter while the other two supervised, but they all turned toward me.
Ethan smiled like he knew a secret of mine.
I was just grateful he hadn’t witnessed what had happened after he’d come inside again.
I forced my focus to making the glaze, then drizzling it over the plated cheesecake, but my body swarmed with energy and nerves.
The whole thing was my fault, and I wasn’t convinced I could undo the problems I’d caused by waiting to tell Ryan. I should’ve just called him to let him know about James, but I’d been so busy, and, well, it wasn’t like I’d been eager to have that conversation.
Now I got to have a different conversation. A worse one.
I took a seat next to Archer when the desserts were all served.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Oh, the joys of wearing my heart on my sleeve. Why couldn’t I be more like James?
“If I don’t show up at the stables next week, it’s because Ryan murdered me. For the record, I don’t want to press charges.”
Archer chuckled, but his brow was knit. “What are you talking about?”
I shut my eyes, my stomach roiling at the memory of the parking lot encounter. “I needed more maple syrup, so I had James bring it. Ryan saw him.”
Archer sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.
“I thought Ryan and Lily were on a date,” I said.
“They showed up a little bit ago. Ryan asked where you were—he wanted to say hi—so I told him you were working on the food. I had no idea…”
“How could you have known that one of Wade’s genius students would slather my maple glaze all over his steak and asparagus, requiring me to call in reinforcements from my brother’s worst enemy?”
“Butterfly effect.”
“Butterfly makes it sound so harmless.” I picked up my dessert spoon. I couldn’t eat the cheesecake. Even if I hadn’t made it, my nerves ensured it looked unappetizing. Instead, I boxed it up to take to Mom and Dad.
When Archer dropped me off at home, Ryan’s car was already there.
The pansy in me wanted to delay this. Give him more time to cool off.
But deep down, I knew that wouldn’t help.
This was an eight-year-old beef. It pre-dated Mia.
One day wasn’t going to make Ryan suddenly chill about seeing James in Autumn Ridge, to say nothing of watching him extricate a bobby pin from my hair.
“Hello?” I said as I stepped inside my parents’ house.
“We’re in the living room!” Mom called.
I took a breath and made my way there.
“How’d it go, honey?” she asked from her seat on the sofa.
Dad looked me over, raised his brows in approval, and gave me two thumbs up and a wink.
I smiled my gratitude at him as my gaze flicked to Ryan. He was sitting next to Lily, his arm around her and his eyes on me.
“It went…okay,” I said noncommittally. “Wade was in rare form tonight. I brought you some cheesecake.” I went over and handed it to Mom.
She got up and took it. “Thank you, sweetie! I’ll just put it in the fridge.”
Dad cocked a brow at me and got up. He grabbed me by the arm and leaned in to whisper. “That’s what she says when she’s going to eat something in secret. You look beautiful, sweetie.” He kissed me on the cheek and followed Mom out of the room.
The second he disappeared, the air in the room thickened.
Lily looked at me, then at Ryan, then swallowed. Like me, she wasn’t super keen on confrontation.
It was easy to forget that this whole situation wasn’t just about Ryan and James. It revolved around her.
On the one hand, how terrible could it be having two men in love with you like she had?
On the other…her husband had lost his best friend. She’d lost a friend.
I couldn’t help wondering how that must feel—or how she must feel toward James.
The conversation between Archer and James came to mind again. Half of me wanted to ask them to tell me what exactly had happened, while the other half knew this was not the time.
“How long has he been in town?” Ryan asked.
Okay, then. We were just jumping right in. No talk about the weather or their date. Hard, cold facts.
Incriminating ones.
“About a week, I think?” I answered.
His frown deepened. “So, he was here when we talked the other day at the bakery?”
“Yeah, but he was leaving.”
“Was?”
“He feels like he needs to be here with his mom a little longer.”
Ryan gave a little scoff. “Right. After eight years, he’s having sudden onset I-give-a-crapitis. Don’t be dumb, Sadie.”
“What?”
“I saw how he was looking at you—how he was touching you.”
I let out a scoff, hoping it was louder than my heart’s reaction. “What are you talking about?” It was meant to be rhetorical, but my every nerve was on edge. What was he talking about? How had James looked at me?
“He didn’t get what he wanted”—Lily shifted beside him—“so he’s trying to get back at me through another woman I care about.”
I blinked. “Whoa. Are you serious? You think he’s…” I stumbled over how to verbalize the next part.
He looked at Lily. “Am I wrong?”
She looked even more uncomfortable than I felt. “I…” The fact that she didn’t swoop in to agree seemed to mean she didn’t view things quite like Ryan did.
“Look, Ry,” I said, trying to save her from an impossible question, “it’s been years. I think he’s probably moved past all that.”
“Clearly that’s what you think.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “Come on, Sade. You always had a thing for him.”
“Had,” I said, willing myself not to blush. “I was a kid, Ryan.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Look, I’m not trying to be a jerk.
I just…I don’t trust him.” His arm tightened around Lily.
“He was my best friend, and he snuck behind my back and tried to take the person that means the most to me in life. My best friend did that.” He scrubbed his jaw with a hand and looked at me.
His frown wasn’t angry now, just troubled.
“Why do you have to work at the farm at all?”
I threw up my hands. “Mrs. Keller cut my hours. I need the money. May Carver needs to sell maple to keep the farm going. I didn’t know James would be here when I agreed to work with her. But what am I supposed to do?”
“Work with anyone but them?”
I shot him a flat look. “This town isn’t exactly brimming with career opportunities.”
“I know. But still...”
“It’s business, Ryan. Haven’t you ever had to work with someone you didn’t like?”
He raised a brow. “Are you saying you don’t like James? ‘Cause that’s not what it looked like tonight.”
I flushed. “He did me a favor. Did you want me to yell and scream at him?”
“No, I want you to stay away from him. For your own sake.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from saying the words on my tongue: Or is it for your sake? “What if he’s changed?”
Ryan stared at me in disbelief. “He’s already getting to you—fooling you like he fooled me.”
A shock of anger shot through my veins. I hated that my own brother thought me so gullible. “I’m an adult, Ryan. I know how to have a professional relationship with someone. I can look out for myself.”
Our gazes held, and Lily looked down at her hand holding Ryan’s.
“Aunt Sadie!” Mia came barreling around the corner, wearing a princess nightgown that had seen better days.
I barely reached out in time to scoop her up and twirl her around. “Well, hello!”
“Excuse me, missy.” Lily got up from the couch. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”
“What about you?” Mia complained.
Ryan got up and came over, his anger giving way to amusement. “Little Miss Mischief.” He kissed her temple, then took her from my arms. “Come on. I’ll tell you a couple of stories if you promise to stay in bed.”
Mia smiled and nodded fervently. Clearly, she’d gotten what she wanted.
Ryan bounced her up and down on his arm as he left the room, and Lily gave me a sort of grimacing smile. “I’ll try to talk to him.”
I nodded, and she left the room.
I stared after them for a few seconds, my brain buzzing with Ryan’s words. It made it all the more difficult that his anger was mixed with concern for me. It was sweet…and totally aggravating.
But when I climbed in bed later, it was his comment about how James had been looking at me that stuck around until I dropped off to sleep.