CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #2
"Your business," she sneers. "Lena always said you were a photographer.
But she never mentioned this." She points an accusing finger at the door.
"Wasn't until I talked to the children this morning that I heard more about your work.
Taking pictures for romance novels. Well, I looked you up after that, missy.
I've seen the sort of pictures you take.
Pictures that should never be taken in a home with small children. "
"They're not home," I point out the rather obvious. "Jovi took them to breakfast. So I could work."
She presses her lips together tightly, shaking her head.
"I knew you were the wrong choice to raise the kids.
I knew it. But everyone said to honor Trent and Lena's choice.
Even when we all know it was Lena who named you as guardian.
Trent always did do whatever she wanted.
Well, I tried to as well. But after this? "
She clutches her purse to her. I'm not sure what the gesture is meant to accomplish. Am I a thief now too? Or is she worried I'm going to strip her and start snapping photos? "I'm taking you to court, Elizabeth. And I'm taking the kids."
Then she turns on a dime and stomps toward the stairs, anger marking every step on the way down, before she makes her grand departure with a loud slam of the door.
JOVI
After Biscuit Barn I make sure to add in as many detours on the way home as possible to give Liz more time to work.
After the things Holly said yesterday, I get the feeling Liz has been struggling to keep her business going more than she's let on. If there's anything I can do to off-set whatever challenges she's been facing, I'm going to do it.
So, we stop at the farmer's market. And we swing into the nursery. And then the feed store. We even make a random stop at one of the smaller farms halfway between the ranch and town when I spot a 'puppies for sale' sign on the side of the road.
Trent always wanted a dog for the kids, but Lena had wanted to wait.
To make sure they were old enough to participate in caring for a furry family member.
And, honestly, I think she knew she had her hands full already taking care of Trent and the kids.
A puppy on top of that would have been utter chaos.
Something I remind myself of multiple times as I watch the kids giggle with delight, each snuggling a furry bundle to their chest, tiny pink tongues tickling their faces.
The pups are a happy accident between the owner's Australian sheep dog and the new neighbor's Golden Retriever.
I'm told the Golden has since been neutered, so this is a one-time only opportunity.
Still, I manage to collect both kids, each of them pleading to take a puppy home, so desperate they miraculously agree on one together, without caving.
Liz would kill me if I brought home a puppy.
And while I would die a happy man after last night's kiss, I'm also more attached to being alive than ever, hoping for another taste of her.
It's almost noon when we get back to Serendipity, and I coral the kids up to the house, silently scouring my mind for an angle I can use to persuade Liz to have lunch with me. For us all to have lunch together.
But when the door swings open, it's Holly who greets us.
"I've got leftover pizza from last night in the oven," she tells them, a strange almost forced smile on her lips. "Go wash up and meet me in the kitchen."
Neither Remmi nor Gavin notes the weird tone and expression, both taking off through the house, spurred on by the prospect of pizza. You'd never know they downed their body weight in biscuits three hours ago.
"Where's Liz?" I ask before Holly can close the door on me.
"Working." She moves to shove the door shut but I lift my hand to stop her.
"What's going on?" I ask her, careful to keep my voice low so the kids don't hear. "Is she okay?"
Holly gives the subtlest shake of her head.
"Something...happened," she says. Vague, but I can venture a guess as to what she's referring to.
Last night. "She's upset. So she's burrowing herself in work to process.
" She forces that same smile again. "It's Liz.
She'll work it out and be fine. She always is. "
I want to argue that no, she's not always fine.
That all she's done is master the mask of appearing so.
That she shouldn't have to work it out. That it's on me to fix if anything I did or said last night upset her, but before I can get any of those words out, Holly closes the door. And this time, I don't stop her.
I feel deflated. Hearing that her reaction to last night was so vastly different from mine steals the winds from my sails. Smothers that spark of hope I let flicker to life last night. And I didn't realize until just now how fucking much I needed that. How hard I was clinging to it.
Confused and frustrated, my feet move on autopilot toward the barn, my mind turning over every word, every expression, every touch exchanged between us last night, but I can't find the thread that unraveled to bring us here now.
It's only when I hear someone grunt my name that I look up and shake free from the haze shrouding my mind.
"Brennan," I say, frowning when I see him leaning against the tailgate of his pickup parked off to the side of the barn. "What are you doing here?" He doesn't come around unless it's rodeo night, but more than that, Sunday's we're closed for business. He shouldn't be here at all.
"Nika was injured Friday night when we were here," he says. "And now she's lame. Vet says she'll need surgery."
I can feel the skin between my brows pinch together.
"Injured how?" Horses and riders get hurt.
It's part of the deal. Everyone knows it, we all accept it.
But I'm not an idiot newbie either. We have forms, release of liability waivers everyone has to sign in order to participate.
Hell, I don't let anyone bring a horse onto the property or step foot into the barn without one.
Even Holly has signed one, and all she did was pose for a few pictures with horses in the fucking background.
"Your mare kicked her. Caught her right in the left hock and fractured two bones.
" He shakes his head, accusation burning in his pale blue eyes and I can feel the security of those waivers crumbling away.
They won't be enough to stop him if he wants to push the issue.
Take me to court. "Won't matter if Doc can fix her up or not, she'll never be able to do the work I need her to.
The work she was trained for. No working cattle.
No rodeoing. She'll be an expensive trail horse at most. Maybe be a good broodmare. That's it."
"Kimber only kicked her because you crowded us and Nika bit her.
"You really want to compare a harmless nip to fractured bones?"
I swallow down a growl rising form my chest. We both know it was more than a little nip, and it was far from the first time.
Hell, Kimber was the only horse I was willing to bring around Nika, knowing she was the only one able to hold her own against the mare with a significantly reduced risk of injury.
But no matter how often Kimber put her in her place, Brennan just kept egging Nika on to come at her.
Fuck.
"What do you want, Brennan?"
He smirks. "I would think that was obvious." He rests a casual elbow over the tailgate of his truck. "I want to be compensated for the damage my mare encountered while on your property, at your event, from your mare."