Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
“Wow. This…”
Tate nodded, toeing his boot at a piece of charred wood. “Yeah.” He surveyed the damage before turning to his brother.
“It could have been worse,” Jason murmured.
“Don’t tell Rylee that. You should have seen her when she saw the damage.
” Internally, he winced at the memory. It had been a couple of days since they heard the news and Rylee had been adamant that she didn’t want to bother Tate with the repairs.
He’d rebuilt a barn before and he’d assured her it wouldn’t be much trouble, but she’d insisted that she’d already asked too much of him.
She couldn’t be more wrong.
He blew out a breath and glanced at his brother again, finding him staring. “What?”
Jason’s brows shot up and he looked away. “Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing. That look right there. What you did. It meant something. Spit it out.”
His twin shrugged and kicked at a piece of debris. “I don’t know, man. Why are we here again?”
“I told you—”
“You said you wanted me to look at it,” Jason cut in. “And I did. What is it exactly that you want from me?”
Tate ground his jaw and peered over to the side of the barn that was still in good shape. “I need your help.”
“With what? This isn’t our barn.” It was an excellent point, delivered with zero decoration, which was Jason all over.
“But I told Rylee that I would help her fix this mess.”
Jason didn’t speak. To anyone else, he might have looked uncomfortable. He wasn’t. He was watching Tate dance around the real reason, and he was content to let him keep dancing.
Tate sighed and pulled his hat off, turning it over in his hands. “You were just as much her friend as I was growing up. This is the neighborly thing to do.”
Still Jason’s face didn’t change. He simply went on watching. It was unnerving, how he could get Tate rambling just by staring at him like that.
“Look, you don’t have to help if you don’t want to. Like you said it’s not our responsibility. But it would go a heck of a lot faster if you did. And it’s not like we’ll be rebuilding the whole thing.”
“Is… are you two… together?” Jason finally asked.
Tate’s head snapped into his brother’s direction. “What? No.”
“Are you sure? Because you seem to be doing an awful lot with her.”
“I’m helping her get her father’s place back to where it was before he died,” Tate argued.
Jason shook his head. “You let her stay the night during that storm.”
“Her power was out.”
“You helped her fix her sink,” Jason reminded him.
“She couldn’t exactly stay in a house without a sink, now could she? What would you have me do? Let her stay at our place again?”
A small smile spread across Jason’s face. “And I heard you two were seen together at the farmers’ market.”
Tate’s whole body froze up. “What?”
Jason didn’t bother repeating himself. He never did.
“I didn’t take you for someone who listened to idle gossip,” Tate gritted out. The last thing he needed was for anyone to look too closely at the feelings he was fighting when it came to Rylee. Why was Jason being so insistent on this? “We’re friends, Jase. That’s all.”
His twin cocked a brow.
“Friends. Nothing more,” Tate tried again. “She said herself that she’s not ready for a relationship. She didn’t come here to be pressured into anything she doesn’t want.”
“But you want it,” Jason said.
Tate slapped his hat onto his head and threw his hands into the air. “Are you going to help me get this place fixed up again? Or are you gonna continue to put your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
Jason merely blinked.
“Jase!” Tate bit out.
His brother sighed and glanced around. His eyes swept what was left of the barn before coming back to land on Tate. “Why not?”
Tate released an exasperated sound. “Why not what?”
“Why not see if she’d change her mind about you?”
This time Tate had to count as he took in several breaths. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “She’s got plenty of guys trying to push themselves on her.”
“How do you know.”
His hand dropped and he glowered at his brother.
“I heard her on the phone with a guy. Just… trust me, okay? She has zero interest in settling down. And I don’t want the drama of dealing with that sort of competition.
You realize she became some kind of socialite back in New York, right?
Her aunt is crazy wealthy. The people in her social circles are going to be more of the same.
And I…” He rubbed his jaw, chin in his palm, eyes going unfocused in the distance. “I can’t compete with that anyway.”
“Yes, you could,” Jason said with such a matter-of-fact tone that Tate didn’t even have the energy to glare at him for it.
“Even if I could, I’m too busy. We’re getting more clients after Brent joined the ranks. And Jacob has been sending people he knows our way. We just don’t have the time for love.”
Jason went quiet at that. He wasn’t looking directly at Tate but there was a resignation in his eyes. Tate nearly asked him what he was dealing with, but Jason spoke before he had a chance. “Yeah, okay. I’ll help.”
Tate and Jason had a run of training days to get through. But when the week turned, they were back at Rylee’s property with shovels and other tools in hand. They worked on removing the ashes and burnt material. Today was all about gutting what couldn’t be salvaged.
Later, Tate noticed a change in Jason’s behavior. He’d looked at his watch three times and pulled out his phone twice.
“Need to be somewhere?” Tate asked, leaning his arms over the handle of the large metal shovel he’d been using to get the last remnants of ash from the ground to deposit into a wheelbarrow.
Jason didn’t even flinch. He slipped his phone into his back pocket and took his shovel in both hands.
“You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to. I’m just about done for the day—”
“Hey, boys—” Rylee’s cheery voice cut off with a whoosh of breath. “Wow, this looks great.” Her eyes scanned the work they’d done with appreciation.
Jason made another grunting sound. “No, it doesn’t. It’s still a very big mess. You wouldn’t be able to bring an animal in here without putting it in harm’s way.”
Rylee shifted her attention to him, a warm smile lighting her already angelic face. “Nice to see you haven’t changed, Jason. Have I ever told you how much I love that you tell it how it is?”
Tate cut a look at his brother who ducked his head, cheeks flushing. Tate grinned as he shook his head. He wasn’t going to bring attention to the fact that Rylee had a certain effect on men—including his twin.
“I’ve got some pizzas if you boys want to come inside. The oven is still on the fritz, or I would offer to make you something for your effort.”
Before Jason could decline, Tate leaned his shovel against a nearby wall that was still standing. “Jason has somewhere he has to be, but I’ll take you up on the offer. Pizza sounds amazing.” Tate didn’t have to look in his brother’s direction to feel the relief coming off him.
Rylee couldn’t say the same. She turned to Jason, questions plain in her eyes but she didn’t ask them. “Okay, next time?”
Jason gave her a curt nod. Then he put his shovel aside, tossed Tate a grateful look, and headed for his truck.
Alone with Rylee, Tate took a moment to look her over. She looked good, in pants splotched with paint jobs of the past. She wore a white t-shirt that hung off one shoulder, and her tennis shoes were just as dingy as the rest of her. She didn’t look like the socialite he’d told Jason about.
But she looked no less beautiful. This was the side of her he’d known from the first day they’d met. And when she was dressed like this, he couldn’t help but remember the girl from his past.
“Tate?”
His eyes snapped to her face, only to find her grinning at him. She didn’t say another word. Instead, she jerked her chin toward the house.
He chuckled as he followed her. Her reaction to his staring had been unexpected. And not entirely disappointing.
Once inside, they each got a paper plate and settled on the floor of her living room to eat their pizza. Every so often, Rylee stole a look at him. It was quiet in her house and there was no sign of her cat.
“Where’s your new tenant?” he said.
“Tenant?”
“The cat?”
She grinned. “Oh. You mean Nightmare.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I think she’s out catching rodents. Doesn’t have much of a taste for the kibble I’ve bought for her.”
“Prefers the excitement of the kill, huh?”
Rylee giggled. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
He eyed her. “Have… you considered…”
She swallowed her bite, watching him expectantly. “Have I considered what?”
Tate resettled himself. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with the farm?”
A frown pulled at her brows as she plucked a piece of pepperoni from the slice still on her plate. She popped it in her mouth and shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. After getting things back in shape, I figured I’d leave.”
“And sell?”
Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “I don’t know if I could do that.”
The relief went through him hard, for a reason he wasn’t ready to name. He didn’t want her to leave again. What did that say about him? About them?
She snickered. “You have a hard time hiding your opinion on the matter. I didn’t think you wanted me to stay that bad.”
He stiffened, already feeling the heat crawl up his neck to give him away.
Scrambling for an answer that wouldn’t put him on the spot any more than he already was, he landed on, “I just didn’t want the property to go up for sale when we’re already dealing with the land that borders both of us.
That developer could come in and scoop up more space and then where would that leave us? The town?”
Rylee’s amusement faded. “Right, of course. I didn’t think about that.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t think I’d sell, but I still don’t know what I want to do with it. I don’t think I could bring myself to tear any of it down. There are too many memories here.”
He nodded slowly. “I get that.”
Her focus unnerved him. But it was when she spoke that all reservations when it came to her went out the window. “I have to say, I’m impressed with what you did with your family’s land. Starting your own business couldn’t have been easy.”
Tate nodded, pushing his plate away and leaning back with his palms to the floor.
“I love it. Working with my family has always been a dream. Granted, my sisters don’t do much when it comes to the business.
They’re still finding their way. But Jason seems to like it—love it, actually.
” He smiled. “And I’d do anything to make sure he felt comfortable. ”
“You’re such a good big brother.”
“Thanks.” There was no deflecting. Being somebody’s big brother was the one job he’d never had to be talked into.
Though lately, it seemed as though Jason was keeping to himself more.
Tate couldn’t put his finger on why things felt different, but he figured it would pass just like the times before. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Have you considered doing something with your family’s property like I did?”
She snorted. It was loud and obnoxious and absolutely adorable at the same time. Then her eyes landed on him and she sobered. “And do what?” she asked. “I don’t know anything about—”
“That’s not true. You know more about farming than I do. Would you tell me I’m not capable of—”
“Yes,” she threw at him. “Yes, I’d tell you that you’d be in over your head, and I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, either.”
He grinned at her and her smile returned. “Well, I think you would make a great farmer. You just need to have a little faith in yourself.”
“I don’t know the first thing about farming,” she continued to argue, but there was less venom in it.
“All you need to do is find a place to start. Heck, you already have a barn cat. So now you move to the next step.”
Her laugh filled the room once again. “Like what? Chickens?” Her eyes widened when she caught that he wasn’t cracking a joke. “Tate, no.”
“Chickens might be a good starting point. Or maybe one of those miniature cows.”
“Ha! That’s not happening. I’d rather get a few goats or an alpaca before I got a tiny cow. What would I do with a tiny cow, anyway?”
He shrugged, but already his thoughts were whirling with the possibilities.
He loved seeing this side of her. She was lit up, practically vibrating with a new kind of energy.
Despite all the issues surrounding the house and the barn, she looked brighter.
“You know what you should do? Before you make any firm decisions?”
“What’s that?” she said, the smile leaking into it.
“Go riding with me.”
Her smile stayed where it was, but everything behind it went out. “No.”
Tate blinked. “No?”
“No.” She set her plate on the floor between them, squared it with the edge of the drop cloth, then squared it again.
“I have had weeks of people deciding what’s good for me.
My aunt. A man in New York who thinks that’s romance.
And now you, sitting on my floor eating my pizza, telling me what I should do before I make any firm decisions. ”
“That’s not—” He stopped, because it was. A little.
“I know what a horse feels like, Tate. I know exactly what it feels like. That’s the problem.” Her chin came up. “If I get back on one and I love it, then I’ve got a whole other thing to explain to myself before the summer’s out. So, no. Thank you.”
He’d had the rest of it lined up in his head. He’d say it was just a horse. She’d roll her eyes. Before they reached the paddock she’d be arguing about which one was hers. He could see the whole afternoon, and not one minute of it was going to happen.
So he let it go.
“Okay,” he said.
She’d braced for a fight. It had nowhere to go now. “Okay?”
“You said no.” Tate gathered the plates and got to his feet. “I heard you.”
He was nearly to the kitchen when she said his name. When he turned, she was still sitting on the floor of her father’s living room with her arms around her knees, looking after him as though he’d taken away an argument she’d been counting on.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it, Ry-Ry.” He kept walking. “Horses aren’t going anywhere.”