Chapter 13 #2
“I wanted to clean up the fields,” she rushed to explain. “They were looking so overgrown and it’s going to be a lot of work to get them to a place where things can be planted again.”
He cocked his head, eyes lighting with something unreadable. “You want to farm out here?”
She shook her head instinctively. “No, of course not. I won’t be here long enough for that.” As soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them. In truth, she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. What if she could move out here and continue her father’s dreams? Would that be so bad?
Rylee looked away and pushed the hair back off her forehead.
Tate looked at the toes of his boots. “Well, if you did… I could help you.”
Her focus shot to him once more. Why was that offer so… appealing? Tate was a different breed of man. That much was for certain. Not a day went by when he didn’t offer to help her with something.
Rebuilding the barn. The chickens. Farming.
It was getting harder and harder not to get attached to him. This was bad, right? Or maybe not? It didn’t have to be. But even as she thought it, she wasn’t sure she believed herself. This nervous excitement was a lot, but not as much as the feelings she got when he looked at her like that.
The heat in his eyes. The longing that reflected her own. Without realizing it, she stepped closer to him. She didn’t know what she planned on saying, just that she wanted to be closer to him.
Tate searched her eyes and his lips parted as if he planned to speak first, but whatever it was he wanted to say was cut off by the shrill ring of her phone.
She flinched, considered ignoring it because it was probably Alexander.
But then she sighed and withdrew the device from the pockets of her overalls.
Her brows lifted and she held up a finger.
“One second, I need to get this.” She stepped aside and swiped the screen to answer. “Aunt Roxy, what’s up?”
“Oh good, you answered. I wanted to tell you I was going through some of your father’s old things, and I found a letter addressed to you.”
Rylee’s heart stuttered. “You did?” She’d been reading her father’s letter over and over and she’d been craving more from him. “Can you send it to me?”
“Just had Winston drop it off at the post office. Rushed delivery.”
“Really? That’s wonderful.”
There was a pause before Roxy spoke again. “You sound… different, dear.”
“Different? How?”
“I don’t know.” There was a smile in Roxy’s voice that came through the line without trouble. “Happier. More at ease. Has something changed?”
Rylee glanced over her shoulder at Tate, and she couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face.
“I’ll have to talk to you about it later, Roxy.
I’m in the middle of a few things, but yeah.
Things are… going well.” She was loving every day she spent here more and more.
Already she could sense her soul healing.
And it probably had a lot to do with the cowboy who was trying to act as though he wasn’t listening to every word.
“That’s wonderful. Okay, dear. I’m going to let you get to it then.” There was another pause. “Oh! Have you had a chance to go through that attic?”
Rylee stiffened. She’d tried, but she couldn’t get into the room. “Not yet.”
“Before you come home, you should go through it. Your father had a habit of keeping some of the most mundane things, but there might be value in what’s up there.”
Rylee and Roxy said their goodbyes and she hung up. Before she could turn to face Tate, his voice came directly behind her.
“What was that about?”
She startled and faced him. He was close.
Too close. He smelled of cedar and mint and was that leather?
It was a scent that was all his own and it did something to her insides that she wasn’t prepared to acknowledge just yet.
Rylee got hold of herself. “My aunt. She wanted me to make sure I got into the attic. She seems to think there might be things I want up there.”
“Have you gone up there yet?”
“I tried. The door is… stuck.”
He frowned, glanced toward the house, then down to his watch. “I’ve got a client coming. Next time I come, I could see if I can get it open for you.” He returned his attention to her, his eyes cutting to the side as he reached up to tuck a few wayward strands behind her ear.
She fought the shiver that threatened to rack her body at his warm touch and forced a smile. “That’s… uh… that’d be great.” Her voice was a raspy whisper. “Then afterward, I could teach you how to make that pie.”
His brows shot up and his smile stretched wide. “Pinky promise?”
Rylee held up her pinky on reflex, but she realized it had been a mistake too late. Tate’s finger wrapped around hers tight enough that she couldn’t withdraw. Then he tugged her hand to his mouth and kissed it. She gasped, but if he noticed her reaction, he didn’t say anything about it.
“See you later, Rylee,” he murmured, releasing her and walking backward. “I’m holding you to that promise.”
All she could do was stare after him as he drove away. What was she going to do, now?