Page 97 of Don't Burn Bridges
After he let go, she repeated the motion on her own. He watched for a few seconds before giving a satisfied nod. Grabbing a second brush from a nearby hook, he walked around to the other side of the horse and resumed grooming.
The rhythmic swish of the brushes filled the barn. The horse shifted its weight, then let out a long, contented breath and flicked its tail.
Shylo searched for something—anything—to break the silence. “What's his name?”
“Rowdy.”
The gruff, one-word response ended the conversation before it could begin.
She kept brushing, settling into the slow, repetitive rhythm. A minute or two passed with nothing but the hushed sounds of the barn surrounding them.
“You know he's hurting,” Tucker said.
The words caught her off guard, but she didn't have to ask who he meant.
Seth.
“I know.” She swallowed hard, keeping the brush moving across the horse’s flank. “I never intended to hurt him. I thought I'd come here, find a way to tell Shane who I was, and then fight him when he refused to give me part of the inheritance. But once I got here...” She paused, struggling to put the feeling into words. “Everything changed. I met Seth... then all of you. The hurt I'd carried all these years over never having a father—just a child support payment deposited into a bank account every month—turned into something else.”
She blinked against the sting in her eyes.
“A sense of wanting to belong, I guess.” Her voice softened. “And Seth...” She shook her head. “I don't think he'll ever forgive me. I'm surprised you have.”
“Who says I have?”
Her hand stilled as she stared at Tucker over the horse's back.
After a moment, he rested his forearms across Rowdy and met her gaze. “I know Shane told you I don't like big changes in my life. Takes me a while to wrap my head around ’em. Until I do, I can be pretty damn stubborn.” One corner of his mouth lifted. “I also tend to hold a grudge longer than Shane does.” ‘
Her heart sank.
“But I'll get there.”
He scratched the horse behind one ear, making it twitch, before meeting her gaze again. “You're Shane's sister. That makes you my sister too. I already have one by blood—Lila. She's coming over on Sunday with her fiancé for dinner. You'll meet her then.” He shrugged. “But now, you're my sister too. I just need a little time to get used to it.”
Emotion lodged in Shylo's throat. One by one, the Wilsons kept finding new ways to show her they wanted her in their lives. Maybe one day she'd believe them.
She swallowed hard. “Thank you.”
“Mm-hm.”
He went back to brushing the horse. Shylo tried to do the same, but her strokes gradually slowed. No matter how much she wanted to savor what he'd said, one question refused to leave her alone. She stepped around Rowdy's head until she could see Tucker without the massive animal between them.
“What about Seth?”
Tucker sighed. “Give him time too. You're special to him. Don't think otherwise.” He sidestepped and ran the brush over the horse’s rump. “I've never seen him get so hung up on a woman before. Around you, he’s... different. He let his guard down.”
He glanced at her. “That's why he's hurting so badly. Just... give him time.”
Chapter 34
Seth rolled onto his back for what felt like the hundredth time, staring at the faint outline of the ceiling above him. Every time he closed his eyes, another memory took its place. Shylo riding Daisy beside him. Her smile as they ate breakfast at the Front Porch Café. Their first kiss in the glade by the creek. The nights they'd made love.
He frowned. That wasn't a phrase he'd ever used before. It had always been sex. But with Shylo... somehow, it had become something more. Something special.
Maybe that's why it hurt so damn much.
He couldn't think about the good without remembering what came with it—the secrets she'd kept.
