Page 63 of Taming I Do
“Help what? I’m not going back to jail. I can’t.” His gaze changed. Something dark passed through. “I’d rather die than go back to prison.”
“What if it didn’t come to that? Let me talk to Bodie. We’ll figure something out.” I hadn’t planned on seeing my brother again. But now that he was here, how could I turn away without trying to help?
I thought I was helping by taking the blame for Colin’s absence. I’d rather have my parents think that Colin and I had a falling-out than break my mom’s heart by telling her he’d gone to jail. I thought I was protecting everyone. But now I knew I couldn’t spend my life trying to fix everything for everyone. It was impossible. And sooner or later, the lies I told, even if I’d told them with good intentions, were going to catch up to me.
“I don’t think Bodie’s going to want to hear what I have to say. At least not enough to keep me from going back to jail.” Colin cocked his head. “Any chance I can bum a clean shirt off of you?”
“Yeah, take what you want.” It was clear Colin wasn’t going to accept my help. Maybe I could appeal to his buried sense of family. “Hey, did you hear Lucas has a kid now?”
Colin picked a shirt from the drawer and tugged it on over his head. “No shit?”
“Maggie. She’s almost three. Mom’s planning a birthday party for her next month. If you stick around?—”
“Cut it out. You know I can’t do that. Just give me my boots and I’ll be gone before you get back from dinner with that hot beauty queen you’ve been banging.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I gripped the doorframe.
“You talk in your sleep.” Colin looked around the floor, probably trying to locate his boots.
“Wait until I get back from dinner. We can talk.”
“I don’t need to talk. I need to get out of here.”
“That’s not what you said last night. Not when you showed up with your arm messed up, and?—”
“Forget it. I was messed up last night. Didn’t know what the hell I was saying.”
“You sure about that? Because you said something about there being a big event coming up. Whatever you and the scum you’re hanging out with have going on, it better not interfere with Lacey’s plans.”
“I’m outta here.” Colin gave up looking for his boots and headed for the front door.
I took in a deep breath, my heart pounding in my chest like a jackhammer that had spun out of control. I waited a few moments, figuring Colin and I could use a minute or two to calm down.
After I’d taken a few deep breaths, I walked out the front door just in time to see Colin pull the passenger side door of a giant black truck closed. The tires spun on the gravel and the truck fishtailed down the drive.
I slapped my palm on my thigh. “Dammit.”
My brother was gone, and it was all my fault... again. Not even the promise of Delilah waiting for me to pick her up fordinner could put a smile on my face. Why did I have to be so good at ruining everything?
Ten minutes later I tried to paste on a grin as Delilah got settled in the front seat of my truck. She was full of smiles and smelled like she’d been soaking in strawberry lemonade all day. Hoping her good mood would rub off on me, I got behind the wheel and started toward the restaurant.
As I drove past fields that had just been harvested, she filled me in about her visit with Zina. Her eyes sparkled with excitement over some new idea she’d come up with. Seemed she and Zina had spent a lot of time talking about the programs they’d put in place at For Pitties’ Sake. Delilah wondered if the girls she wanted to work with might benefit from the same types of options.
“After talking to Zina and Zeb, it hit me. Maybe pairing the girls I’d love to support with rescue dogs would help them build up confidence.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” I drummed my thumb against the steering wheel, my mind half-engaged with listening to Delilah and half wondering where Colin might have gone.
“You okay?” Her fingers brushed my arm.
I caught her hand in mine and let our hands rest on my thigh. “Sorry. I’m a bit distracted.”
“I can tell. What’s going on? Is something on your mind?”
“It’s nothing.” I tried to placate her with a smile.
She didn’t smile back. “You’ve been off today.”
“Just some family stuff. I had a rough talk with one of my brothers. He’s in a bit of a bind and I’m not sure what’s going to happen.” I didn’t want to drag Delilah into the mess with my brother. Even though we’d taken things to a whole new level, I still had to be careful about oversharing. She needed to view the town in the best light possible if Ido had any chance at all of being named the most romantic small town in Texas.
