“Bailey, I don’t mean to overstep, but with the amount you’re working, why can’t you afford this? You shouldn’t have to pay for it, obviously, but … ”
She stands and starts swiping things off the ground, looking more angry than defeated now. “Because I’m an idiot. That’s why. My brothers charge me astronomical rent, so I—”
I hold a hand up. “Sorry, what? They charge you rent to live here?”
Her face flames. “Basically, I pay the mortgage on the property. Or the re-mortgage.”
“Why are you the only one paying for anything?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bailey … ”
“What, Beau?” she screams, turning to me. “You think I don’t know how fucked-up it is? I can’t rent anything in town because no one will approve me. I’m trying so hard to fly under the radar. I’m trying so hard to start fresh. And then there’s this part of me that feels guilty for it—like I owe them something. Like I don’t deserve to start over. Like how could I possibly think I’m better than the rest of my family and I deserve more than this?” She gestures around herself. “This is first-class living compared to what I grew up in.”
The explosive outburst steals her breath. Steals mine.
Her hands cover her face and then push up through the silky hair I spent the night with my nose pressed into. The smell of the cool rocks and something minty in her hair wrapped around me all night long.
“I’m just so tired,” she says, her voice small and wrung out. Her shoulders droop, and a tear races down her golden cheek. “I work hard to rise above it all, but I am so, so tired of struggling.”
Again, my hand itches. This time, to wipe the tear away.
I don’t bother resisting anymore. With three long strides, I’m standing in front of her. I tug her in, one arm around her shoulders, one hand palming the back of her head, and press her against my chest.
Because I can’t handle staring into her sad fucking eyes.
I expect her to cry, but she doesn’t. She relaxes in my arms, melting against my torso, just like she did all night long.
Like she feels safe enough to be tired around me. To let her guard down.
I want her to have that all the time, which is why I say what I came here to say in the first place, even more sure of myself than I was before. “You’re not fucking living here anymore.”
“I can’t just—”
“I’m not having my fiancée live here.”
“Beau.” Her voice chides me, but her body softens further.
“What, Bailey? No one will believe I’d be okay with you staying here. Just rationalize it that way.”
My arms tighten around her, a little firmer now. She’s not breakable.
“What about my tires?”
She sniffs and I rub a comforting palm over her head, smoothing her hair. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of it all.”
“I haven’t moved it anywhere in years. Are you sure it’s okay?”
Bailey is buckled in safely beside me but won’t stop staring out the back of my truck.
At where I have her trailer hooked up.
Because she’s not fucking living there anymore.
She refused to move into my house with me, so I made her my neighbor.
She stood there with her hands on her hips and her jaw hanging down to her feet while I took it upon myself to hook her trailer to the hitch of my truck and take it out of that hellhole.
Those dumbasses slashed the tires on her truck, but not on the trailer. And I used that to my advantage.
“Bailey, it’s fine. I’m going slow and it’s not far.” I have my window down, the sound of the plastic garbage bags fluttering in the wind as we drive.
“I’m sorry.” She faces the front again and slouches down into her seat.
“For what?”
“Being the most high-maintenance fiancée in the world.”
I snort at that. “You are so far from high-maintenance, it’s not even funny. You slept on the ground with me last night.”
A soft smile touches her lips as she looks out the window. “Yeah, I liked that, actually.”
I nod firmly. “Same. I wasn’t lying when I said it’s the best I’ve slept in months. No pills. No alcohol. Just hard ground, fresh air.”
And her. The only thing that’s come close to working.
Silence cloaks us as we pull into Wishing Well Ranch. I was supposed to be helping Cade today. Once I got out of the army, I planned to be his right-hand man. That’s what I told everyone I’d do.
Although I grew up here, I failed to realize something … I’m not a rancher. I don’t care about the cows. I don’t find joy in working the land.
My brother wakes up every morning dedicated to running the family ranch.
I wake up every morning dreading it.
But I hate the idea of letting them all down. So I get up and do it. Bailey and I are alike that way, doing things we don’t like to support our families the only way we know how.
My family is just a hell of a lot nicer than hers. A hell of a lot harder to let down.
“Alright, sugar tits.” I break the silence by cracking a joke. “Where should I build your castle? Facing the river?” I gesture out the same way my house faces. “East for sunrise? West for sunset? The world is your oyster.”
“But your house is right there.” She points at the modern house, probably a mere thirty feet away.
“Yep.”
“I told you I wasn’t going to live with you.”
“This isn’t living with me. It’s living adjacent to me.”
“It’s really close. Too close.” Her arms cross and her eyes narrow.
“I think it’s the perfect distance.”
Her jaw flexes as she bites down on her teeth. “It’s my house, and I say it’s too close. How about there?” She points at a copse of thin birches in the distance.
“Fuck no.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too far away.”
“It’s just far enough.”
“Why would two people in love live in separate houses that far apart from each other on the same property?”
It’s not safe is what’s really running through my head. In light of today? In light of last night? It would take too much time for me to reach her if something went wrong over there. I wouldn’t hear the noise. See the lights.
I might as well sleep at her front door like the guard dog I am at this point.
She stares at me, and it’s not in anger. It’s more like I can see her brain whirring a mile a minute. Then she looks away. “Fine. Facing the river.”
I grin at her before turning back to the wheel to line up the small trailer just right. It doesn’t matter, though, because I don’t think she’ll be living there for long. She’ll give in and move over to my place.
And then I won’t have to be alone.
“And stop calling me sugar tits,” she adds with a stubborn lilt to her voice.
I don’t mind at all, because it’s a hell of a lot better than hearing her cry.
“Sugar it is.”
11
Bailey
“Should we practice before we go in there?”
My hands freeze on the seat buckle, and I turn to stare at Beau.
The man who moved my trailer and helped me reorganize everything inside.
The man who stayed with me all night when I was scared, who walked through dirty water when I needed him. Who is way older, way more experienced. And who asked me if I was wet like we were just having a casual conversation.
The man who is my new fiancé and is about to introduce me to his family. His nice family who loves him and wants the best for him.
“Practice what?”
“Well, I don’t know. You’re looking at me like I terrify you.”
I scoff. “You don’t terrify me.”
“Why do you have that deer-in-the-headlights expression all the time, then? You could barely get through telling Gary. You gonna flinch when I touch you? Kiss you?”
“Why would you touch and kiss me at a family dinner?”
“Because we’re engaged?”
I shake my head rapidly. “No. Just tell them we’re not into PDA.”
Beau glares at me. “We’re going to have to convince them a little bit. This is going to blindside them.”