“I need you, Reese.”
Smoothing his fingers across her damp cheek, he swallowed hard. Now it was his turn to feel less than whole. He wasn’t the man she thought he was. Reese felt old pain drifting up through him, memories of striking his ex-wife while caught in a flashback nightmare. This was the wrong place and time for this kind of deeply private conversation. “You’ll have me,” he promised her thickly. “But we have to talk first, Shay. You know that?”
Nodding, she eased away from him, as if realizing people were probably watching them. They were behaving like a couple who loved one another, unafraid to show their bond in public. Shay was sure many had seen them and she forced herself to push her feelings aside. “Yes . . . tonight?” She searched his eyes. “After everyone is gone and things are quiet. We’ll talk.” Her throat ached but the pain in her heart was twenty times worse.
She saw him waver, saw concern in his green eyes. Shay knew he was afraid of striking her at night while they were asleep. Moving her hand up his arm, she whispered, “We’ll work through this together, Reese.” Shay saw her low, husky words act like balm to him. It was clear he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Only the past stood in their way.
“We’ll talk then,” he promised her. “Come on, we need to take our stations at our desks. We’ve got about five minutes before things start cranking up again . . .”
*
Diana went to find Shay at 3:00 P.M. She threaded her way through the gangs of volunteers milling in the barn at the various office stations, getting guidance or orders. She found Shay handing off some paper to one of the house crew.
“Hey,” Diana called, gesturing to her. “Got a minute?”
Shay nodded and left the desk, walking over to Diana, who was leaning against one of the box stalls. Max slowly got up and walked after her, tail wagging at Diana. “What’s up?” Shay asked.
“Your father,” she said, giving Shay a worried look.
Max whined and looked up at Diana.
Diana laughed and petted Max’s broad gold head. “Hi to you, too, good looking young man!”
Max wagged his tail, thumping it against Shay’s leg.
“What now?” Shay groused, her hand on Max’s head as the dog sat down next to her, panting.
“Always something with him, isn’t it?” Diana asked, managing a twisted smile. “I went up to make sure everything was fine with Troy and your father. To say good-bye to them. You know? Be nice and all?”
Shay’s mouth thinned. “What did Ray want?” He wasn’t the type to not speak up. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around her chest, waiting for Diana to tell her.
“He wanted me to ask you if he could come back out tomorrow. Same times, same arrangements. Are you okay with that?”
Automatically, Shay wanted to say no. Her brows went down.
“Look,” Diana said in a low voice, resting her hand on Shay’s shoulder, “he seemed pretty contrite. Did you two have a fight at lunch earlier?”
“You could say that,” Shay muttered. Wiping her face, she whispered, “I don’t want him out here tomorrow. Once is enough. There’s so much going on. The pressure is going to be on all of us to get things finished by tomorrow night.”
Nodding, Diana said, “I thought so, but I told Ray I’d come and ask you.”
“Try to explain to him this isn’t personal, it’s about everyone being focused on finishing what we started here. He’s a distraction, but don’t tell him that.”
“I got it,” Diana reassured her gently. “You don’t need to be tore up with him around and being cantankerous, either. He doesn’t get how important this weekend is to your ranch. Or to you.”
“I know,” Shay said. She gave Diana a look of gratitude. “Thanks for having my back on this. I hope he doesn’t blow up at you when you tell him I said no.” She saw Diana grin.
“No worries. As a police officer I used to deal with really upset people all the time.” Patting Shay’s shoulder, she assured her, “I’ll handle it. You go back to work.”
Shay was glad that her father couldn’t get out here except by wheelchair.
She patted Max, then the dog rose and ambled at her side as she walked back to the busy desk where Steve and Reese were. How did a person grow stronger with a parent like Ray? She wished there was an easy black-and-white answer to that question.
*
Reese felt his gut knot as he and Shay entered the house. It was 11:00 P.M. and everyone had finally left for the day. Exhaustion stalked him as he knew it did her. She walked into the kitchen, going to the cupboard to bring down the box of tea.
“Want some?” she asked.
“Sure,” he murmured, joining her and taking two mugs down from another cupboard.
She felt calmed by Reese’s quiet demeanor. In no time, they had their tea made and were sitting down near one another. “So much happened out there today, Reese.”