“Do you check their social media or anything? Maybe they post?”
Briar turned away from him, but not because his questions irritated her. Fine, they did a little bit. She took a moment to think through them, and then said, “I’ve checked in the past, and when there was nothing, it hurt too much to keep doing that. But I guess anything is possible.”
“I just don’t get it,” he said. “How do you have kids and then just not talk to them?”
“I don’t know,” Briar said. “Have you ever heard back from Wayne?”
Tarr’s jaw hardened and he shook his head. “Nope, nothing. My momma keeps me up-to-date with him, so I know what’s going on with him, and I assume she does the same and tells him about me too.”
“Yeah, probably,” Briar said. “Does that bother you?”
“Yeah,” Tarr said. “But I think it makes my momma feel good, and I don’t want her to be upset about anything.” He once again flicked off the flame. “All right, sweetheart, you’ve got to let go of me so I can put together your sandwich.”
He grinned at her, and Briar backed up to give him more room behind the counter. She took a seat at the dining room table behind the whiteboard and waited for Tarr to bring over the two immaculate plates of her favorite food: a toasty breakfast sandwich with cheese on a toasted English muffin.
He put one plate in front of her and slid the other one across the table. Then he swept his arm around her and leaned down. “Happy birthday, Briar,” he whispered.
Oh, how she loved hearing him say her name in his sexy cowboy tenor. When she first met him and he’d called hersweetheart, she’d found it demeaning. Then she realized he was as Texan as anyone she’d ever met, and he called everyonesweetheart, including goats, sheep, and sometimes Wiggins. Having him use her name felt significant.
Briar definitely felt the loss of his presence at her side as he moved around the table and took his place across from her.
“Can we pray?” he asked.
Briar immediately folded her arms and bowed her head, though the call of the delicious salty bacon tempted her to skip prayer for once. She and Tarr had prayed together many times now, but she still appreciated the sound of his voice saying, “Dear Lord,” and the sentiment with the words that came after that.
“I’m sure glad to be here celebrating with Briar today on her birthday. Thank you so much for opening her heart and allowing me to have a chance to be in her life. It has been a blessing to me for these past few months, Lord, and please bless us both that we’ll be able to have a good day today—especially Briar, as it’s her birthday and she deserves everything good in the world to come her way.”
Tears gathered behind Briar’s eyes, because she had never heard herself described as a blessing in someone’s life. She almost wanted to scoff and remind Tarr that he shouldn’t tell lies, but he spoke with such sincerity that she believed he truly found her to be a blessing to him.
Briar wasn’t sure she’d ever been a blessing to anyone, and a warm, bright feeling filled her from head to toe.
“Amen,” Tarr said.
She’d missed the rest of the prayer, but it didn’t matter. She’d heard the part her heart needed to hear. She glanced over to Tarr as he picked up his breakfast sandwich and took the first bite. He moaned the way Tarr always did, and Briar shook her head at the way he patted himself on the back—the way she always did.
She giggled, this birthday off to a perfectly salty, delicious, cowboy start.
thirty-two
“You want me to go in first, sweetheart?” Tarr asked.
Briar, who’d pulled her hair back into a messy bun, looked at him with big, soulful eyes above her puffy white spa robe, and nodded. He wanted to reach for her and tell her how gorgeous she was, but he reminded himself that he’d already done that right after bringing her a little cup of homemade granola and a glass of ice water infused with green apples. He’d never indulged in the treats in the waiting room before a massage, but Briar had told him that was half the fun.
He could still taste the apples. They weren’t disgusting, but they certainly weren’t the best thing he’d put in his mouth that day.
Tarr let his fingers brush against Briar’s as he moved past her and followed his spa attendant into the couple’s massage room. His eyes adjusted quickly to the low light, and his attendant was a five-foot-nothing brunette with a wide smile.
“Any injuries I should know about?” she asked.
Tarr shook his head. “I called in about my girlfriend’s hip.”
“Her attendant will ask her,” the woman said. “Don’t worry—Wendy is our most amazing chiropractic masseuse.”
Tarr grinned at the woman he’d been assigned. “Okay. I don’t have any injuries, and I’ve done massages plenty of times.”
“Great,” she said. “I’ve got the Himalayan pink sea salt stones for both of you.” She indicated the counter behind her and another counter behind the second table. “And I have you both doing the Water aromatherapy.”
“That’s right,” Tarr murmured.
