“We got through to him,” she said. “Maybe not in the way we expected, but we made a difference. We can do that for River, too.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. He looked down at her hand on his chest, at the slender fingers against the worn cotton of his shirt. Without thinking, he covered her hand with his own.
“I don’t know if I can reach him.”She didn’t move her hand from beneath his. If anything, she leaned closer, the space between them charged with more than just concern for River. “Then let me try it my way now.”
She was close enough that he could see the tiny flecks of gold in her dark eyes.
The past year of restraint, of carefully maintained boundaries, seemed to dissolve in that moment. His free hand moved of its own volition, rising to touch a strand of hair that had escaped her braid. His fingers brushed her cheek as he tucked it behind her ear, and he felt her sharp intake of breath.
“Jo.” Just her name, but it carried the weight of everything he hadn’t said. Everything they’d been dancing around for years.
Her eyes darkened, and for a moment, he thought she might close the distance between them. His heart hammered against his ribs as her gaze dropped to his mouth, then came back up to his eyes. The air in the office felt suddenly too thick to breathe, charged with possibility.
He pulled back, letting his hand fall from her face. This wasn’t the time. Not with River’s pain still raw between them, not with Sunny injured and the ranch in turmoil.
The ranch came first.
Always.
“Okay.” His voice was rough with more than just frustration about River. “We’ll try your way.”
She stepped back, too, creating distance between them, though her hand lingered on his chest for a moment longer before falling away.
“Good call. Always knew you were a smart man.” Her voice was light and teasing, but a flush colored her cheeks. “But that means you need to back off him for a while. Give him time. Okay?”
He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The ghost of her touch lingered on his skin, a reminder of what might have been if he hadn’t pulled away. What might still be, someday, if he could find the courage to cross that final line.
“I’m sorry.” The words were inadequate for everything he meant. Sorry for losing his temper with River. Sorry for pulling away from her just now. Sorry for crossing a line withher eight years ago, driving her husband to his death. Sorry for the three years of waiting for something neither of them seemed brave enough to claim.
Her smile was small but genuine. “I know.” She turned toward the door, then paused with her hand on the knob. “Walker?”
“Yeah?”
“We should talk. About...” She gestured vaguely between them, leaving the rest unsaid.
“We will.”
Another promise added to the pile they’d been collecting for years.
All because the ranch came first.
twenty-two
Johanna dried the last of the dinner plates, stacking it carefully with the others in Walker’s cabinet. The kitchen smelled of soap and lingering roast, the warmth from the oven still radiating through the room. Walker stood beside her at the sink, his sleeves rolled to his elbows, hands submerged in sudsy water as he scrubbed at a baking dish.
“River’s plate is still on the table,” she said, reaching for another dish from the rack. “Hasn’t touched it.”
Walker’s jaw tightened, but he kept scrubbing. “I noticed.”
Through the doorway, she could see the dining room table, most of the chairs pushed back haphazardly. River’s spot was obvious by the full plate sitting there, fork and knife untouched beside it. The food would be cold by now, congealing.
“Anyone see him in the last hour?” Walker asked, his voice carefully neutral as he rinsed the dish and handed it to her.
From somewhere deeper in the house, Jonah’s voice carried back. “Not since this afternoon.”
“He vanished,” Boone called from the dining room. “Like he always does when there’s actual work to be done.”
Johanna caught Walker’s eye. The worry she saw there mirrored her own. River had been particularly manic today, his jokes sharper, his movements more frenetic than usual. The signs were there for anyone who knew how to read them.
