She could really get used to this kind of attention. Kissing Ty so openly, where one of his friends might come along and see them, made this kiss a little more thrilling in a different way than her passion-filled, almost desperate first kiss with him yesterday.
He pulled away. “But I don’t know where you expect me to rest out here,” he said. “It honestly might be nice just to ride on the four-wheeler with you.”
“Okay,” she said, looking up to meet his eyes.
“You think you can drive that thing?”
“Yes,” she said. “Do you think I can’t?”
“I think you can do anything you want, Winnie.” He didn’t smile as he said it, keeping the moment between them serious and meaningful.
“This way I can give Tate my keys too,” he said. “And he can move my truck and load it with the bark.”
Winnie nodded and tucked herself back into his arms. “Things just feel sort of blue,” she said. “Like, I don’t feel happy, but I don’t feel unhappy. I just feel…blah.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I’ve never seen an aftermath this up close and personal,” she said. “And I guess it’s just hitting different.”
“That’s allowed,” he said. “But I’m a little surprised. You work with patients every day who have to deal with the aftermath of something similar to this. I mean, look at me.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “But usually by the time they get to physical therapy, they’re months out from the event. They’ve had surgeries, their pain has receded quite a bit, and they’ve had time to accept what’s happened. This was only about twenty-four hours ago. And I don’t know…it feels raw.”
She stepped back and looked around. “The earth still feels like it’s suffering a little bit.”
She didn’t quite know how else to explain it, but she eased back to Ty’s side and said, “I’m glad they closed the clinic, because I just want to be here with you, and it feels good to help others get cleaned up.”
He nodded toward the four-wheeler. “Well, let’s get this load back, then.”
Ty climbed onto the four-wheeler first, and then she swung her leg over and sat in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her and scooted right up behind her, his chest pressing against her back. She smiled as he laid his head against her shoulder blade and murmured, “Yes, I can definitely rest right here.”
Winnie had never felt so close to another person as she did to Ty in that moment, not even Carver, who she’d beenengagedto. There was simply something about Ty that, when he opened up, a real connection was made. Winnie loved having him close to her—physically and emotionally—like this, and she found herself praying as she bumped over the well-kept roads to the drop point that she and Ty could continue getting to know each other and build a true, lasting, loving relationship.
22
“It’s right up here,” Ty said, and he glanced over to Winnie, who rode in the passenger seat of his truck. She’d been ready when he’d pulled into her driveway to pick her up, and they’d made the almost hour-long drive to Lone Star together.
She’d perked up after he’d driven through the Java Hut to get coffee, but then her mother had texted and she’d fallen into her phone.
She looked up now, the cutest little frown between her eyes. “It’s not a bad drive,” she said. “When there’s not a dust storm.” She smiled, erasing all the cares from her expression.
Ty wondered if she realized that she’d shown them to him, as Winnie definitely broadcast more sunshine than anything else.
“I don’t know what we’ll have to do here today. I usually work until about two,” he said. “And Finn said Sam would be calling or texting when he got to your car.”
“That’s right,” Winnie said. “I told him just to take it to that little mechanic shop on the south side of town—the one that Link’s momma used to own?”
“Yeah,” Ty said. “It’s only a few minutes from you, and I’m sure they’ll take good care of it.”
She reached over, and he gladly gave her his hand. “Thanks for helping me so much with that.”
“Of course.” Ty put on his blinker and eased off the brake. “What’s going on in Oklahoma?”
Winnie sighed and sighed andsighed. She sighed for so long, Ty was sure she’d run out of air, and he glanced over to her, his adrenaline kicking a nervous beat through him.
“That bad, huh?”
“It’s just my daddy,” she said.
