“I have to run and check my barn,” he said, running for the door and shoving his feet into his boots.
The dogs all pricked their ears up, but he held up a hand and they stayed put as he pulled on his coat and took off into the snowy night.
The wind blew hard, sliding icy fingers into every opening in his coat. Thankfully, the path he had shoveled so faithfully throughout the afternoon still had less snow than the rest of the property. He reached the small barn quickly and picked his way through the snow to the gate on the paddock fence.
Sure enough, it was open. One set of deep prints was just visible, though it was nearly covered by the falling snow.
He closed the latch and headed to the barn.
Thankfully, all the other dogs were still inside. They greeted him joyfully, looking perfectly content on this snowy night.
“Good job, guys,” he told them. “Thank you forsticking around. Henrietta and her babies are doing just fine.”
Raven capered over for a pat and she nuzzled and sniffed very curiously at him. He’d washed up of course, but he knew that her sensitive nose still smelled what he’d been up to. She was the best tracker of the bunch.
“Yes, girl,” he told her. “We’re going to have more puppies around here.”
He found a concrete block and took it with him when he headed out, skirting the barn and circling back to the gate to place it in front.
He was pretty sure that Henrietta was his only escape artist, but he would be getting those new latches right away.
As he headed back to the house, he thought about Hailey inside, sitting at the counter eating her midnight snack, smiling as she talked about Henrietta.
Why didn’t I beg her to give me a second chance before she started seeing Caspian Thorne?
Thinking back over the past two weeks they had spent together, he realized that he’d had plenty of opportunities to tell her he was sorry that he hurt her, and to beg her to let him try again to be the man she deserved.
For the second time in a night, he wished like anything that he could rewind time.
But time only moved in one direction, relentlessly forward.
As he jogged back up his own porch steps, he reminded himself of the man he wanted to be right now—thoughtful, honorable, and kind.
Not the kind of man who moons over a woman who is in a relationship.
Somehow, he was going to have to make it through this snowstorm with the woman he loved without saying a word about his feelings.
It’ll be easier in the morning, when the kids are up and there’s no time to overthink things,he tried to tell himself.
But he knew it wasn’t true.
20
HAILEY
Hailey awoke the next day to the sound of voices drifting up from below.
Her eyes flew open and everything came back to her at once. She was in the guest room at Ransom’s house and those voices were probably Travis and Mae.
Smiling, she sat up and stretched a little. The guest room had only one small window, and the view was all pale gray and blinding white.
Her memory took her back to last night and she was amazed all over again.
Did I really make friends with a dog and walk through a snowstorm with her?
She found she was eager not just to see the kids and Ransom, but also to check on Henrietta and her babies.
I guess people do change sometimes,she thought to herself as she slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
