Adrenaline courses through me, just at that small exchange. Confrontation isn't something I do well with, at least not confrontation with women. I never could stand up to my mother, could never just say the simplenoI'd needed to say.
My brain floods with all the things I could say to these women before they leave, and then the cashier is calling my name and the woman are leaving and it's over.
I pay for the champagne. Smile my thanks at the cashier, and decline the paper bag he's offered. When I turn around to leave, Wyatt is there, inside the small shop.
"Oh," I say, jumping.
"The thunderstorm is moving in quickly." He holds out a hand. I assume it's for the bottle I'm holding, so I hand it over. He takes it, then holds out his other hand. This time, I place my hand in his. He squeezes, ever so lightly, and I squeeze back. He leads me out of the store, breaking contact with me the second we're out on the sidewalk.
If it weren't for that small squeeze, I wouldn't have understood the point of him taking my hand. Is it possible he overheard what I said to those women?
Was he thanking me?
14
Wyatt
The storm rollsin like a hurtling locomotive as Jo and I drive back to the Circle B. A sky that was clear before we walked into the Merc is now bruised deep blue and purple. Lightning flashes behind the clouds, lighting them up for less than a second.
Jo bites the side of her lower lip, peering at the ever-darkening sky through the passenger side window.
"Worried?" I ask her. I would be, if I were her. I know she hasn't had the roof inspected yet, and there's no way to know if it will hold through a summer monsoon. Arizona thunderstorms are unrelenting, the open skies creating a wide lane for thunder to travel, for wind to whip and rain to drive.
Jo spears me with a clear, fearful gaze. Her celebratory mood from earlier has disappeared. "What if it all comes crashing down?"
"The house?"
She shrugs, just the tiniest movement. "Everything. The house, my plans, my entire life."
I run my palm over the short, spiky hairs across my jaw. "Let's play a game."
"I'm not in the mood for I Spy."
I huff a laugh. "Let me rephrase. Let's talk hypotheticals.Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if the house came crashing down?"
"Run out of it."
"Assume you're not in it."
She releases a heavy breath. "Get it fixed, I guess."
"And what if your plans came crashing down?"
Jo shifts, pulling one leg up onto the seat and tucking it into her chest. "Live at the Circle B. Have the world's biggest mortgage. Put it back on the market."
"And your life? What if your whole life fell down around you?"
She taps her knee. "Reinvent myself."
"What would you be?"
"A princess on a Disney cruise."
I look at her from the corner of my eye as I make the turn into the Circle B. "You said that without any hesitation."
Jo smiles. "It's a secret dream of mine. Don't go telling anybody."
"I'll take it to the grave." A crack of thunder splits my sentence in two, and the sky opens up. Rain batters my windshield.
