Her eyes roll, and she exhales a loud sigh. “Great.”
The horses pick their way through the pasture, heading back toward the stables, and I allow the silence to hang in the air for a few moments. I’ve never been one to let the quiet last long, though.
“You might as well tell me. You know I’m not gonna shut up about it ‘til you do.”
She scoffs. “It’s stupid.”
“I doubt that.”
“I wasn’t lying about coming out here to help, but quitting my job was impulsive.”
She keeps her back straight in the saddle, thighs solid as she rides, eyes fixed on the field instead of me.
“I was dating Beau Kensington, the clinic’s owner—another vet. We broke up a couple of months ago. I, uh, caught him cheating on me.”
My head snaps toward her. Quinn shifts in the saddle, her expression unreadable—but the faint flush in her cheeks gives her away.
“Jesus Christ. Quinn, I’m—”
She waves me off, pretending it has no effect on her. “I’m fine. He was always a bit condescending, but after the breakup it got unbearable. Losing the apartment to him and crashing with Marlowewas bad enough. Then he tried to tell me I couldn’t take a few days off to see Pops, so I told him to shove the job up his ass and quit.”
I fight down the urge to look up this Kensington douchebag so I can pay him a little visit. “It must have been pretty bad. You’re not the type to quit without a backup plan.”
“I might regret it later, but I couldn’t stand working with him for another second. He spent half his day flirting with the vet techs and then had the nerve to act like I was the problem in our relationship.” She laughs under her breath, but it’s humorless. “After a while, I started to believe him—wondering if maybe I really was the problem. I hated who I was becoming around him—always anxious, waiting for the next little dig that would make me doubt myself. So, for the first time in my life, I quit."
Her gaze flicks away, and for a moment, I see something crack in her—something small and raw she’s trying hard to hide. I hate that anyone has made her feel less than the amazing, talented, and intelligent woman she is. She could do anything she put her mind to.
Once we reach the stable, I slide down from June. The silence between us feels heavy with all the things I want to say. That she deserves far better than anything that idiot could give her. That she’s one of the smartest, kindest people I know. But the words get stuck in my throat.
I stand by in case she needs help getting down, but she manages to make her first dismount in years look graceful.
“You’ll find something better,” I finally say, giving Cash a pat before turning to meet her gaze. “Any clinic would be lucky to have you on staff. You’re damn good at what you do, Quinn. Don’t let some asshole make you forget that."
“Thanks,” she says, glancing down and wiping the dust from her jeans. She clears her throat, blinking away the lingering emotion. “I knowI should start looking soon, but I want to be here helping as long as I can. I know Pops can be a handful.”
She’s changing the subject on purpose, but I don’t want to push it. We might have been close back in high school, but that was eons ago. I got most of the story out of her. I don’t need to keep poking at unhealed wounds.
“You can say that again. The old man is ornery as all get out.”
She laughs lightly. “I think between the four of us out here, we should be able to keep him in line.”
“God, I hope so. Go on and head back inside. I can get these two unsaddled.”
She nods, giving me a soft smile, and turns on her heel, walking toward the old farmhouse in those damn jeans that hug her in all the right places. I push down the urge to follow and busy myself with untacking the horses. I give myself a little pat on the back for hardly thinking of her naked at all—then head home alone instead of into the farmhouse, where I’d much rather be. With her.
Real-Life Snow White
Quinn
Once I hear Tripp’s truck kicking up gravel down the drive, I head back up to my room, trying to shake the vulnerability that our conversation left behind. Admitting that the real reason I quit—the reason I wanted to stay—was because I’d been cheated on had left me feeling raw. Exposed.
Leave it to Tripp to be annoyingly observant. He’s always had a knack for getting me to talk, even when I didn’t want to.
I was over Beau Kensington—was over him the second I saw him under someone else. But those feelings of inadequacy lingered.
How could someone who looked so good on paper be so entirely wrong for me? It had me questioning so much. About myself. About what I wanted. About what I’d settled for in my eagerness to check off the next thing on my list.
I don’t want to think about any of it anymore, so I push the thoughts of my cheating ex-boss aside and finally take the spare moment to look through the boxes that are still stacked and blocking a direct path to my bed.
