Finally, something real peaked through her expression—her dam springing a leak. Her brow furrowed with anger and hurt. And even though I wanted her to hurt two seconds ago, the welling tears in hereyes touched my chest like a hot iron. Her lip trembled. “You better listen because I’m only going to say this once.”
I gave her my full attention, my jaw clenched.
“I really got divorced in October, okay?”
A cinderblock of dread hit my stomach.
“My family doesn’t know because I haven’t told them yet. I’m so humiliated that I don’t know how to break the news. But I haven’t lied toanyone.” She swiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’m only here to help my little sister, and maybefinallyhave a relationship with her that isn’t centered around family holidays. So if you’re trying to hurt me, you can’t. I don’t care what you think.”
She pulled forward toward her girls, readying to grab them and hightail it.
I dragged a hand over my face. “Hollie.”
She held up a stop sign as she passed me. “Save it, Jesse.”
“I—”
“Seriously, it doesn't matter.” She walked the rest of the way to her girls, offering them a motherly smile. “Come on girls, we have to start dinner.”
When she passed me again, she didn’t look up, red blotches forming on her temples and cheeks as she choked back her tears. I swallowed the lump in my throat, not sure how I’d fix my mistake.
EIGHTEEN
Hollie
Ishifted the heavy plastic tub in my arms as I waddled across the gravel barnyard to put the leftovers in the cowboy refrigerator. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact that it was Wednesday already—the past two days had flown by. I veered to the left side of the barn toward the shed-turned-tinyhouse that everyone called “the bunkhouse.”
Like I had done every day, I climbed the three bunkhouse steps, gave a courtesy knock even though I knew the cowboys were working, and pushed my way inside. The interior had an open layout, with long bunk beds on one side, a TV and couch in the middle, and a kitchenette on the other side. Both beds were unmade and several dishes sat in the sink. I hefted my plastic tub onto the floor in front of the fridge, and unpacked leftover sausage, cut fruit, yogurt, pasta from dinner the night before, a jug of milk and sweet tea. The cowboys didn’t usually have a sit down lunch, but would hit the leftovers throughout the day.
Afterward, I flipped the sink on and washed uptheir dishes. No one had asked me to. I just figured they probably wouldn’t feel up to it after spending twelve hours in the sun.
As I scrubbed, I let my eyes wander the room for a moment until they landed on something I’d never noticed in the room before.
A camera sitting on the bed.
Looked like a professional one with a giant lens.
Huh.
It seemed so out of place. I couldn’t imagine Harlan or Cooper using it. I swiped my wet hands on my jeans and stepped across the room until I stood before the bed. The need to know what kind of pictures were on it coursed through my body until I knelt beside the mattress and picked it up. I examined it until I found the power button, then the playback.
The first picture in the memory was of…
A bird?
An audible “what?” lifted from my lips as I frowned in confusion.
Not only was the picture insanely close up, but the colors were brilliant and the focus wasperfect. The bird perched on a branch, its dust-brown feathers puffed cozily. Before I could flip to the next picture, the bunkhouse door swung open.
Panicking, I hit the power button as my heart flew to my throat.
I put the camera back on the bed and scrambled to get upright, hoping that whoever walked in the room hadn’t seen me snooping.
But then the person asked, “What are you doing?”
My eyes lifted.
Cooper stood there, hands on his hips, the door left wide open behind him. His long hair was pulled back into a low bun, a backwards cap settled on his head. His jeans and faded blue t-shirt were dusty, sweat-drenched from a day in the sun. I noted that he had a sleeve on again. In fact, every time I’d seen him, he wore a long sleeve shirt or a nude colored nylon sleeve on his left forearm. I wondered if he had an obscene tattoo or something.
