“He’ll do an errand here and there or like run to the barn and grab something, but he’s never really beenawayfrom me, outside of school.”
“Does he know you’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“How’d he take it?”
“He cried himself to sleep.”
She made a softtsking sound. “I’m sorry, Jesse.”
“I’m just sorry to inconvenience you.”
“Don’t be. The girls will be excited to hang out with him. When do you leave?”
“By six or so.”
“You want me to come down to the cabin after I make the cowboy breakfast?”
“Sure. He might need to sleep in a little though. I could set his alarm for around seven o’clock?”
“That will be fine. I’ll come get him.”
“We never lock it. So feel free to come in.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you so much, Hollie.” I took a deep breath to launch into my apology—now was as good a time as ever. But she cut off my chance by quickly saying goodnight and disconnecting.
It was almost 2 a.m. when we got the horses unloaded at Meadowbrook and trudged off to bed.
I sat in the driver’s seat of the 3500, pulling up the maps app and typing in the address Tag had sent me. My mug of coffee sat in the cupholder, the steam fogging up the radio controls right above it. I’d slept through the cowboy breakfast and opted to grab a few granola bars from our pantry. I blinked, my eyes stinging with exhaustion as I tapped “go” and let the maps route.
Right as I cranked up the engine, the passenger’s door jerked open, startling me.
Tag slammed down into the seat and threw his hat on the dashboard.
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”
“Comin’ with.” He leaned forward to settle his mug of tea in the holder next to mine.
“Like hell you are.”
He lifted his hips, pulling his Glock 19 from the holster and shoving it into the glove compartment, which was a little crowded because my Sig P365 was in there, too. “Just drive, Jess.”
“No. Explain this. Yesterday we made a plan. And it didn’t include you tagging along.”
Tag closed his door, plunging us into the early morning darkness. The sun hadn’t broken the horizon yet, but the sky had turned fromblack to purple, streaks of light preceding its arrival. Tag’s gaze scanned the distance, his hand fretting over his knee for a moment. “A couple times, I’ve sat down and tried to figure out what it was that changed me.”
I waited, sure as the dawn he was about to say something profound.
“Bea has sat through some of the darkest moments of my life with no regard to her own wellbein’, how my pain might affect her, or how it might be heavy for her to carry. She just showed up and hurt with me. She’s had bad days ‘cause of my bad days. And I used to feel real guilty about that…but…she wants to ache when I ache.”
Goosebumps raised on my arms. Man, if I didn’t know exactly what that felt like. I did the same thing for Laurel. I wanted to be in the trenches with her, hand in hand when she relived her nightmares.
He continued, “That’s what’s changed me. Not havin’ to be nobody’s problem anymore.”
I nodded, letting what he meant sink in.
