Emery
I’m not a subtle person. Which is probably why I would make a terrible detective. I either take things too far or not far enough, and when Alyssa suggests I go confront Michael, I go full steam ahead.
I charge over to his cabin, but after knocking for a full minute, I realize his truck isn’t even in the driveway.
Frustrated, I return to my cabin and change into my running clothes.
All I plan to do is get some fresh air and sweat out my irritation.
I’m sure I won’t run into Michael on the ranch.
Okay, maybe I hope I will since he had said he’d be working with Luke this morning. But as I jog along the paved path, I don’t see anyone.
When I round the corner and spot the main house up ahead, my stomach twists into knots as I remember last night on the porch with Michael.
He was so sweet with his eyes only on me. We really connected. Or so I thought.
I shake my head to clear my negative thinking and return to my run.
But as I go to pass the house, I spot two figures on the back porch.
And I freeze.
They’re facing away from me, but I’d recognize Michael’s dark head of hair and ocean blue t-shirt he slipped on this morning anywhere.
It’s blissfully quiet and still on the ranch this early morning. With no wind and no ranch equipment running, you could hear a pin drop.
The men’s voices are carrying toward me, but I only hear snippets.
“…did you?”
Without thinking what I’m doing, I walk toward them.
I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I feel awkward calling out Michael’s name from across the yard. So I keep walking toward them, and as I get closer, I hear…
“…I fucking hate talking about it too. But eventually, if things between you continue, she’d need to know anyway.”
Wait. Is he talking about…me?
I freeze behind the bush I was about to casually circle around and make myself known. The bush is the last point of privacy between me and Michael, my last decision as to whether or not I want to make myself vulnerable to him again.
And I’m…suddenly scared.
My palms are sweating as I dig my fingernails into them.
“You got damn lucky with Bella,” Michael says to the other guy. “She already knew everything there was to know.”
What is there to know?Is this about what happened at the diner earlier?
“You think that’s the only thing about Bella I got lucky with?”
Ouch!
I swat at the mosquito suddenly feasting on my arm.
In my effort to avoid being bitten again, I bang into the bush, causing quite a racket in the midst of the quiet.
I peek around the bush, hoping against hope I wasn’t heard.
