“Then maybe Gunner’s been sneaking snacks again.”
She rolled her eyes. “So why are you up?”
“I told you, didn’t I?” I pulled out the milk. “Can’t sleep. Probably need to check the magnesium levels in my blood.”
“Uh-huh.” Her eyes followed me as I reached for a glass, poured, and took a long sip. “Tally got insomnia too?”
I nearly choked. The milk hit my throat all wrong, and I had to swallow twice to recover. “Why would you think I was with Tally?”
Lily raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at my shirt.
I glanced down. Moss green. “I just grabbed the first clean one from thelaundry pile.”
“Really. Funny, it’s the same color as Tally’s eyes. Also, what’s funny is that it’s been washed three times this week. You seem to wear it a lot.”
“It must always be at the top of the laundry pile.” I shrugged, not telling her she was right. I wore it because it was the exact color of the eyes that I’d been staring into a lot recently.
“I’m not judging you, Wild,” Lily said, leaning on her elbows. “I’m just wondering when you’re going to admit this thing with Tally you have going on.”
“There’s nothing to admit.” I stared at her. “We live on the same ranch. I see her at work. Doesn’t mean anything.”
She wasn’t buying it. Her smile turned sly. “You can just tell me, you know.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Right.” She picked up her e-reader again but didn’t look at it. “So when Glenn asked her out last week and you broke the feed bucket in half, that was just… coincidence? You weren’t imagining it was his neck?”
“The handle had perished,” I muttered. “And Glenn is all wrong for her. He can’t even keep his work gear organized in the bunk house. The other guys are always complaining about it. She’d hate that.” I chose to forget the mess that was her bathroom.
“Interesting how well you know what she’d hate.”
“She’s Gunner’s assistant. I’ve been around her for months. You pick things up.” I knew I sounded defensive. “I know how she likes her coffee. That she cuts her toast diagonally and that she talks to the horses like they’re toddlers. Doesn’t mean I’m in love…just observant.”
She put her e-reader down and rested her chin on her palm, watching me like she was trying to solve a particularly tricky puzzle. “Wilder, come on, that's an awful lot to know about someone. It’s okay if you care.”
“With all due respect, Lily, I don’t.” I put the glass down, but my fingers lingered on the rim. I didn’t want to talk about this, but somehow I wanted to keep the conversation going, like standing there arguing meant I still had one foot in Tally’s world. “We’re not close. We work near each other, that’s all. She lived in this house for a while.”
She didn’t respond right away. Just studied me for a moment, too quiet. Too knowing.
“You know, Tally looked a little... off last week when you mentioned Heather Carson.”
“She was probably thinking about horse feed schedules.”
“She made a joke, smiled like it didn’t bother her, but then she went quiet.”
I shook my head. “You’re imagining things.”
“She’s not just some ranch employee to you.”
“She’s someone I see at work. That’s all.” I said it flatly. Firm. Just enough steel in it to stop her pressing harder. Hopefully.
Lily nodded slowly, but her eyes didn’t leave mine. “Alright, Wild. If you say so.”
She reached over and tapped her fingers against my chest, a gentle pat that somehow landed like a warning.
“Just take care of this,” she said. “Even if you won’t admit it’s in play.”
I didn’t answer. Just turned toward the stairs, her words echoing a little louder than I liked.
