As she walks me to the door, her expression becomes serious again. “Jane?”
“Yeah?”
“What you heard, or what you think you heard, was a partial sentence. And your brain is really good at filling in blanks with the worst possible ending.”
“I know,” I whisper.
“So ask him. Let him finish the sentence. Don’t let your fear write the ending before you’ve read the last page.”
I nod, my throat feels too tight for words.
Outside, the cold greets me again. I pull my coat tight and head back down the path toward Tex’s cabin.
This time, I walk more slowly because I feel exposed now that I’ve softened my edges, as if the world can see the bruise on my heart.
My pulse kicks as the cabin comes into view—and that’s when the universe decides to remind me who I am.
My boot lands on something that looks like snow. It isnotsnow. It’s a hidden, half-frozen pile of cow shit.
My foot sinks in. I freeze.
No.
No, no, no.
I yank my foot too hard, and my other boot slips on ice. My arms windmill as I go down. Hard. I hear a sickening squelch as cold seeps into my skirt. The smell hits a second later—rancid, earthy humiliation.
I lie there for one stunned heartbeat. Then a sharp, broken, helpless laugh tears out of me.
Of course. The one time I try to be soft and pretty and manageable, I end up covered in literal crap.
I scramble up, my boot ripping free with a wet sucking sound. My hands are smeared, my coat is ruined, and my dignity is somewhere in the snow.
My eyes burn. Not from the cold, but because I don’t even know if the man inside wants me, and now I’m about to walk into his cabin smelling like a cow’s ass.
“Goddamn, Fuck. Shit.” I exhaust every four-letter word in my vocabulary as I stomp up the steps and push the door open before I can chicken out.
Tex is sitting on the sofa. His gaze lands on me, tracking from my curled hair and softened makeup to the smear of muck across my coat, skirt, and hands.
His jaw tightens as I stand there, shaking and filthy, my heart cracked open.
“I was trying,” I whisper.
Tex’s expression shifts from confusion to concern. “Trying what?”
My throat tightens until it hurts. “To be what you wanted. But I guess the universe disagreed.”
He stands, moving toward me. “Jane?—”
“I heard you.” My voice shakes. “On the phone. You said I’m everything you didn’t want.”
Tex recoils as the words hit him square in the chest, his breath leaving him in a sharp exhale.
Then his eyes darken. “What did you hear exactly?”
Chapter 13
Tex
