I huff at the interruption. “I didn’t think they’d be out in the lobby. I figured they’d be back in the cells and they’d just send Colt and Travis out. I know how much you hate seeing Cartwright. I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I thought you’d have to see him.”
She’s quiet for a minute and I can’t stand it. I’m not good with emotions. Bailey’s eyes start to water, and she looks at the sky to blink the tears back. I can’t offer her a hug because she’d punch me for it, so, instead, I shove my hands in my pockets and stand there awkwardly. “Have you thought about giving him a second chance? Maybe he’s changed.”
Bailey scoffs. “He hasn’t. That’s the problem, he’s exactly the same. Every time I see him, all I can remember is the boy I spent years of my life in love with, and all the good times, and how his smile made me feel…” she says, voice breaking as she trails off.
She swallows and stays quiet for a second, looking down at the snow around our feet. Everything in me wants to leave and go get Jameson to help her with this, but I keep my boots planted since it’s my fault she’s feeling this way. She’d gone months without seeing him prior to last night, years without talking to him. Both were a feat in a town this small.
“My mind can’t make sense of him being the same boy I fell in love with and also being the man who cheated on me and broke my heart. He knows just how to look at me, and just what to say to make me want to give in, but I can’t let myself do that. So yeah, saying I hate seeing him makes me sound petty and childish, but it’s the only chance in hell I have at not falling for his bullshit again.”
I stay quiet as she uses the sleeve of her jacket to wipe awayher tears. “I’m really sorry, Bails,” I tell her again, and it makes me feel as helpless as the apology is worthless.
“I know,” she says anyway, giving me a small smile to put me out of my misery. “Just give me a few days to be mad and I’ll be right as rain again.”
“Okay, deal. I fed Misty this morning for you. Let me know if you decide to take Cash out or leave the ranch, will ya? And hey, stop leaving your keys in the damn ignition.”
She rolls her eyes at me and starts toward the barn, probably to go visit her mare and make sure I did everything up to her standards. “Yes, Maddie.”
I grin. Hopefully it won’t be long til I’m back on her good side.
In the house, bacon’s sizzling, pancakes are ready, and plates are on the counter, each with eggs cooked a different way. I wash my hands in the sink before grabbing the plate with the over-easy ones and kiss Mama’s cheek as I pass her. “Thank you, Mama.”
“You’re welcome, son. Thank you for heating the house up.”
I grunt in response and toss the twenty I’d tried to give Bailey over Kenny’s shoulder instead. “You need to top off your tank today. Tell Theo and he’ll do it for you.”
Kendall picks it up from where it landed on the table and shoves it in the front pocket of her jeans. “I can pump my own gas, but thank you.”
I’ll text Theo later. It’s not that I think she’s incapable of doing it, it’s that she shouldn’t have to.
“Crap, I’ve gotta fill mine too,” Tate mumbles. She bites her bottom lip nervously before looking up at me. “I’ve gotta go to town this morning. Do you think?—”
“Your fuel line froze,” I tell her, looking down at my plate so she doesn’t somehow read on my face that I know more than I want to about her menstrual cycle and its quirks. “Tyler can drive you, or you can ask if you can borrow the Jeep or the Dodge.”
“No,” Kenny says immediately, before Tate can even ask about her pickup.
Tate rolls her eyes, turning back to me. “Do you have anything specific you need done today, or you just want me to work with the newer horses some more?”
She asks me this every morning, but I never have anything new for her to do. She’s the goddamn horse whisperer around here, invaluable in the training role. Hell, she gentled a mustang when she was nine years old just with her sheer stubbornness. Every day, I’m torn between hoping she leaves Cedar Creek to make more of herself and knowing I’ll never find another trainer as good as her if she ever does end up leaving. “Working with the horses is great, Tate. Thanks.”
She stiffens in her chair when the squeaking back door signals that Tyler’s entered the kitchen. Mama won’t let me fix it. She jokes that the squeak lets her know when her kids are sneaking in and out at night, but the front door doesn’t squeak so I know it’s not that.
It’s because she nagged Dad to fix it for weeks before he passed and he never did.
Tate’s quiet and still at the table while Tyler washes his hands and then grabs the plate with the scrambled eggs on it. “Thanks, Mama Whittaker.”
Mama scolds Tyler for not calling her by her first name—again—but he ignores her, setting his plate down on the table to Tate’s right. The palm of his hand reaches around my sister’s front and presses against her forehead, pulling her head back to look up at him as he stands behind her.
“Hi,” she says, with a guilty grin.
Tyler’s lips quirk and I shake my head at how easily he folds. He tries to squash his smile. “If you don’t start letting me know when you need gas in your tankbeforeit gets low enough to risk the fuel line freezing, I’m going to murder you,” Tyler tells her with forced sternness, kissing the top of her head as he lets her go and sits down next to her.
“I’m sorry,” she says genuinely. “I forgot.”
For most people, that’d just be an empty excuse, a sign that it hadn’t been important enough to warrant their attention. But with Tatum, it wasn’t really that she’d just forgotten. She probably remembered she needed gas about ten times, but each time, she’d gotten distracted before she could actually go through with getting it. She’s more frustrated with herself when her brain doesn’t work the way she wants it to than any of us are at her.
“It’s fine, Cricket. I’m not actually mad, I swear,” he assures her lowly, his hand moving under the table. I narrow my eyes at him—not that he’s looking at me. He eats with one hand and I have to hope the other is resting appropriately on her knee.
Colt comes down the stairs looking like absolute shit. “Morning, Colton!” Kenny chimes loudly, making him groan and her laugh. I quirk a brow at her as he goes over to Mama and she fusses over the cuts on his face. Kenny shrugs. “Bailey said to.”
