Sammie turned away from him, letting the air rushing in through the window force her eyes closed. Tears prickled under her eyelids, burning her nose.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Kieran continued, “I don’t know what the right answer is, and I won’t pretend to. You saw how much of a mess my own future is.”
“Your parents and the farm,” she said softly. It did help, knowing she wasn’t the only one with decisions she wasn’t ready to face.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” His hand tightened around hers. “It feels like if I just keep avoiding it, it’ll stay far away in the future. Until the day it all catches up to me.” Kieran tapped on the inside of her wrist with his thumb, pulling her attention back toward him. And even though he kept his eyes on the road, still hidden behind those damn sunglasses, Sammie felt like she had the whole of his attention.
A deep breath, his chest rising and falling slowly. “I think it might be better to face the future before then. At least that way I can try to be ready for it.”
“Not a terrible idea.” The light chuckle that left her felt full of too much emotion. Kieran went quiet after that, a quiet that Sammie appreciated. It gave her time to sit with his words, with no added pressure to accept them. No pressure to have answers, to make decisions she wasn’t ready for. They were just two people with their windows down on the highway, trying their best to make it from one day to the next.
“It’s your turn,” she said after a while. A small smile tilted Kieran’s mouth.
“It is, isn’t it?” He hummed in thought, and Sammie could see the moment another question occurred to him. “Who’s your favorite volleyball player?”
“Oh, fuck you,” she said, a barking laugh tearing from her. “I’m not answering that!”
“I will.” Kieran was grinning like mad. “That Tate guy, the setter for Los Angeles? He’s pretty damn good.”
“Oh my god,” Sammie gasped. “You will break Attie’s heart.”
“Not if he doesn’t find out.” Kieran raised a brow as he glanced at her. “You gonna tell him?”
“I’ll keep your secret.” Sammie smiled, bright and innocent as she could muster. “For now.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“IT’S NOT WHAT it looks like!”
Sammie slammed her phone face down on her desk, flames of embarrassment licking up her neck, searing her face as Luz backed away from her.
“Girl, no judgement from me.” Her assistant took another step back, gaze averted toward the ceiling, amusement cracking a smile across her face. “You do you, I’m not telling anyone you watch porn on your lunch breaks!”
Sammie wanted to melt into a puddle of sludge and slowly drip into the floor drain. “I’m notwatching pornon my lunch break.” She picked up her phone, clicked on the screen, only to slam it back down again. “Dammit, Kieran!”
“The grain delivery guy?” Luz raised her dark brows, delight sparkling in her wide eyes.
“Fuck.” Sammie ran a hand over her face. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Luz laughed. “This is exactly what I needed after the shitty day we’ve had here, so thanks for that.”
“I promise I don’t sit here and… and…” She waved a hand at her phone, flailing for words to explain away the video Luz had just caught her opening. “Do weird shit on my lunch break.”
“Seriously.” Her assistant stepped forward, arms out in a placating gesture, as though Sammie might spook at the slightest sign of danger. “It’s not a big deal. I’m not gonna gotattle on you to management. You looked just as shocked as I when the… screeching started up.”
Oh god. Oh fuck. Why had Kieran sent such aloudvideo?
“But why is the delivery guy sending you porn?”
There was a hint of trepidation in Luz’s question, a serious turn to her voice that had Sammie squirming.
“It’s hard to explain.”
“He’s not bothering you, is he?”
Sammie sighed. “Shit.” She didn’t want Luz to think Kieran was some sort of creep. “No, it’s not like that.” There was genuine concern written across the other woman’s features, and before Sammie knew it, the only explanation she could come up with fell past her lips.
She told Luz the truth.
