I shrug. “No.”
“You’ve changed,” he says softly. “In a good way.”
His words unsettle me. “Maybe. But it doesn’t make what you’ve done right.”
“I know.” He looks away. “Believe me, I know.”
A long silence follows.
“Four more days,” he says eventually.
I nod, my heart a mess of conflicting emotions. “Where’s Saba?” I ask. “I thought he’s permanently attached to your hip.”
Kane accepts the transparent subject change without comment. “Jill’s gone to rescue roosters who’ve been dumped on a logging road. Saba went along as protection.”
Secretly pleased that neither Saba nor Jill are here to glower at me, I spot Carrot-top drinking water from a trough. He lifts his head at our approach. Letting loose his familiar braying sound, he trots straight to me, his ears pricked with eagerness.
I laugh, but when Carrot-top gives me a forceful nudge, causing me to stumble, I say, “Hey, take it easy.”
When the donkey nudges me again, I try to move away, but he simply follows me, his lips tugging at my clothes. “What’s his problem?” I ask Kane.
“He seems to like you.” It’s said innocently, but I see the suspicious glint in his eyes.
“Okay, what have you done?”
He grins. “Check your pockets.”
I slip a hand into the pocket of my shorts and dig out a sticky peppermint.
“Carrot-top’s favorite treat,” Kane tells me, patting the donkey’s rough flank. “He has a nose for mints and won’t stop his badgering until you give one up.”
I scowl. “This joke thing’s not getting old yet?”
The grin stays on his face. A broad, uncomplicated grin that makes him look yearsyounger. “Not by a long shot.”
Carrot-top snorts and nudges me again. “Okay, okay, here it is.” I awkwardly offer the treat on my palm to Carrot-top who lips it up eagerly, chewing with evident pleasure. Then he simply stands there, head hanging low, staring at me in dejection.
“Oh, please, do you honestly think that look is going to work on me?” I scoff, even as I hold out my hand to Kane for another mint.
Kane’s eyes crinkle with amusement as he slips a wrapped mint into my palm. “Sucker.”
“It’s those eyes,” I admit, tearing open the packaging and giving the treat to the donkey. “When did you put the mint in my pocket?”
“At the start of the walk.”
“You know, I’m going to have to be on my guard constantly around you,” I say without thinking.
His face instantly sobers. “Exactly that. I want you to remember never to let your guard down around me.”
After a moment, I reply, “It’s not something I can forget.”
Kane nods, hard. As if those are words he needs to hear. It doesn’t mean, though, judging from the look on his face, that he likes hearing them.
I let out a breath and wipe my brow, wishing I thought to borrow a hat from Mel. Today’s going to be a scorcher.
“Why don’t you bathe Carrot-top?” Kane suggests. “I think you’ll both enjoy a good soaking in this heat.”
“That sounds good.”
