Her face softens. “I’m sorry about what happ?—”
“Iz, you’re bein’ annoying,” Zane tells her. “Cut it out.”
“I’m just making conversation,” Isabelle explains. “Jeez.”
“I appreciate the sentiment,” I say kindly. “But I am here to recoup after, well, everythin’. I haven’t had chance to explain to Bailey yet?—”
“Bailey!” Isabelle immediately slaps a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my god. You’re the hot cowboy she told me about! You were at the bar a few nights ago, right?”
Good news travels fast.
“Yep. That would be me,” I say.
“Wait, aren’t you working here?” Isabelle frowns. “Why are you workingin a stable?”
“I swear I taught her manners,” Franks says, shaking his head. “She just doesn’t remember how to use them sometimes.”
“I like horses,” I say simply. “And there’s nothin’ wrong with doin’ a good day’s work, no matter how successful you are.”
“I second that,” Frank says, lifting his mug toward me. “It’s called work ethic, somethin’ we value highly around here.”
“Well,” Isabelle says, tucking her hair behind her ears. “My lips are sealed.” She pretends to zip up her lips. Her phone chimes and she glances down at it. “Shoot, Mom needs me at the Lodge, I’ll see you guys later. Bye Rock—I mean, Brett.”
“Nice meetin’ you,” I say as she leaves.
“How long before everyone knows?” Jed asks with an exasperated sigh when she’s gone.
“I give it twenty-four hours.” Frank smirks.
“Might be a good time for us to find you a place to stay. I think we have a vacancy coming up in the carriage house,” Zane says, then he gives me a pointed look. “And it’s probably an opportune time to talk to Bails while you’re at it.”
I palm the back of my head. Yeah, that is definitely a good idea, though, I don’t know how she’s going to take the news because I’ve been too chicken to tell her the whole truth.
I’ve wanted to live in this little bubble for a while longer, and that’s no excuse, but it’s a far cry from the hell I’ve lived through for the last couple of years.
I nod. “I never meant to keep this from her. I-I didn’t know this was goin’ to happen.”
“You have real feelin’s for her, son?” Frank asks as I look over at him.
I nod. “Hook. Line. Sinker. I knew it the first time I saw her, which probably sounds like a line.”
Frank shakes his head. “Like me and my Sylvie,” he says. “Prettiest woman I ever did see. Best thing about her, though? The way she moved. Like she floated through life on the afternoon breeze. Golden hair. The bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. And then she smiled at me.” He chuckles at the memory.
“Way to go, Dad,” Zane groans. “Don’t leave anything out.”
“When you know, you know,” Jed agrees. “You were the same with Sadie once you took your foot out of your mouth and your head out of your ass.”
Zane shoots him a look. “Still on work time here, bud.”
Frank chuckles. “It’s never wrong to do the right thing, even if the confession may have her a little stirred up. Best to do it now, rather than later and have her hear about it from someone else.”
I swallow. “Yeah, I know, and now I feel like an even bigger ass.”
“It sounds like you’ve been through a lot,” Frank says. “It’s understandable to be guarded, but Bailey is special to us. She’s like another daughter to me and Sylvia. None of us here want to see Bailey hurt.”
Oh, and don’t I hear the warning in his words.
“Yes, sir,” I say. “I’m not here to stir up any trouble, or break any hearts. I didn’t plan on fallin’ the way I have so suddenly, but that’s the thing about love. It just hits you when you least expect it.”
