“A talk to talk,” Joey snickers. “Easy.”
Easy.
I hope it’ll be easy. Because nothing about Kade these last few days has been easy, from seeing him to talking with him at the store. I didn’t realize that when he left, I built a wall up around my heart to keep him out.
Will I be able to keep him out? Better yet, will I be able to keep my heart intact?
I survived Kade leaving once. I don’t know if I can do it again.
Chapter Eight
KADE
Crack.
Another swing. Another hole in the side of the barn that needs to be torn down and replaced.
If we plan on having cattle here, we need this to be in tip-top shape. Not the run-down mess that Verne let the old barn turn into.
It needs to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt, but I know that is going to get expensive. If I can help with the demo, it’ll be somewhat cheaper.
Not to mention it’s free therapy.
Because I can’t get the image of Presley and her daughter out of my mind. It’s been haunting me since the minute I left the old general store.
Some things really haven’t changed around here. Mr. Moore’s store is still the same as it was in high school. Old wooden aisles half filled with food. Most people go to the shinier, newer store outside of town, but those that have lived in Pinecrest their whole lives? They still go there.
Which is how I ended up running into Presley again.
With her daughter.
Poppy.
When Presley and I were together in high school, we always talked about what our kids would look like.
Who would they look like? Me or her? Who would they act like? What would their personalities be?
“Mini-Presleys,”I always said.
If that isn’t the truth now…
Poppy is a mirror to her mother. But there’s something that is still niggling the back of my brain.
The way her mouth quirked at the side when she whispered.
Something I’ve always done.
There’s no way Poppy is mine. Presley would have told me. There’s no way she wouldn’t have.
Except…I left without a second look back. Left my phone and picked up a new one in Seattle. I didn’t want anything tying me to my life here.
Another hit to the wall and wood goes flying. Dust blows back, hitting me in the face. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I drop down onto the bale of hay to give my arms a rest.
Nothing like working out in the barn to work out my anger.
“You got something against the barn?” Sam asks, nodding his head toward the hole in the wall.
Pulling my hat off my head, I toss it down next to me. “Sorry. Just working some things out.”
