“Mean?” He snorted a laugh and flopped back, relaxing. “What didIdo?”
Reilly decided it was time to drop the charade. As much fun as it was to pretend, this was serious.
Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on the table and stacked her arms. “Why’d you tell my brother no?”
It took a second, but Zane’s eyes cleared, and all amusement disappeared. “How’d you know about that?”
“Everyone knows about it,” she huffed. “And I happen to own the General Store. People talk, and they like to talk to me when they’re sneakin’ in to grab a candy bar.”
“Look, Reilly. I know you mean well, but—”
“No,” she insisted. “You don’t get to shrug me off. Did you know that crazy bitch from the Double J showed up the other day? Tried to sway my brother into comin’ back. She said you called and told her he regretted leavin’.”
Zane sat up so fast, it was a wonder the table didn’t overturn. “I said nothin’ of the sort. I asked about his employment history. Not a damn thing else.”
Reilly smiled. “I know.”
He frowned. “What?”
“I was lyin’ about part of it. Not the showin’ up part. She did do that.” Reilly twisted her lips. “And not the crazy bitch part. Sheisthat.” She shoved off her amusement. “Your phone call spurred her into drivin’ up here and askin’ him to come back to the ranch.”
“What’d he say?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted because she had no idea. She hadn’t talked to Stone since she left the barn the other night. According to her mother, the Double J truck left early and Nico’s truck was parked at the barn all night, but Reilly didn’t know for sure what happened.
Zane shifted to get out of the booth. “I think you should talk to your brother.”
She reached for his arm, holding firm. “Wait.”
Reluctantly, he turned back, facing her once again.
“Just tell me why you don’t want him to have that land. And tell the truth. Don’t give me some BS about him not bein’ a Walker. That’s a crap reason, and you know it.”
His eyebrows slammed down. “You heard about that?”
“Come on, Zane. You’ve lived here for thirty-some-odd years. You know this town doesn’t allow secrets. And yeah, people are now askin’ why there’s so much animosity between the Walkers and the Jamesons.”
She could tell he was trying to determine whether she was telling the truth.
Reilly decided to prove she wasn’t lying. “Bianca came into the store yesterday. Said she heard the Walkers are tryin’ to banish the Jamesons. Somethin’ about Lorrie bein’ on the outs with her brothers and sisters, and since she’s been a Walker longer than she’s been a Jameson…”
Reilly let the sentence trail off because it hurt her heart just to repeat it. She knew Bianca hadn’t been thinking straight when she laid it out like that because the mayor of Coyote Ridge was going through some things, so she wouldn’t hold it against her.
“My daddy heard the rumor, too,” Reilly admitted. “Told my mom. Broke her heart. She’s close to Lorrie.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Zane said, his voice rough. “I was … angry.”
“So youarethe one who said it?”
His shame flashed on his face like a beacon. “I said a lotta things. Wasn’t thinkin’ about who might overhear.”
“When you’re at Moonshiners, you might wanna keep the topics general. Sports. News. Those walls have ears.”
“Duly noted.”
“What is it really?” she prompted.
He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. His gaze bored into her, but Reilly didn’t flinch. She wanted to know because she needed to make some sense of it. Her family was tight-knit. Always had been. The Walkers and the Jamesons were close, had been since her aunt Lorrie married Curtis sixty years ago. They were the ones who brought the families together, and they’d kept them together through the years. Her heart ached to think that something might come between them. Especially something like hurt feelings.
