“Maybe we can stop by and say hi to the makeshift herd on our way back to the house,” he said. “I need to move a little first. I have all this pent-up energy inside of me. Gotta get it out some way.” Just like the night before, more fun and creative ways to get rid of his energy sprang to mind.
But now wasn’t the time to give way to fantasies. He’d spent enough time hiding certain parts of himself. If he ever wanted a real shot with Suzy—not just an idealized version he went to bed with every night—it was time to show her every part of himself.
Even the ugly ones.
As they moved down the stairs side by side, the wind whipped up and skimmed his cheeks. He took a moment to soak up the stillness, the quiet around them. The cold snap hushed the world that was usually alive with sounds of nature. The crunch of his boots on the brittle ground echoed in the air.
Choosing the worn path that looped around the side of the house, he struggled to find the best way to start such an important conversation.
“So how’d you get out of the ick?” Suzy asked, beating him to it.
He lifted his shoulders then let them drop. “I’m glad I got things off my chest. I should have had have that conversation a long time ago instead of running away.”
“You and my brother have more in common than I realized.”
The sadness of her words weighed heavy on his chest. Sure, he and Lane had both run from issues instead of making sure the problems were solved. But beyond that, their situations couldn’t be more different.
“What I had with Chrissy is worlds apart from what Lane has with Celine.”
“Really? From what I heard, it sounds pretty dang similar. Young and in love then someone is left behind to pick up the pieces of their broken heart.”
Stopping, he faced her. “Is that what she told you?”
“Pretty much.”
“And you believed her?”
Her silence was like a dagger in the gut. “I told you last night she’s a manipulator. That she’s deceptive and vengeful. Did it ever dawn on you she may be lying to you to gain sympathy? I thought you knew me better than to think the worst of me.”
Suzy winced. “Maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought.”
He fought the urge to storm away, to end the conversation right then and there and forget any notion he had of him and Suzy together.
But if he did, then Chrissy won. Because he had no doubt she’d used every evil skill in her arsenal to turn Suzy against him. Running away now would only continue a pattern he needed to break. Besides, he’d fallen victim to Chrissy and her lies more than once. He couldn’t blame Suzy for not seeing through the bullshit.
“What did she say that made you look at me differently?”
Suzy finally met his eye. “That you lost a child.”
He couldn’t be more shocked if the ground split open beneath his feet. “Are you serious?”
She nodded, lips pressed in a firm line and tears clinging to her lashes.
Scrubbing a hand over his mouth, he lifted his eyes to the blue sky. “Jeez, you’ve got to be kidding me. We never had a child together. Hell, we never even talked about having children. She lied. Just like she’s been doing since the day I met her.”
“What kind of person would lie about something like that?”
“Someone who’d do anything to get what they want—what they think is theirs.” He couldn’t help but snort out an incredulous laugh. “This isn’t even the worst of her lies.”
“I don’t know how that’s possible.”
“Trust me. She has a way of figuring out your weakness then twisting your reality into some screwed up version of what you wanted, only to have it snatched away. I was told she couldn’t have kids then she cried to me about losing a baby that never was. When I ended things, she followed me from town to town. Always showing up at different rodeos. Didn’t matter how far I went, she’d find me. Always with some sad story to get my defenses down.”
“Is that why you stopped bull riding?”
He nodded, hating the knot in his chest that tightened when he thought about the world he’d loved and left behind. “If I wanted a fresh start, I had to figure out how to keep her away. I never imagined she’d follow my family here.”
“So if you get things sorted with Chrissy, will you go back to riding?”
