Norah coughed into her mug, spraying coffee onto the counter. “Wait. What?”
Belle, ever helpful, added, “Caught her in nothin’ but her birthday suit.”
Norah turned to me with wide blue eyes. “Are youkiddingme? He just…walked in?”
“Apparently, my very cleardon’t come insounded likeplease, barge in and ruin my life.”
“Ugh,” Norah said, grabbing some napkins from the dispenser to clean up the coffee she sprayed. “Oldest brother or not, I’m clocking him the next time I see him. Enough to jog whatever part of his brain’s responsible for being an idiot.”
Despite myself, I smiled and glanced between Norah and Belle. “You two are really committed to the head trauma thing.”
“Only when it’s deserved,” Norah said sweetly as she balled up the napkins and set them off to the side. “And trust me, Zane’s overdue.”
I didn’t trust my voice to respond to that. Instead, I just stared at the crumbs on my plate and swallowed down the sudden emotion building in my throat. Both of these women barely knew me but, here they were—without hesitation—ready to defend my honor. I’d never had that kind of backup before. When I was with Heath, I’d learned real quick how quiet the world could get when you needed someone to speak up. People looked the other way. Friends turned into strangers. Even when I was screaming on the outside, no one seemed to hear it—or they did and pretended not to. But here I was now, still newin town, and these two were already lining up to swing on my behalf.
A nudge to my arm brought me out of my thoughts.
“You up for a little field trip?” Norah asked, looking way too innocent as the corner of her mouth tipped upward.
I raised an eyebrow, curious but suspicious. “What kind of field trip?”
She leaned in as her grin grew mischievous. “The kind that’s good for blowing off steam.”
Belle let out a low chuckle as she shook her head. “Don’t go gettin’ this poor girl into trouble, Norah.”
“I would never,” Norah countered, all fake innocence, before turning back to me and nudging my arm again. “What do you say? Wanna burn off a little of that frustration before you implode?”
“That sounds so vague but…” I sighed and shook my head as a small laugh slipped out. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Norah whooped and looped her arm with mine as we stood and waved goodbye to Belle.
“You’ll thank me later,” she said, low and playful near my ear.
I wasn’t so sure, but I followed her out the door, anyway.
Chapter Sixteen
Andi
Norah’s idea of a “field trip”apparently meant a long, scenic drive deep into the country—long enough for my brain to replayeveryhumiliating second of the morning on a never-ending loop, like some sort of self-deprecating flipbook. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we seemed to be heading straight back toward the scene of the crime.
What the hell?
I didn’t want to go back to the ranch. Not right now, at least. I wanted to be…somewhere,anywhere, that didn’t come with the slightest possibility of bumping into Zane McKade and his stupid, scowling face.
So why exactly was Norah driving us back there? Had she seriously forgotten, in less than an hour, what had happened to me? Or was this some kind of twisted, down-home therapy session?
Step one: confront the cowboy who saw you naked.
Step two: resist the overwhelming desire to vanish into thin air.
Or…maybe going back to the ranch wasn’t about therapy at all. Maybe Norah had some hidden plan I wasn’t aware of—aplan that didn’t involve hollow apologies or talking things out, but something a little more…hands-on.
I pictured it instantly: me with a Louisville Slugger standing next to averyunfortunate truck as I—oh, I don’t know—reenacted some country revenge song. Keying his paint job. Smashing the headlights. Slashing all four tires. Maybe even shattering some of those eggs he hadexpertlycollected this morning on his windshield. Of course, I wouldn’tactually doany of it…but it was enough to tamp down my frustration and givepastme a little taste of justice.
The whole fantasy was ridiculous and absurd—and entirely harmless while in my head, which was probably why I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It almost made me laugh because while Belle had warned Norah to keep me out of trouble, I could almost guarantee that Norah hadn’t intended for me to work out my problems by envisioning secret revenge plots against her older brother. But none of that mattered because just as the ranch came into view…Norah drove past it.
Past the driveway.
