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Because the dog was whining, he took a moment to let Bandit out. It said something about Skye’s state that the dog only took three steps towards the farmhouse before turning around and running straight back to her. He plopped his butt on the ground outside her door and, shimmying closer, cried in concern.

Skye didn’t even seem to hear him.

TJ released her seatbelt. He reached into the truck, sliding his arms beneath her thighs and her back. The fact that he could lift her out of the truck without her panicking about his back told him how truly defeated she was. He didn’t address her parents’ visit. Not yet. Just said, ‘Come on, baby. I’ve got you.’

Skye didn’t cry.

She didn’t speak.

She just sat quietly, her eyes dry, her face bloodless, while he carried her towards the house.

Chapter 37

‘Put me down.’ Skye managed the words when she came out of her catatonic state for long enough to notice that TJ was carrying her towards the porch.

‘Nope.’

‘TJ—’

‘Please, baby.’ He paused for long enough to look down at her. ‘I need this. Just let me hold you close right now.’

It was the one thing he could have said to soften her. And they both knew it. ‘Low blow,’ Skye muttered.

‘Doesn’t mean it’s not true,’ he countered, and carried her the rest of the way.

When he came to the porch, he very carefully put her down on the top step, minimizing the amount he had to bend, but he didn’t let her go. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as Bandit ran forward to greet Janey.

TJ’s mom had aged in two years in a way that surprised Skye. Her face was lightly wrinkled now, her hair greying at the roots, a testament to how hard the years following TJ’s injury had been for her. But then she smiled, said, ‘Hi, baby bug,’ and Skye’s walls crumbled.

She stepped out of TJ’s arms, but she didn’t go all the way across the porch. She was too ashamed. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she rasped. ‘If I’d known he’d come here, I’d have …’ What? she wondered. What could she have done?

Janey took both of Skye’s hands in hers, chaffed the chill out of them. ‘He had us right where he wanted us before you showed up. Fed us some nonsense about you two being at odds and wanting to mend bridges. I’m ashamed to say I actually felt sympathy for them. But, honey’ – Janey waited for Skye to meet her eyes – ‘if I’d known the truth, I’d have met him with a shotgun instead of a lemonade.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Skye repeated.

Janey cocked her head. ‘For what?’

Skye flung out her arms. ‘F-for bringing him here! For endangering you!’

Janey looked to TJ. ‘What on earth is she talking about?’

TJ shrugged. ‘I have no idea. Sometimes, she just says the darndest things.’

Skye looked back and forth between them. ‘You’re teasing me,’ she said incredulously.

‘Maybe a little,’ Janey said, her gentle smile taking the sting out of it.

‘Why aren’t you mad?’ Skye didn’t understand it. ‘Why would you just take my word?’ She fisted both hands at her side and bit down, afraid she’d let it all out if she continued.

Janey answered her anyway. ‘We were there, remember – when you first showed up, nothing but a truck, a trailer, and a horse to your name? We always knew you were running, Skye. And we always knew it had to have been bad for you to choose to travel alone rather than face whatever it was you were hiding from.’ Janey sighed. ‘Now, the fact that you were running from your own father …’ She trailed off and blew out a whistled breath to emphasize her point. ‘I wish you’d told us that.’ Her eyes cut to TJ. ‘Both of you. Because if I had known, if I hadn’t shot him, I would have shovelled some cow shit into that fancy rental. The smell never quite leaves, you know.’

Skye couldn’t laugh, even though she knew that Janey was trying to lighten the situation. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘You don’t have to say anything,’ Janey clarified. ‘Well, that’s not entirely true: we’re dying to hear your stories from the road. We’ve been watching you race when it’s been televised, but it’s not quite the same.’ She stepped back and started for the front door. ‘TJ, why don’t you hurry your father along with the horses?’

Before she followed, Skye turned back to TJ. Because she desperately wanted to walk back into the safety of his arms and hide, she purposefully didn’t. But she said, ‘This is it.’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘We have ten days until your birthday. Ten days where he might escalate but wouldn’t risk really hurting you. This is just his way of intimidating you. Come on, baby,’ he urged. ‘You know that.’ When she didn’t say anything, TJ climbed the porch steps to where she stood. He tipped her chin back, forcing her gaze to his. ‘He shows up unannounced, he minimizes your history, so that when we arrive with our guns blazing, we seem unreasonable. He brought your mom to use as leverage against you because he knows it’s the only way he can still control you. He wanted you to feel this way. He planned it – and you’re falling into his trap.’