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He rolled his eyes and repeated, “I used to live here. Why does everyone keep forgetting that? I'm sure Beth will remind me of anything that slips my mind.”
Delta grinned and patted him on the arm. “I'm sure she will, but you call me if you need anything. Promise me or I won't be able to sleep tonight.”
“I promise.”
After she drove away, he went in search of Beth. Since there were ten horse barns, a lab, and two huge supply buildings, he had a lot of places to check. Hopefully, he'd find her in the first one and wouldn't have to look anywhere else. She was going to need help to get the horses ready for the storm. Usually, they had a lot of workers, but with Christmas on the horizon most of them had gone home for the holiday.
Chapter Sixteen
Beth knocked on the den's closed door and called out, “Dinner is on the table.”
She returned to the kitchen without waiting to see if Jared had heard her. If he wanted to stay on the phone until she finished eating, that would be fine with her. She set the casserole on the table before tossing the oven mitts to the side. It wasn't the first time she had warmed up something Delta left in the fridge. Learning to cook was on her list of things to do. Someday. She just couldn't seem to find the time, and it wouldn't matter unless she got married for real. That wasn't likely to happen.
Jared crossed the kitchen without once glancing at her and plopped down in the opposite chair. He dug into his casserole with a purpose. They ate in silence for a few minutes. It felt more like an hour to her. Unbearable tension settled over them until she wanted to scream.
“Tell me something I don't know about you,” he said with blunt force.
She blinked, sure she hadn't heard him right. “Excuse me?”
“Tell me something I don't know about you. I'm curious.”
“About me?”
He nodded.
She gave it some thought. There was one thing she hadn't told anyone. Something that might surprise him. “When my dad brought me here to live, I had plans to run away. I thought everyone lied and my mother was still alive. I planned to run away the second I got the chance.”
He dropped his fork on his plate and stared at her. “What changed your mind?”
“You did.”
A hand went to his chest, and his eyes widened. “Me?”
She nodded. “You came out to the fence to talk to me while I was looking at the horses. They were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. You offered to teach me to ride. Remember? You were so nice, and you seemed to genuinely like me.”
“I did.”
She noted the past tense and let it slide. “Before you left for college, you taught me about horses and trusted me to look after Balefire. I loved him like he was mine. When he got sick, I felt so guilty. I felt like I was being punished for something.”
“Balefire wasn't your fault.” He reached across the table to place a hand on top of hers. “I never blamed you.”
His hand was so warm and strong that her heart skipped a beat. Why did she have to be so totally gaga over someone with zero interest in being with her? Feeling unusually honest, she admitted, “I was already halfway in love with you by the time Balefire got sick.”
“How?” He blinked. “If you add up all the time I spent on this ranch after you arrived, it couldn't be more than two months.”
“Wait here.” She ran from the room and returned a few minutes later with a stack of letters. A red ribbon held them together. Her secret treasure. She dropped them on the table before retaking her seat. “Simon got a letter from you every month while you were in college. Sometimes twice a month. He read them once and tossed them. I dug them out of the garbage and read them again and again. They were so beautiful. It was like you saw into my soul.”
His response was quiet, so quiet she barely heard him. “I had no idea.”
“No one writes letters anymore. It's all about texts and emails and instant messaging. But you wrote these beautiful long letters to your brother. You told him about your life, school, friends, everything. You shared your fears and hopes and dreams. By the time you came back for that first visit, I felt like I knew you better than I knew myself. When I kissed you in the barn, it wasn't on a whim. I was totally head-over-heels in love with you.”
“I have no idea what to say to that.”
“Don't say anything.” She shook her head. “It's in the past. Doesn't matter.”
“It matters to me.” He picked up the letters and leafed through them. She had to practically sit on her hands to keep from snatching them back. Silly, since he had written them. But she felt sort of like he was invading her privacy.
“My mother taught me and Simon the craft of letter writing,” he said. “She thought emails were impersonal. I promised her I would always write letters to the people that matter most to me.”
