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Boone laughed. He reached across the table and grabbed Eli’s needles, forcing him to look up.
“It grows on you,” Eli’s brother repeated. “Coming out of hiding for a bit… Am I right?”
Eli sighed. “I guess you know a little about that, huh?” Sometimes Eli forgot that before Boone and Casey reconciled, they’d been estranged since they graduated high school. And that estrangement had cut Boone Murphy off from much of the town, so much so that he once tried to leave it.
“Look,” Boone said. “You don’t ever have to do this again. I thought it was just as batshit before I understood it.”
Eli brought his coffee cup to his lips and tilted his head back, actual disappointment rushing through him when he realized it was empty. “Understood what?” he asked, setting the cup back down with a sigh.
Boone tapped his own temple. “That sometimes it helps to either get what’s in here out or to at least focus on something other than whatever it is you’re not ready to say.” He raised the hours-long trail of stitches he’d been knitting since before Eli even sat down and lifted his brows. “That’s all this is, big bro. A diversion? A solution? Maybe something else? Whatever it is, it’s been working for the five of us. Thought it might work for you too.”
Which begged the question of what Boone thought the problem was that Eli needed to solve. But it was already after eleven, and Eli wasn’t sure he was ready to ask.
“Hey. I thought I was supposed to be the wise older brother imparting all my knowledge to you,” he offered instead.
Boone gave him a self-satisfied grin. “Does this mean you’ll be back next week?”
“It means I’ll think about it,” Eli told him.
“That’s not nothin’,” Boone replied, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “So I’ll take it.”
Boone’s words kept circling in Eli’s head the whole ride home. Actually, it was one word he couldn’t let go of—diversion. Was that what this thing was for him with Beth? Was that what he was for her?
He wasn’t sure why he was trying to define it when whatever it was would end the moment she left Meadow Valley. But he was a thirty-six-year-old grown-ass adult, so he supposed he thought more like one than he used to.
He laughed softly to himself as he put his truck in park in front of the clinic, and then he just full on stared. Because there was Beth on Midnight’s back, galloping around the arena, both boots in the stirrups.
“What the…”
Eli had given Beth the alarm code to Midnight’s stall for her Saturday morning groomings, but she always waited for him to help tack up the mare and get her safely in the saddle. This was so not part of the deal. Yet he couldn’t help but marvel at the sight, even as he hopped out of the truck and strode toward the fenced-in arena with every intent to put a swift end to the whole thing.
Except he didn’t have to because as soon as he made it to the fence, she caught his eye and slowed the mare to a trot, then a slow walk, and finally a complete stop right in front of him like she’d done it every day of her life.
“Before you go off the deep end…” Beth started, calling down to him from Midnight’s back, but Eli shook his head.
“We had a deal, Beth.” His words came out hoarse, his throat suddenly dry.
“You weren’t here,” she added calmly, and he could tell that she was keenly aware of how her emotions affected the large, powerful animal she rode. “And you didn’t call or text, so I did what I wanted. I did what I knew I could.”
He tried to find the same measured speech, but his heart thumped erratically as he found himself tangled in a mix of awe, dread, and anger, not sure which emotion, if any, he was actually allowed to feel.
Eli cleared his throat and forced his words to come out even, remembering what happened the last time he lost his cool in front of both Midnight and Beth. “I was kidnapped…sort of. And Sam said you were with your sister, so I didn’t…” He sighed. “Okay, maybe I should have…” Now he groaned, and Midnight shook her head, taking a couple of steps back. He held up his hands and backed his own couple of steps away from the fence. “I thought I’d be back before you got home. I guess time got away from me.” Then he remembered that he wasn’t the only one who forgot to communicate. “And it’s not like you made any mention of a doctor’s appointment.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning softly at how childish he knew he sounded.
Beth soothingly stroked Midnight’s neck, whispered something into her ear, then hopped down to the ground and tied the mare off on the fence post. His city girl was suddenly a goddamn cowgirl, and he somehow missed it happening right under his nose.
“Well, Dr. Eli Murphy,” she began, striding toward the fence and then climbing onto it, swinging her denim-clad legs over the top so her riding boots (when did she get riding boots?) pointed right at him. “Were you worried about me?”
He looked past the boots and the stolen cattleman on her head and finally saw it. Or rather didn’t see it. The walking cast.
“Your doctor’s appointment was to get rid of the cast.” It was a statement, not a question. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Beth’s chest rose and fell as she seemed to think about her answer. Finally, she shrugged. “Because I had canceled the appointment. I wasn’t going to go. Long story short is my sister found out and kept me on the books, then only let me know this morning before pushing my scared little booty out the door.” She glanced down at the ground and then back at him. “It’s not as high as the horse, but it’s a bit more awkward to dismount. Don’t think I thought much past how cool I might look if I actually managed the whole fence-climbing situation.”
Eli bit back a grin, then obliged her indirect request for an assist.
He lifted her off and gently set her feet on the ground, but instead of letting go, his hands stayed pressed to her hips.
“Sounds like you got kidnapped too, huh?” he asked softly.
