I stop. I turn to look at him. He’s younger than me, but right now, he looks older. His eyes are serious, stripped of their usual humor.
“I saw the way you looked at her,” he says. “When she fainted. And I saw you last night. You didn’t go for a walk.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is,” he says. “She’s part of this. She’s part of us. Even if she left. She’s back now, and she’s sick, and you’re… whatever you are with her.”
“I’m nothing with her.”
“Bullshit.”
I cross my arms. “Watch your tone, Tex.”
“I’m watching my brother self-destruct.” He steps closer. “You can’t keep doing this. The push and pull. It’s killing you. And it’s confusing as hell for the rest of us. Either you love her, or you don’t. Either you forgive her or you don’t. But pick a lane, Billy. Because this middle ground is a minefield.”
I look away. The sun is hitting the top of the ridge, turning the grass gold.
“It’s not that simple,” I say.
“It is. You’re just scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“You are. You’re terrified that if you let her in again, she’ll leave again. And I get it, I do. But she’s here. Right now. She’s sick, Billy. She got sick helping us. And you’re out in the woods punching trees instead of being with her.”
My hands clench into fists. “I can’t be with her.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t,” I snap. “I can’t be the guy who just forgives everything. I can’t be the guy who rolls over the second she bats her eyelashes. I have pride. I have respect. If I just take her back, what does that make me?”
“It makes you happy,” Tex says. “That’s what it makes you.”
He turns and walks back toward the house. I watch him go. His words stick in my chest like thorns.
Happy. As if that’s an option.
I turn back to the fence line. I walk the perimeter, checking the posts. Two are down near the creek, so I fix them.
I use the hammer, driving the nails into the wood. The vibration travels up my arm, jarring my teeth. I welcome the pain. It distracts me.
By the time I get back to the house, the meeting has started. The command tent is a large white canopy set up near the barn. I see the hazmat suits, the clipboards, the grim faces.
I walk inside. Dr. Thorne is standing at a folding table, a map spread out before him. Seth, Tex, and Jasper are lined up on one side. Sheriff Riley is there too, looking exhausted.
And Sedona is there.
She’s sitting in a chair in the corner, wrapped in a blanket. Clara is beside her, holding her hand.
She looks fragile. Her skin is pale, with dark circles under her eyes. She looks sick, nothing like the woman I had in my arms just a couple of hours ago.
Something is definitely wrong.
My heart skips a beat. Then my pulse picks up.
I keep my face blank. I stand next to Seth.
“We have results,” Dr. Thorne says. He doesn’t look up. “The parasite is definitely present in the cattle. It’s a new strain. We’re calling it Variant B.”
