“I'm reading a schematic,” I said.
“You're grinding your back teeth. I can hear it from here.”
I wasn't going to confirm or deny that. “Did you get what you need from this angle?”
“I’m getting there.” She studied me for another second, then lifted the camera again. The shutter fired off several times in a row.
I followed her line of sight. Hades stood near the tree line. I'd seen him on the property before. He moved through Mustang Mountain like he'd been granted some kind of territorial exemption, belonging to no one and accepted by everyone. He stood at the edge of the cottonwoods near the east fence, watching the grounds with that flat, assessing calm look of his like he was just letting us use his land.
Rory walked around the edge of the building and stopped when she saw the big wolf. She had her phone out and was angling for a shot before I could tell her to stay put.
“Rory—”
“I'm not moving.” She held her phone out at arm's length. “I'm just framing it.”
Hades didn't move either. He looked at Rory with that still, patient attention he had, and his tail moved once, in a single slow arc.
I let out a long, slow breath.
Bella stood about three feet behind Rory, her own camera down, watching the two of them. She caught my eye when I glanced over and gave me a look that landed somewhere in the vicinity of, she's fine without being condescending about it.
Hades slipped back into the cottonwoods a few minutes later. Rory spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the photos she'd gotten with a focused quiet I hadn’t seen in her before.
Satisfied neither of the women under my care was going to go chasing a wolf through the woods, I walked back toward the office. Bella followed.
“She’s got real talent,” Bella said under her breath. “I’d be happy to work with her if she’s interested.”
I grunted, not a yes, but not a no, either. Rory had already had her heart broken by a woman who didn’t stick around. I could see how this would end. Bella would go back to wherever the hell she’d come from and I’d be here, picking up the pieces. Again.
“Jace.” Bella put her hand on my arm and stopped moving.
I could be a jerk, but I wasn’t a complete asshole, so I stopped next to her. My heart slammed into the side of my chest as she tightened the pressure on my arm.
“What do you want me to say?” I stopped resisting and stared into her eyes. I’d been trying not to look at her too closely, trying to hold her at a distance. In that moment, all the walls I’d put up fell away.
Her eyes locked on mine and her voice came out soft. “I want you to say yes.”
Fuck. Me. When she looked at me like that, with hope and heat and concern all swirling together in her eyes, I wanted to give her everything. Instead, I gave her the barn.
“Fine. As long as she has her chores done and it doesn’t get in the way of her schedule at the rodeo grounds.” I tugged my arm out from under her hand. I couldn’t afford to let her get to me. Not now, not ever. Not if I wanted to stay in control.
Bella tilted her head like she was trying to get a read on me. Her hair fell forward and it took every bit of willpower I possessed not to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.
“Thank you, Jace.”
“I’ve got work to do.” I left her standing there but felt her eyes on my back until I turned the corner.
Saturday morning, while I was getting ready to head out and check fence lines, Bella asked Rory if she wanted to work on some texture shots. I hadn’t seen my daughter light up like that in years. The two of them linked arms and started talking in a language I didn’t understand about light balance and shadows.
I ran into some trouble replacing a post and came back an hour later than I'd planned.
They were at the back of the barn. Rory crouched down with Bella’s smaller camera in her hands while Bella walked her through something about shadow and grain. The barn light was coming through the high window, turning the old timber walls into something worth photographing. I understood, looking at it, what Bella had seen.
“It's a different language,” Rory was saying. “That's what you mean.”
“The light's the same light,” Bella said. “You're just learning to read it.”
I leaned against the door frame and didn't announce myself.
