I take her hand. “I was turning eighteen,” I tell her. “I wasn’t supposed to be looking at fifteen-year-olds. But I do remembera girl named Honey. Sweet smile, great legs, even back then, eyes that cut through me even though I wasn’t supposed to be noticing.”
“You treated me exactly like all the other girls,” she says. “I appreciate that now—that you didn’t take advantage of us even though we were all drooling over you.”
“I was oblivious.” I frown at her. “So you really haven’t been on a horse since?”
“No. You’re going to keep bringing it back to horses, aren’t you?”
“Until you’re completely healed, and I can get you up on one.” I lean in. “First crush, huh?”
“Yeah. It was bad. I was so devastated that I fell off Rose Red, and that the last time you saw me, I was screaming in pain.”
“I do remember that.”
“Of course.”
I lean in, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “It all makes sense now.”
She squints at me. “What about any of that makes sense?”
I shrug. “I figured you spilled that coffee all over me outside of Dot’s because you had a crush on me for the last two decades.”
She giggles.
“Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to pretend you came here to Paradise Springs to be closer to me—your first, unrequited love.”
“That puts a lot of pressure on you. How are you going to handle that?”
“I thrive in high-pressure situations.”
She studies my face. “They told me that because of how quickly you got me medical care, I’m doing a lot better than I could have.” Her brows furrow. “I don’t know what happened,though. The last thing I remember is trying to leap off the porch.”
“Not much happened. Besides me having a quick chat with Bishop.”
Her gaze slides to my clenched, swollen fist.
“A chat?”
Danni and Ned step into the room. I stand, fetch another chair, and let them sit next to Honey while I walk into the hall to check in with Rena before opening up the camera feed footage Ned sent me. Ned joins me in the hall after I’ve called Rena then watched the video twice. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. My whole body’s rigid with fury.
“You saw that it captured everything. Audio and video’s sharp and clear,” Ned says. “It’s difficult to watch, but it’s good we’ve got it. We’ve sent it to Tate. He’s talking with Tank now, but you’ll have to jump in. And when Wren’s up to it, he’ll talk to her.”
“Let her rest. She doesn’t have to know about this right now.”
“You shouldn’t delay. Danni mentioned we could send the video to whoever does Trey’s PR and tell ‘em we’re leaking it. It won’t look good for Trey, and maybe he’ll drop the suit.”
“Did you show Danni the video?”
“Only you and I have seen it. But she was there when I moved the camera, and she put two and two together.”
“You can’t hand over that video to anyone without talking to Wren about it. Not even Danni. Wren’s in it, and it’s deeply personal. But right now, she needs to recover without having to worry any more about Bishop or about having her personal business splashed all over the place.”
A nurse walks past, pushing a cart with a monitor on it. She enters Wren’s room, and I start to follow her. Ned puts a hand on my shoulder. “You can’t wait too long, son. Wren can decidehow she wants to handle her assault. I know you’re worried about Wren but think of it as two separate issues right now. You’ve got a lot to lose, and Bishop will take it all away from you without even a drop of perspiration. Wren won’t want that to happen.”
Danni pops her head out. “They’re doing another ultrasound. Come and look, John.”
I join Wren, holding her hand while they perform the ultrasound. Finally, the technologist shows us the screen. “Looks good. But I’ll send it to Dr. McGraw.” She hands Wren some printouts then leaves. Danni slips out after her, giving Wren a small hug before she goes.
“What are we looking at here?” I ask Wren, studying one of the ultrasound pictures. “Looks like some alien life form.”
