"Phantom and Marlena leave for College Station tomorrow mornin'. They'll be gone for about five days for Presley's graduation."
"Okay?"
"While they're gone, things get more careful around here. You don't go to your cabin alone after dark. You don't take Nash off the property without one of us. You stay close to the bunkhouse, the main house, or me. Most likely me."
She studies my face. "Is this Todd?"
"This isn't Todd."
"Somethin' else."
"Somethin' else." I confirm.
She doesn't push. The fact that she doesn't push is the thing that keeps surprising me about her.
She accepts being kept the way another woman might accept being argued with.
She trusts what I'm not telling her, and she trusts it because she has decided to, not because I've told her she has to.
"I'll tell you when I can, Hadley."
"All right."
I bend down and kiss her properly this time. Slow, brief, my hand under her jaw the way I had it the first night on her porch.
She rises up to meet me.
I taste coffee and the soft warm sleep still on her mouth, and my body wants me to keep going.
I don't.
I step back.
"I gotta go see Phantom."
"All right."
"I'll be back this afternoon."
"Okay, see you later."
I touch the edge of her jaw with my thumb one more time, pick up my hat off the kitchen table, and let myself out.
* * *
Marlena lets me into the main house with Cal on her hip and a kitchen towel over her shoulder.
She's already packed. Two duffels by the door, a small cooler with road snacks, her hair up the way she wears it when she's running around trying to make sure they have everything. "He's in the office. Coffee's already poured."
"Thank you, Marlena."
"You take care of my husband's ranch while we're gone, Rogue."
"Yes, ma'am."
She kisses Cal on the head and waves me through.
Phantom's at his cypress desk in the office, his back to the window, two coffee cups on the desk.
