Anna shook her head. “No, no. I wasn’t trying to call you a tyrant. I just thought we had parted on bad terms.”
“The only reason we parted on bad terms was because we parted. Had you stuck around a little longer, I probably would have had a conversation with you, and we would have worked it out.” He turned back and winked at her. “Or something like that.”
Was he actually being flirtatious? Anna blushed like crazy and tried to cover it up by stepping into the shadows of the barn. She told herself it was just the pregnancy hormones making her blush. And that reminded her of the pregnancy and of the next thing she would have to talk to Charlie about. She immediately pushed it out of her mind. It could wait. She still had all afternoon to figure out the right words to use.
One thing Anna appreciated about this part of Texas, about the countryside in general, was that she never felt rushed here. She felt like she had time to ruminate, to mull things over and avoid acting rashly. That was a mistake she’d made before, back when she was still new to the area. She’d tried to be efficient and get things done quickly. But maybe she shouldn’t have. And maybe, now that she wasn’t really giving everything to her career, she could stop and think a little more.
“Well,” she said after clearing her throat, “I should have apologized for crossing your boundaries. I do hope you know I never would have if I’d known it would upset you. I truly didn’t mean any harm.”
“I know you didn’t.”
He was being downright kind to her. It was so jarring, she had to blink hard a few times to reassure herself that she wasn’t actually dreaming right now. Of course, it wasn’t like her to have dreams that went as smoothly as this one was going. She usually had dreams about all the ways things could go wrong. “Why are you being so nice?” she finally asked.
He hefted an armful of hay into one of the stables and then leaned back against it with a sigh. “Because I oweyouan apology, too, I suppose.”
Anna’s jaw dropped, and Charlie laughed.
“I mean it,” he said. “I can be a bit protective of the things that I love, and sometimes I overreact. I’m still not happy about it, but it was my fault. I should have told you the tree was off limits. It was my negligence, not yours. So, the person I should have been angry with was me.”
“Oh, no.” Anna stepped closer to him but stopped herself. “I should have made sure. You told me how special it was, and I didn’t think it through. I… well, anyway, I wanted to assure you that it won’t happen again. But I suppose it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference now.”
Charlie lifted himself from his slouch and went back to tending to his horses. “You want to stay for lunch? I could use a little help around here, and I’ll compensate you with food.”
He smiled again, and Anna was thrown off guard once more. She just wasn’t used to him being this personable. Something had changed him somehow, but she couldn’t figure out what had done it… or who. It couldn’t have been her, could it? No, she wasn’t capable of healing anyone’s heart, no matter who it was.
She helped him with the rest of his chores, which she’d done more than once before, so she knew the ropes pretty well. They worked together like clockwork, she noticed. When they weren’t at each other’s throats, they really did make a great team. She wondered whether the two of them would make a great parenting team as well, but she chided herself for even thinking that before she knew where he stood. She hadn’t even told him about the pregnancy yet. And when shedidtell him, she planned to let him know she had no expectations. She was only telling him to give him a choice because she had decided it was the right thing to do, and for no other reason.
He made her lunch, and they ate together. Their interaction felt just the way it had before everything fell apart. After the meal was finished, Anna produced the paperwork he would need to sign to give the film crew permission to do reshoots on his property.
“Will you be around to rein them in?” he asked, already signing the document.
“If you want me to be there, I will,” she answered.
He glanced up quickly and then back down again, and she noticed just how deep and warm his eyes were. “I would like you to be there,” he said. And then he added, “Please.” Charlie really was an attractive man. He was attractive enough when he was being a grouch, but when he was in a good mood and let that smile out every once in a while, he was downright irresistible. Now was one of those moments.
“Sure, yeah,” she said, catching her breath for no good reason. “I’ll definitely be there.”
“Good.” Once again, the flirtatious tone in his voice had her blushing.
All she could say was, “Great,” when he handed her the signed forms. “Thanks.”
There was really only one thing left to say to him, but Anna didn’t want to say it. She was still hesitating, she realized, still freaking out. She tried to remind herself she was doing the right thing. This was what he would want her to do. She would give him a choice. She would tell him the truth. And just when she started to second-guess herself, Charlie offered her a drink.
“Afternoon refresher?” he said from the kitchen, indicating a bottle on the counter. It was her favorite brand of whiskey. She was sure she had finished the last of the bottle he had that fateful night. Had he gone and bought more especially for her? How sweet was that!
“Unfortunately, I have to quit drinking for a while.” Part of her was hoping he would just guess what was up so she wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news. But he didn’t.
“Oh, well, that’s okay. Can I get you a soda or something?”
She should have realized this would be his response. Charlie wasn’t someone to butt into anyone else’s business or ask invasive follow-up questions. He was, instead, someone who minded his own business, almost to a fault. Of course he wasn’t going to be curious or try to figure out why Anna had chosen to stop drinking. This was infuriating.
Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Actually, I have something I need to talk to you about. Can we go for a walk around the property or something?”
Charlie shrugged. “Sure. Did you still want that soda?”
“Okay.” She paused a moment. He used to keep orange soda in the house because she had mentioned that she liked it one day. Now that she thought about it, she realized she shouldn’t have been surprised that he kept her favorite alcohol on hand as well.
He had that kind of quiet thoughtfulness in his nature, though he never made a big deal about it. He just silently did what it took to make the people around him comfortable. If she needed any other signs that not only would he make a good father, but he deserved the right to choose to be in his child’s life, this would have been one. Charlie was the sort of man who would be broken by the knowledge that he’d missed so much of his kid’s life, if he found out he had a child years after the kid was born. That was Anna’s assessment, anyway. It was time for her to pick up her courage and just tell him the truth.
