With them thoroughly distracted by food, I creep back to the bedroom, knocking on the bathroom door.
“Silas?” she calls, voice sounding over the shower.
“It’s me,” I confirm.
“You can come in,” she offers, so I turn the handle and step into the steam filled room, eyes immediately finding her beneath the spray, hands moving through her hair.
“I wanted to make sure you’re good.”
She glances over her shoulder with a soft smile, “I promise I am.”
Letting my eyes drag down her, I watch water sluice over her curves, soapy bubbles tracking down her from her hair.
Clearing my throat, I look away. “Kids are in the kitchen, you can, uh, do what you need to do.”
With a nod, she returns to her shower, and I get the fuck out of there before I do something stupid like join her in there. I need to keep whatever this is a secret from Caleb and Rosie.
I’ve never brought another woman around them. Beth has been the only constant one since their mom left, and I don’t want them getting ideas or, worse, feeling hurt by my choices.
I know a big part of them believe their mom will come back, and only time will show them that she won’t. It’s a hard pill to swallow, especially for children of their age who don’t fully understand.
I take a moment to get myself together before I return to the two of them, finding them exactly where I left them.
I’ve barely gotten any work done all day, too fucking stuck in my head remembering the way she looked this morning. Remembering the feel of her body and her kiss, how she gave me her trust. And that laugh.
It’s not a sound I’ve heard from her, not that light and free. She’s smiled, giggled at my daughter or something Niamh or Roman has said, but not like that. It makes my fucking chest ache whenever I recall the sound, my skin prickling every damn time.
Maybe I need to see a doctor. I’m not sure if it’s normal.
Dottie lets out a huffing noise, and I finally bring my attention back to the filly, lifting my hand to give her the treat I had been trying to give her before I got distracted. I haven’t seen Juni all day. After I got the kids to Beth’s, she had already left and is working on the ranch somewhere. She wasn’t in the stables or the rings, so I’m not sure where she’s disappeared to. I’d asked a couple of my guys who just said she’d gone off with the new cutter, Ada, so I’ve left them to it though it’s taken everything in me not to go searching for her, just to get a peek of her.
It’s fucking insane.
Running my hand down Dottie’s muzzle, I push thoughts of Juni away, focusing on the task at hand. The young horse has improved significantly since arriving here. Her behavior is calming down, though she’s still wary of people but less skittish. She tolerates, which is a huge step in the right direction, and she’s found herself a little companion in a young colt. It’s still too early to put them together; Dottie is unpredictable, but they spend a lot of time together at the fence that joins their two pastures.
Raising a horse as young as Dottie is not for the weak. She’ll make a great working horse one day, I have no doubt, but it will be years in the making.
For the rest of the day, I don’t see Juni, not until I’m pulling back up to the house just after six after collecting Rosie and Caleb from the nanny. She’s speaking to Darcy on the porch, her posture relaxed and open toward the vet.
“Hello, Miss Darcy,” Caleb greets her as he walks by, letting himself into the house, followed by Rosie, who gives her a wave, too desperate to get inside so she can watch the movie I promised her.
“Everything okay?” I stop by the two women, but I only have eyes for Juni. It’s been a whole day since I’ve seen her and it’s like looking at her for the first time all over again. There’s a pink tinge to her skin from the sun, and the braid she had her hair in this morning has now loosened, tendrils of hair flowing around her face.
“I was just heading home,” Darcy speaks first, “Wanted to check in on Juni after the other night.”
I finally turn my attention away from my Honeybee to the resident vet, but the frown on her face has me pausing.
I’m just about to ask her what’s wrong when she speaks first, stepping closer to me. “How’s Dottie doing?”
“She’s getting better,” I let her know, “Holding her sass still.”
Darcy chuckles, “I didn’t expect anything less. Need me to do any workups?”
“No,” I shove my hands into my pockets. “She’s good for now. Thanks though.”
“Alright,” Her eyes flick between me and Juni before she steps off the porch, heading to her truckstill idling at the opening of the drive. “See you both later.”
Juni watches her leave, offering her a small wave as the vet pulls away and makes her way back to the cabin she has here on the ranch.
