Page 47 of Where She Belongs

Tate shot his brother a dark look, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Yeah, of course. Rylee is sweet. And honestly, she seems like she belongs. Don’t you think so?” Faith’s eyes pleaded with him to agree. “Honestly, there’s no big reason. But I just get this feeling that she… needs this place. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s what it is.” Faith lifted her arms at her sides then dropped them. “And the fact that you clearly like her makes me want to believe that both of you could benefit from her staying.” And that was when Faith’s face turned ruddy. She looked away in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. “I want you to be happy, Tate.” It was said so low he almost didn’t hear her.

“I am happy,” he murmured.

She glanced at him, squinting. “Are you, though?”

He huffed a laugh. “I’m plenty happy. I have everything I need.”

Faith cut Jason a pointed look, then sighed and walked away without arguing further.

“Not everything,” Jason muttered.

“What?” Tate asked.

His twin shrugged. “That’s what Faith wanted to say. You don’t have everything. Neither one of us does. Not like Faith has. We don’t have that.” He didn’t have to explain himself for Tate to understand.

Jason was talking about Brent. Faith had started her own little family. She’d have children one day. As much as Tate had taken on the responsibility of his siblings, he had to admit that he no longer had to worry about Faith the same way. She’d found someone else to do that for her now. And one day, his other sisters would do the same.

Tate glanced to Jason and he wondered if he wanted to find love like their sister had. He’d never been the social one. And until recently, Tate had been able to read him. He was about to ask his twin if he’d ever considered finding someone to settle down with, but Jason surprised him once again.

“You should ask her out.”

“Who?” Tate barked with a laugh.

“Rylee. Faith is right. You like Rylee. And maybe she likes you. Faith seems smart enough to see that. So you should ask her out.”

Tate was shaking his head before Jason finished his statement. “Rylee wouldn’t want me to ask her out. You don’t know her like I do.” Jason didn’t know how many times Tate had nearly crossed the line and kissed Rylee. Asking her out would blow that line in the sand to pieces.

“Faith seems to believe that Rylee likes you.” Jason peeked at Tate for a moment. “You’re distracted. Maybe it would be helpful like Faith said. If you ask her out on a date⁠—”

“And what if she doesn’t want to go?”

“You won’t know until you ask.” Jason’s tone was so final, so unyielding, that it caught Tate off guard. Jason was right. Tate would never know if he didn’t ask.

“Yeah, maybe,” Tate murmured. Neither one of them brought up the idea for the rest of the afternoon while they worked. And when they were cleaning up, all their talking about Rylee must have somehow summoned her.

Jason noticed her first and tipped his chin toward the trail.

Tate looked in that direction, and his heart stalled.

Rylee looked…

Well, she looked like a vision.

She had on a pair of khaki capris and a dark blue t-shirt that hugged her frame. She had on white sneakers and her hair was tucked back behind her ears. Was she wearing makeup?

Tate’s mouth went dry as Rylee continued to close the distance between them. She’d walked all the way here on the trail between their properties. Rylee gave a nervous wave. “Hey.”

Jason nudged him, knocking him out of his stupor. “Tate,” he grunted.

“Hey, hello,” Tate squeaked, then got it back down where it belonged. “What’s up?”

She shrugged, her hands in her back pockets. “I didn’t have anything to do…” Rylee winced and let loose a laugh.

When Tate glanced over at Jason, he noted his brother looked deeply uncomfortable. He glanced up at the sky then down to Rylee and Tate. “Storm’s coming.” Then, with that announcement, he turned on his heel and walked away.

Rylee stared after him for a few seconds before she giggled again and turned her eyes skyward. “It’s cloudy, but…” She wrinkled her nose. “A storm? It wasn’t on the weather channel.”