Page 54 of Hearts at War

“What happened?” she asked.

A glimmer of hope brightened my mood. She was invested in me, or at the very least, invested in this conversation.

“She got bored. Cheated, tried to baby trap me after I discovered her affair. Then ‘lost’ the baby she didn’t have in the first place only to get knocked up by some pansy-ass horse breeder who’d been visiting the ranch.” I shook my head. “We weren’t compatible. That was the crux of it. The moment I realized that, too late, of course, I got the hell out of Dallas and took the first decent job I could find.”

“Here?” She frowned. “You moved from Dallas to Burton?”

“I moved to the Grand River.”

She furrowed her brow again. “You moved here for the job.”

“I’m not the first. Nor would I be the last.”

“Sure. That’s true. But...” She narrowed her eyes, seeming perplexed. “You left Dallas to come here.”

I smiled. “I happen to like it. This slower pace of life. Smaller crowds. Not a ton of flashy crap to distract you.”

“Okay, that is what’s going to make you sound old.”

I shrugged. “Then so be it.”

When she didn’t speak up again, I wondered if she could give me a little more about herself. She didn’t know that I’d asked Gavin about her, and I had a hunch that what he told me was just a little tip of the iceberg. I wanted to hear about her from her lips.

I was searching for a sign that she could trust me.

“I heard you moved here from the big city too,” I said neutrally.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “From Chicago.” But she was no fool. Directly a stern gaze on me, she added, “You’ve heard by now that I’m not a newcomer.”

“Correct. And it’s making me wonder something.” I rubbed my beard, stroking it down and wondering how much longer I’d keep it. I began growing it out when I moved here, as a sign of a “new me.” But dammit it was getting tiresome to deal with.

“What’s that?” she asked wryly. “Why I came back?”

I shook my head. I could tell from her general attitude that she didn’t want to return to Burton. “No.”

“Then what?” She frowned, getting defensive again, but I counted on that. She didn’t like opening up about herself.

“What are you looking for?”

She grunted a weak laugh. “Are you being philosophical now?”

“No. I’m curious what you’re so convinced you’ll find somewhere else, far from here.”

Her lips remained clamped shut, tight together.

Welp. That does it.

I pushed her too far. I wasn’t getting another damn word out of her.

A couple of minutes later, after I stood and said, “Well, goodnight,” I took my leave and wished that it didn’t have to be like this.

Chapter 19

Heather

“So if you could just take on that project...” Janelle said Monday morning.

I laughed. “Funny.”