Page 36 of Bailey

Bailey’s hopes fell, and she looked back over to OJ. “I’ll take him home with me,” she said.

“I can do it, Bailey,” OJ said.

“I know you can, bud.” She reached out and stroked one finger along the hoof that poked out of the warm blanket OJ had wrapped the kid in. “But buddy, you know this is part of our agreement of you volunteering here. You have to talk to your momma and daddy and get both of their permissions before I can send any animals home with you.”

A fierceness entered OJ’s eyes. “Then I’ll call them right after he finishes his lunch.”

Bailey sighed and indicated Reeves again. “You didn’t say hello, and he brought you lunch too. Marina will have it at the front desk.”

OJ finally focused on Reeves, and his familiar brightness shone from him. “Yeah, I know who you are,” he said. “I can’t believe you’re dating him, Bay!”

Confusion ran through her, and it turned a bit cold when Reeves cleared his throat. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“I love your videos,” OJ said, as he wasn’t known for being able to stay on task for very long either. “We don’t really camp in my family, but we go glamping, and sometimes my daddy will let me show him a video of yours, and then we make the recipes.”

Reeves said nothing, and Bailey’s mind whirred with the speed of a cyclone.

“But my uncle Luke goes camping a lot,” OJ said. “Like, a-lot-a-lot, and he’s the one who told me about your videos. He’s watched all of them, and he bought me one of your shirts for my birthday last year. I haven’t worn it yet, though, because my birthday is in December, and it was a T-shirt, and my momma won’t let me wear T-shirts in the winter, so I’m going to wear it this summer.”

OJ took a step closer. “Do you think I could come on one of your camping trips with you? I could even just use the camera, or you could do a series on how to camp with teens.” He looked over to Bailey, his eyes wide and hopeful. “Bailey will tell you how good I am at following directions.”

“Yeah,” Bailey said, her voice hardly her own. “He takes correction really well too.”

She released Reeves’s hand and turned her body halfway, so they made a triangle instead of her and Reeves facing OJ. “What’s he talking about?”

Color started to seep into Reeves’s face, and Bailey didn’t like how he didn’t immediately laugh and dismiss everything OJ had just said.

“Bay, he’s famous,” OJ said. “Didn’t you know you were dating the Teton Mountain Man? His channel has, like, four million followers.”

Bailey didn’t even look at OJ, because she couldn’t tear her gaze from Reeves. Cold, harsh betrayal stung through her, and she hated how he stood there silently and said nothing to either one of them. OJ had a shirt with this man’s name on it, and she’d been out with him a few times, and Bailey suddenly didn’t even know who he was.

OJ opened his mouth to say something else, and Bailey sucked in a breath and turned toward him. “OJ, why don’t you go feed that kid inside where it’s warmer, and then talk to Marina about your lunch?”

“Okay,” he said happily, and he moved past Reeves, only stopping at his shoulder to say, “Maybe I can get a picture with you before you go. Uncle Luke would love that. He’ll be so jealous.” He sounded absolutely gleeful as he glanced back to Bailey. “I can’t believe you’re dating Reeves from Teton Mountain Man!” He sounded like this was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him, then he turned and left the livestock shed, leaving Bailey and the still-maddeningly-silent Reeves alone.

She folded her arms and settled her weight on her back leg to put a few more inches of distance between them. With OJ gone, Reeves couldn’t stay silent and let someone else chatter away. Bailey certainly wasn’t going to say anything more. She’d asked her questions, and he wasn’t going to get away without answering them. Not again.

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

“Is there somewhere we can sit down and eat?” Reeves asked.

“Not until you give me two sentences about what he was talking about,” Bailey spoke in a slow, clipped tone, one Reeves had never heard her use before. She was mad, and Reeves couldn’t really blame her. He exhaled slowly, working very hard not to make it sound like a sigh.

“You were right,” he said. He supposed that could count as a whole sentence. “I’m a farmer, but I do a lot more than that. I make online videos about wilderness survival, camping hacks, tips and tricks, farm life, and more. It’s called Teton Mountain Man, and OJ was partially right.”

“What was he wrong about?” Bailey asked, her face a perfect storm of anger.

Reeves amended his assessment, because he didn’t think Bailey was angry. The defiance on her face suggested more hurt than anything.

“I had four million followers once upon a time,” he said, the words scratching his throat. “I’m up to twelve now, and I make quite a lot of money from my channel and the accompanying merchandise.”

Bailey’s breath shot out of her mouth like a bullet, making a sharp hissing sound as it did. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I like my anonymity,” he said. “I don’t want to be recognized everywhere I go.” He took a tiny step closer to her, desperate for her to understand.

“I told you everything about OJ,” she said. “And Bryce, and my awful, awful past, and you couldn’t tell me this?” She backed up, putting the distance between them again. “This isn’t even bad, Reeves. This is good.”