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Of course she had, hence the coaxing. But he wasn’t scolding. He was…talking. And that eased the edge off her earlier ire. “Catch him and do what with him?”
Heath frowned. “We could start with a bath.”
She almost smiled. “I noticed that, too.”
“And then take it from there. How long have you been feeding him?”
“Awhile,” she admitted.
“Ah.” He smiled then, a true smile, the kind she knew and loved back in Kentucky. “Listen, Liz…”
She waited.
He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his jaw like he always did when he thought too hard. “I shouldn’t have interfered with you and Zeke. I just—”
“Get scared to death over things you can’t control and lash out irrationally?”
“I was going to say I overreact when I get worried, but your take works, too.”
She thrust her hands into her pockets as the cold front rolled in. “You are embarrassing yourself and me when you act like that. It’s got to stop.”
He didn’t deny it. But he didn’t look happy, either.
“Is this how you treat Rosie when she cares for Zeke? As if she’s incapable of handling a busy five-year-old?”
“I would if she pulled dangerous stunts with my son involved. She doesn’t. Nor would she.”
Lizzie raised a hand to thwart him. “First of all, learning to ride with an expert rider isn’t exactly letting the boy set off fireworks or juggle steak knives. And seeing the workings of machinery firsthand, for a little guy who loves Mega Machines and constantly asks to watch it on his tablet, is a no-brainer. If you were giving him a tractor ride, I suppose it would be all right?”
“I’m his father.”
“Except you’re busy, you’ve taken on a huge responsibility here, you’re short on help and you’ve got more irons in the fire than a beef ranch branding party. Let’s cut to the chase. You don’t trust me. But it’s not just me, Heath,” she added, facing him. “It’s everyone, except my uncle, maybe. And he’s gone.”
He flinched.
“You didn’t used to be this untrusting and get angry over things. I don’t know this Heath Caufield.” She pointed to him. “But I know one thing. The other Heath Caufield was one of the best men I ever had the privilege to know. I’d like to see that one more often.”
He stared beyond her to the deepening twilight, made denser by the dense clouds. “I didn’t know you could drive a tractor.”
She arched one brow, waiting.
“I saw you driving, then Zeke stood up and all I could see was him tumbling down, falling beneath the equipment. Being crushed.”
She frowned. “That’s a glass half-empty if I ever heard it.”
A tiny muscle in his jaw twitched slightly. “He’s the only thing I have, Lizzie. The thought of anything happening to him makes me a little crazy.”
A little? She did a slow count to ten. Only made it to five, but it was enough to keep from smacking him upside the head. For the moment.
She didn’t apologize for taking Zeke on the tractor.
She didn’t commiserate with the depths of Heath’s worry, either.
She understood his words. They pained her, to think how much he thought of his child with Anna, but then, Zeke was real to him. Their tiny boy, Matthew, hadn’t existed in Heath’s realm. He’d been a fleeting thought.
Not to her.
To her he’d been real. So very real.
She pivoted and walked away before she said too much.
“Liz.”
She didn’t turn. She refused to turn, because then he’d see the sheen of tears. The quivering jaw.
He hadn’t cared then. Pretending to care now would get them nowhere, so why push him to sympathy?
She kept walking, head high, and if she swiped her hands to her eyes once or twice, he wouldn’t know it. Because when she glanced back as she moved through the broad barn door, he was halfway to the house. And he didn’t look back.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alone in a house full of people.
The thought hit Heath when he found Liz on the side porch the next morning. He’d had thirteen hours to consider her words. The truth in them frustrated him.
She’d curled up on the side-porch swing. Her laptop lay perched on her knees and a hot, steaming mug of coffee sat on the rustic wooden table alongside the swing. The cool air lifted the steam like one of those holiday coffee commercials. He didn’t ask. Didn’t hesitate. He plunked himself down on the end of the swing, and braced his arms on his legs. The action made the laptop teeter.
She reached out to right it. So did he. And this time, when their eyes met, he wanted them to go right on meeting. Like maybe forever. He studied her while she studied him right back, and when he spoke, it was almost like talking with his old friend again. “You’re right about Zeke. And about me. And the faith thing you called me out on.”
