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Nash added, with a soft voice that was very unlike him, “And if you really think it’s necessary to delay the grand opening, then we’ll deal with that.”
Chase took the reins off of Mac’s head. “I’m sure that with my reputation on the line, I don’t want to fuck this up. I need more time to think this through.” He headed for the barn’s doors, Mac following behind, his hooves clicking on the cement. “Please give me that.”
“All right,” Shep said.
Needing to get away from it all, Chase exited the barn and mounted Mac quickly, taking up the reins. His gaze fell to Houdini, who was still chewing on the hay bale. “Keep an eye on him for me.”
With tense eyes, Shep nodded.
Chase turned Mac to face the west, clicked his tongue, and squeezed his legs. Mac shot forward, galloping up the hill, and with the breeze brushing across his face, Chase ran away from reality.
* * *
Time seemed to no longer exist as Harper sat on a jagged rock with her arms hugging her legs, her chin resting on her knees. The clouds at some point while she had been sitting there for the better part of the morning had broken apart, dissipating to a blue sky. Now the green mountains with snowy-white peaks and deep green evergreen trees reflected off the blue water for as far as the eye could see. Everything hurt. Her muscles ached, her head throbbed, and her heart felt shattered into pieces. She knew Chase would take the blame for all this, but she needed to think it all through before making him feel better. Right now, she had to come first. Because she wouldn’t make Jack wait anymore. His kindness had been stretched, and she wouldn’t wear it thin.
A hawk jumped from a tree, then soared through the air until he landed on another branch just off to the left of her. Nearly in that same second, as he soared in the sky again, she startled when a tender voice said, “I knew I’d find you here.”
She turned her head, discovering Brody approaching, wearing his hiking boots and camouflage shorts with a black tank top. She supposed his arrival should not have been that much of a surprise. She had left before sunrise, making the half an hour trip there, needing some space away to think. This spot always did the trick. Dad had brought them there as kids to fish the waters for trout. Even after the accident, she came there, always feeling drawn to this place, as if Dad were there watching over her.
Brody sat next to her, his legs knees bent and arms hugging them. He studied the view, then her. “You’re sad.”
She rested her chin on her knee again. “I’m sad.”
“Have I done that?”
She glanced sideways, her cheek pressed to her knee. Brody could be so tough and protective, but when it came down to it, he loved her fiercely. “No, you haven’t made me sad.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she did nothing to stop them. “It’s just everything, I guess.”
Brody stared horrified at her tears and cringed. “You’re going to have to be specific, Harper. I don’t understand what ‘everything’ means.”
With a long sigh, she glanced back out at the water, mentally seeing the canoe on the water. Brody on one side of the boat, her in the middle, and Dad on the other end. There had been so much laughter during those trips, so much love. “I know you think my decision not to go to Vegas was a quick one, but it wasn’t, and it’s not for the reason you think.” While she sat there all morning, she had gone back into her mind, looking at every moment, every step that brought her to now. “Do you want to know when the doubts first came?”
“That first night you stayed at Chase’s,” Brody grumbled.
She rolled her eyes. “I already said it wasn’t what you’d think. The doubts actually first came when Chase took me to his tree house.”
A small smile curved Brody’s mouth. “He took you there?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe that place is still standing.” Brody picked up a pebble next to him, throwing it into the water. “All right, so why did your doubts start there?”
She sighed. “Honestly, it hadn’t even been something I realized at the time. When he took me there, he shared why he loved building log homes, and how his dream started there for him.” She hesitated, knowing she had to get it right. For her. For Chase. For Brody. “When I fir
st decided to be a chef, I remember I chose that career path because I loved being in the kitchen with Mom. Cooking food makes me happy because it makes other people happy.” She glanced back up at the hawk that returned to the tree branch. “When Mom was alive, and we talked about Vegas all the time, I think I began to love Vegas because she did. Then after they died, I kept thinking there had to be something really special there if she loved it so much. Maybe I wanted to find that special thing myself.”
“Harper. Simple. Talk.” Brody frowned. “How is all of what you just said connected to a tree house?”
“Because Chase’s dream began with that tree house. Yes, he loves to build structures out of logs, but what makes that special to him is the fun you two had there. The memories. The happy times.”
Obviously still confused, Brody glanced away, grabbing another pebble, throwing it harder into the water.
The pebble didn’t skip this time; it simply sank, causing a ripple in the water. She drew in a long breath and pressed on, needing him to hear her and to understand. “Chase’s passion isn’t selfish. It’s not financially motivated. It’s not in search of something. It’s his passion because it makes him feel good.” When Brody looked back at her with a tender stare, she added, “I realize now that I didn’t want to go Vegas for me. I wanted to go to Vegas to be closer to Mom. It’s like all this time I was creating a dream for myself to somehow get back all the things I was missing when they left us. And I know you’ve been doing the same thing.”
Brody snorted. “Not likely, Harper.”
She let his comment roll right off her. “I know that, because you married Faith when you knew I was leaving. At first, I wondered why it surprised me that you proposed after all these years, and it’s because I think for the first time, you realized you were going to be alone, and that was scary.”
“I wasn’t scared.” Brody scoffed, tossing another pebble into the water. “She’d waited long enough.”
