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Me:No. Yes. I don’t know.
Amber:You can always talk to me, Emmy. I know how to keep secrets.
Me:I know. And I might take you up on the offer. Right now, I just need to think.
Amber:Then I’ll try to distract Katie today so she’ll leave you alone.
Me:You’re the best. Love you.
Amber:Love you too. And don’t stew too long. I won’t allow it.
Me: I know better than to bring out your determination. It’s better than your temper, but not by much.
Amber: Remind me why I’m helping you again?
Me:Love you, truly. Talk to you soon.
Thank goodness for work and the need to focus on the expo. It kept me from thinking about last night.
I’d barely gotten any sleep, and not because West had been busy fucking me and making me orgasm.
No, I’d laid awake thinking about storytime with the twins. It’d been so perfect and made me want things. Things that I shouldn’t really want.
And yet, I did.
Luckily, we’d be in Reno today and tomorrow still, and I could have West to myself for a little while longer. I loved his kids, but I also needed to know the man if I was going to risk anything.
As I tried to focus on the last-minute arrangements of everything in my booth—from pamphlets, to cards with QR codes, to sample flower arrangements and photo albums of past weddings—Abby walked up and held out a brown paper bag. It was one of those bakery ones, where you could see some of the grease from what I hoped was a muffin inside. And opening it, yep, the blueberry muffin smelled amazing.
But it also made me skeptical. “What are you buttering me up for?”
Abby put her hands up in surrender. “I figured you’d need some sugar after last night.” She sighed. “And can I say how crappy it is that I can’t really tease you since you hooked up with my brother?”
“The loss is yours.” Wanting to tease her, I waggled my eyebrows.
Abby made retching sounds. “Stop, please. Just stop.”
“You know you deserve it.” I noticed a wariness in Abby’s eyes. “Is something wrong?”
She looked away, took a deep breath, and then met my gaze again. “Yesterday, Rafe was injured bad, real bad, and they’re not sure if he’ll ever play again.”
I had all sorts of mixed emotions about my older brother—regret, longing, sadness, and even love. But despite everything, I didn’t want him to be hurt and in pain. “What happened?”
“Some sort of dirty move by another player. It’s his knee, the one he injured before. There’s not much more information than that, but if he can’t play soccer anymore then, well, he might….”
Come home, was left unsaid.
I’d inherited the ranch—I never found out why I was the sole heir—but Rafe had a few properties elsewhere in the Starry Hills area.
So it was entirely possible he’d return.
Except I knew, from Abby, that he was super popular in England, had a reputation with the ladies, and was a bit of a player. Not as much as his younger days, since Rafe was thirty-five now, but even if half of it was true, he’d be bored out of his mind in Starry Hills.
Not to mention that if he came back and finally confronted me about our parents, I wasn’t sure what would happen. Would he yell? Ignore me? Be all fake politeness for the sake of keeping the peace since we lived in the same the town?
Abby placed a hand on my arm, bringing me back to the present. “I’ll keep an eye on the headlines and keep you updated. I know normally you don’t like to hear about him, but I figured this was important.”
“Yes, thanks for telling me, Abby.”
