AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When he’d been home, she knew Jace felt this pressure to get things off her plate—to give her a break since she dealt with so much in his absence. So he’d handled almost everything. But this cause with the horses… this was hers alone. And just the thought of that energized her. “I think part of finding a new normal is taking on new challenges.”
“I get it.” Brad’s expressive eyes widened into a look of mock horror. “I’ve recently learned the skill of braiding hair. Thank God for YouTube.”
Tess’s heart warmed for him. She let herself stare at his face a few extra seconds but still felt nothing deeper than a certain camaraderie with him.
“I never did those things when Hannah was around,” he went on. “I never took an interest in Callie’s hair. Or her clothes. And now I’m learning. Not only to braid but how to help her see herself as the beautiful person she is.”
And Tess knew firsthand that could be quite a challenge these days, with all of the pressures of social media. “Raising girls isn’t easy,” she lamented. “Especially on your own.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed emphatically. “But it’s good to have friends to talk you through it. Speaking of… would you want to go to dinner next weekend?”
The question sat her up a little straighter. “Oh. Um… probably not.”Shoot!That sounded so rude. “I mean, I’m not looking for anything in the relationship department quite yet.” Good lord. She should stop talking now. Maybe he wasn’t even asking her out on a date! That Night had made her hypersensitive. Sheesh. Clearly, she wasn’t ready for dating.
“I’m not looking for a relationship either.” Her sudden panic seemed to amuse the man. “But that’s the beauty of friendship. We go out and enjoy dinner. No pressure. No awkwardness. Just an easygoing evening spent with another grown-up who can relate to braiding hair and managing meltdowns.”
Huh.That seemed simple enough. “I probably do need to get out more.” If her mother’s opinion was any indication.
“Great.” He poured himself more lemonade. “We can reacquaint ourselves with what it’s like to go out. As friends. No expectations. No wondering where the boundaries are. Just good food and good conversation. You’re pretty easy to talk to.”
“So are you.” She relaxed back into her chair. “That does sound kind of nice.” She went out with Lyric and Kyra all the time, but neither one of them had a tween girl to deal with at home. They couldn’t exactly commiserate with her or celebrate the small successes.
“Besides, I’d like to learn more about the wild horses and stay involved.” The man made it difficult to turn him down. “I have to admit, I don’t know much about the herds. But I’m happy to help your cause.”
“Yes. Let’s do it.” She needed all of the support she could get in this quest. “We can meet for dinner at the café next weekend.” Getting together with him would be a nice departure from her usual routine.
And besides that, maybe a night out would help her finally get her mind off Silas.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Tess? Hello?” Lyric came into view, standing above her. “I said you can move into your bridge pose now.”
“Sorry.” Tess quickly lifted her hips away from the floor, tensing her hamstrings to hold herself in the pose. “I can’t focus today.” Lyric did a yoga session with her and Kyra every Wednesday morning after Tess dropped off the girls at school, and usually it was a time to concentrate on her mind-body connection, but ever since the meeting at the café, she’d been off-center.
“What’s up?” Lyric killed the music on her phone and lay down on her mat between Tess and Kyra, finding her own bridge position.
“You have seemed a little distracted this week,” Kyra commented, wincing. “Can we go back to happy baby pose now? My butt is killing me.”
“Sure.” Lyric turned her head back to Tess. “So spill it. What’s going on?”
She couldn’t tell them how much she’d been agonizing over the possibility that Silas might leave Star Valley. Or how she’d been hoping to see him the last few days, but he’d made himself scarce. So instead she said, “The other night at the meeting, Aiden made it sound like Silas is planning to leave Star Valley and I’m worried the girls are going to be upset.” There. That didn’t sound overly invested. She glanced sideways at her friends and Kyra immediately looked at the opposite wall.
Aha!She knew something. Aiden must’ve told her about Silas’s plans. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“Um. Well…” Kyra rocked slightly side to side in her happy baby pose. “I think you should probably talk to Silas about it. I mean, it’s not my place to be sharing his news all over town.”
“So he has news.” Tess let her feet come back to the floor. “Of course he has news.” She pushed into a seated position. Normally, she loved Lyric’s small studio in the holistic clinic she and Kyra ran. It used to be the large master bedroom in the old Victorian house they’d converted. With light bamboo floors and the walls painted robin’s-egg blue and the row of leaded glass windows along the opposite wall, it was a bright and airy space. But now she felt too smothered and confined.
“It seems I’m the last to know that Silas has been making plans. Isn’t that nice? You’d think someone who’d been spending a ton of time with my children would give me a heads-up that he planned to take off, but no.” She’d slept with him only a month ago. It wasn’t like he’d mentioned anything about skipping town that night.
“Whoa.” Lyric sat up too. “You’re not the last to know. I didn’t know either. Sheesh. What’s got you all fired up?”
“Nothing.” She was careful to lighten her tone so they wouldn’t suspect there was something more behind her anger. “It’s just… the girls have gotten used to him being here and now he’s going God knows where. I don’t want them to experience more loss.”
Kyra was the only one who remained in the happy baby pose, relaxing away. “If the prospect of him leaving is bothering you this much, why haven’t you asked him about it?”
“I haven’t seen him since the meeting. I think he’s avoiding me.” She’d found evidence that he’d been to visit Legacy. Yesterday the water tank was mysteriously full, and the day before that the hay supply had been replenished. But she hadn’t actuallyseenSilas. And she hadn’t wanted to try too hard to track him down or her feelings about his departure would be way too obvious.
“Why would he be avoiding you?” Now Kyra sat up too. “What on earth is going on with you two? Both of you have been acting very weird lately.”
