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Tess pushed off the couch and marched to him, moving to her tiptoes to touch her lips to his. She kissed him for all she was worth, holding back nothing, her hands cupping his jaw, her tongue finding his, their connection sending electrical currents all through her. Silas melted into her, his arms holding her tight, his body fitted together with hers. And surely, he couldn’t deny this. That they were meant to be just like this together. That their time would come, no matter how far he tried to run.
When she could no longer breathe, Tess pulled away and walked out of his house.
Hopefully that kiss had given him enough to hold on to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Mom, my science fair project is due next week.”
“Really?” Was it that time of the year already? “Maybe we should talk about it tomorrow.”
Why ruin a perfectly beautiful Saturday morning with talk of a project that inevitably brought out the worst in both her and Morgan every year? The problem wasn’t that she disliked helping Morgan with the project. The problem was simply that her daughter tended to have expectations that far exceeded the final product. Even with their best work, her daughter was never satisfied. She’d inherited her father’s perfectionist tendencies. And science had never been Tess’s strong suit.
She sipped her coffee and gazed out at the morning sun that had only just started to peek over the mountaintops in the distance. Morgan and Willow both sat at the table with her, drinking hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and sprinkles. A hot chocolate bribe always gave her a few extra minutes to sit and relax before having to make them breakfast, and she was dragging this morning. In fact, this whole week had left her weary.
She’d kept busy with beef orders, holding meetings with her buyers, and planning for the horse sanctuary, but none of those things had soothed the aching hollowness that seemed to spread with each passing day. Silas was supposed to leave in less than a week, and she hadn’t seen him since she’d kissed him and walked out of his house.
“This year I want to build a life-size model of a wild horse,” her daughter announced.
Tess choked on a mouthful of coffee, spraying some out of her nose. She coughed and sputtered, cleaning her face and table with a napkin. “I’m sorry… what?” she asked when she could finally speak.
“I’m going to build a life-size model of a wild horse,” Morgan repeated impatiently. “And I’m going to show everyone in my school what happened to Legacy. Where she got shot and how she survived and then everyone will know more about wild horses and no one will want to hurt them anymore.”
Her heart melted at the same time dread crept in. “I think that’s a very important project.” She had to tread carefully here. “But do we have tobuilda life-size model? Maybe you coulddrawa life-size picture. Remember the bridge we made last year? That didn’t go very smoothly.” Had her daughter already forgotten about the Popsicle stick fiasco when they tried to build a model of a bridge? The entire structure kept falling apart and Morgan had at least four meltdowns in the process. “You know I’m not very good at building things.”
“Iremember the Popsicle stick bridge,” Willow said helpfully, licking a dollop of whipped cream from her upper lip. “You cried like every day, Morgan.”
“I did not.” Her eldest daughter pushed her iPad across the table. “This is what I want to do. We have to make the horse really big so I can write all of the information and make sure people can see the details. Oh! I can use yarn for the mane.”
Yep, her daughter was getting carried away again. Tess studied the picture that depicted wood-working plans for a 3D seven-foot-tall horse.Oh boy.“Honey…” She didn’t even know what to say here. “That’s a really cool idea. But I can’t help you build that.” She couldn’t build a horse out of wood. “And Uncle Aiden and Kyra are gone this weekend, remember?” Her brother had chosen the perfect weekend to whisk his fiancée away for an impromptu camping trip to Yellowstone. “Besides, that’s quite a big project. We would’ve had to start something like that a month ago.”
She should’ve known this project would come up soon, but she’d had a few other things on her mind as of late. And she couldn’t have imagined that Morgan would want to build a life-size horse. “I love that you want to educate people about the wild horses. I think a drawing or a painting would—”
“Ithasto be a model.” Morgan studied the picture again. “Then everyone will want to know what it is. Everyone’ll notice it. The horse will stand out from all the other projects and people can learn about what happened to Legacy.”
How was she supposed to say no to that?
“I’ll help you build it,” Willow told her sister. “There’s some wood out in the barn. I saw it. And I know where Mom keeps the hammer.”
“Thanks, Willow. But I don’t think we can build it ourselves.” Her eldest daughter’s eyes widened. “But Silas will help us! I know he will.”
“Yes! Silas!” Willow popped up from her chair.
Tess’s heart clutched. “Oh… girls… I don’t know. I’m sure he’s busy.” She hadn’t mentioned anything about him to them. She’d been waiting for Willow and Morgan to talk to her about him. But she probably needed to start preparing them for what was coming. “He’s getting ready to leave for that new job he has overseas.”
“Well, he can’t leave.” Morgan stood up, obviously undeterred. “He can’t leave because I need his help. I need him here.” Her smile was full of promise. “I know he won’t leave if I ask him for help, Mom. He’s always been there for us when we needed him.”
“Yes. He certainly has.” Tess blinked away tears. She understood why Silas had taken a step back. He hadn’t wanted to push the girls. So, she hadn’t pushed them either. He’d wanted them to accept him on their own. When the time was right. And maybe… just maybe the time was right now.
“Come on, Mom!” Willow tugged on her hand, urging her out of the chair. “Go get dressed so we can ask for Silas’s help. He’s super good at building stuff.”
“Yes!” Morgan gathered up her iPad. “We can go over to his house and ask right now! It’s been forever since we’ve seen him anyway. Aren’t you two supposed to be dating?”
“I’m not really sure.” Tess scrambled out of her chair, leaving the rest of her coffee unfinished. “But I suppose we’d better go over there and find out.”
Silas loaded the last of the boxes into the basement storage room and locked up.
His house was nearly empty now… not that it had been all that full before. This stint in Star Valley Springs was supposed to only be a stopover. He’d never planned to stick around forever. He hadn’twantedto stick around forever.
