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“Actually, Brielle said that she’d like to go riding this afternoon. I was hoping that I could tag along.”
He pressed his lips into a firm line. As much as that idea made him nervous, it was a way to get her more comfortable with horses without him breathing down her neck. “That sounds like a good idea. Mind if I come along?”
The way she squirmed in her seat and looked away made it clear she would rather he didn’t.
“It’s fine. I’ve got some other things I’ll work on.” He put his toothpick on the table and wrapped his fingers around the cup of water the waitress had brought. “So, your uncle. Is he helping you with this issue you have at home? Is that why he’s the one your mom let you stay with?”
And just like that, the walls came right back up. Her eyes clouded over and she dropped her gaze. “I’d rather not talk aboutwhyI’m here.”
Ugh. He’d pushed her too far. There would be no backtracking and getting her to open up about her family or her home.
They spent the rest of their meal in awkward silence while he tried to come up with another way to reach her. The only good thing that came from their lunch was making sure she got some food in her stomach. Apparently, she was hungrier than she’d thought. The woman could put away a burger, fries and a shake. On top of that, they each took a slice of pie to go.
Once they were in the truck and on the way home, Sarah finally spoke up again. “Thanks for lunch, Dax.”
He offered her what he hoped was a supportive smile. “No problem.”
7
Sarah
“You’re kidding. He took you to lunch?” Brielle laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day when Dax would take another girl on a date.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Sarah said indignantly as she wobbled in her saddle. Her heart fluttered with unease. The horse’s movements were far more uneven than she’d remembered. No wonder it was so easy to be thrown from the saddle. If this was how she felt when the horse was walking, then what was she going to do when the horse sped up?
Brielle turned in her saddle, looking over her shoulder at Sarah with a smirk on her face that rivaled all others. “Did he pay?”
“Well, yeah.”
She laughed. “Think what you want, but Dax took you to lunch, ordered for you, and paid, it was a date.”
Irritation simmered inside Sarah. “He took me to lunch because I didn’t eat breakfast and my stomach probably sounded like I hadn’t eaten in days.”
Brielle pulled on her reins and turned her horse so fast that Sarah’s horse startled and stepped backward a few steps. “Youskippedbreakfast?”
Sarah’s pounding heart refused to settle after she finally got the horse to stop its backward progress. Her hands gripped the reins so tight she was losing feeling in her fingers. She shot Brielle an irritated glare. How could Brielle not see that she was struggling? “Does it really matter? Like I told Dax. I wasn’t hungry. You’re not my mother. I can choose if I want to eat or not.”
She shook her head. “It’s summer and we do a lot of work—sunup to sundown. Be smart, Sarah. You wouldn’t skip a meal if your job was a physical trainer.”
“Stop with the judgment. I’m fine. He made me eat. Just drop it.”
Brielle frowned. “Is something wrong? I mean, you’re usually a little stand-offish, but lately you’ve been a little more angry than usual.”
Sarah let out a sigh. “Sorry. I’m dealing with some stuff lately.”
“Anything I can help you with?”
The horse beneath her shifted and Sarah sucked in sharply. “I just need to master something so I don’t feel like such an idiot all the time. Everywhere I turn, I’m being told what to do and how to do it.”
“To be fair, that’s sorta what you signed up for. If you didn’t want this, maybe you shouldn’t have…”
Sarah froze. Her head snapped up and she stared at Brielle. Shock twisted her stomach in a way that caused additional pain. Even though Brielle knew about what she’d participated in, she had never pointed it out with such blatant disregard for Sarah’s feelings.
Brielle’s voice had trailed off and her eyes widened as if she realized what she’d just done. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Sarah—”
“Just stop. You’re right. I’m not like you. I made mistakes and as part of that, I get to be judged by people like you.” She turned her reins and headed down the trail that they’d come.
“Sarah, wait. Where are you going?”
