“So, you messed up.” Aiden released the emergency brake and backed out of the spot. “I’ve watched you take care of my sister and Morgan and Willow for two years now. They might not even realize everything you’ve done for them, but I’ve seen it. You gave up everything to move here so you could fulfill a promise. And today you stepped up to protect them.”

  “I didn’t plan to fall in love with her.” In fact, that was the last thing he’d imagined when he’d come to Star Valley. He assumed he’d stay long enough to help the woman stand on her own like he’d promised Jace and then he’d be off again, moving on to the next place, like he always did.

  “I know you didn’t plan this.” Aiden’s expression was uncharacteristically solemn. The two of them hadn’t exactly had a lot of heart-to-hearts over the years. “But Tess fell in love with you too. And I may have given you a hard time at the beginning, but she deserves this chance to love someone again. I think Jace would approve of you and Tess, if you want the truth. He had a lot of respect for you. For your work ethic and your loyalty and your commitment. And so do I.” He paused at the stop sign in front of the café. “I know you’d do everything you can to make them happy.”

  “I would.” Silas had a lot to learn about love, about being a father. And apparently about making pancakes. But he couldn’t deny the truth. “I would do anything to make them happy.” If he was given the chance. “But I won’t force my way into their lives.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Tess turned into the school’s carpool lane, moving the wheel with one hand while she sipped coffee from the travel mug she held in the other.

  Hello, Monday morning. With two weeks left of school, they were literally limping to the finish line. Morgan had changed clothes three times that morning, lamenting that she had nothing cool to wear.

  When had she started to care so much about being cool?

  And Willow had done her stomachache bit—saying she couldn’t possibly go to school when she felt like she was going to barf. For some reason, her younger daughter only felt like she was going to barf on Monday mornings.

  “I don’t want to go to school,” Willow complained, kicking her feet into the back of the front seat.

  Tess took another sip of coffee and inched forward in line. Seriously. Was there any greater torture than the elementary carpool line?

  “I understand.” She tried to sound sympathetic, but she wasn’t exactly chipper this morning either. She’d been hoping to talk with Silas after Aiden had picked him up at the station yesterday, but instead the man had her brother drop him off at the ranch and then he took off in his truck before she had the chance to go out and see him. And she hadn’t heard from him either, which of course had kept her up all night wallowing in questions. Had he written her off? Did he still think nothing would ever work between them?

  “I should’ve worn my red shirt.” Morgan sighed loudly. “There’s Mia and she’s wearing red. She looks so good.”

  “So do you.” Tess glanced in the rearview mirror. “You are beautiful, Morgan Valdez. Whether you’re wearing pink or purple or brown.”

  “Brown?” her daughter asked in a horrified manner. “Mom, I will never wear brown.”

  “Oh, would you look at that. We made it to the front.” Tess stepped on the brake. “Bye, girls. Have a great day, love you.”

  Their parting words came out in unintelligible mumbles as they climbed out of the car and joined their classmates walking into the building. Whew. Tess eased forward, moving slowly around the circle in front of the school before coming to a stop again. The carpool line at the elementary school happened to be the only place in town where there were traffic jams.

  “Hey, Tess,” Brad called through her open window. He approached the passenger side of her truck.

  “Brad. Hi.” She would’ve rather crawled into her glove compartment than face him right now, but she literally had nowhere else to go. At least he’d convinced his father to drop the charges. Natalie had called to tell her yesterday afternoon. She’d also learned that Brad’s father had been responsible for harassing the horses, along with Darrell and Ford, though they swore they never meant to hurt one.

  “I’ve been meaning to call you,” Tess said. “I’m so sorry about the broken window. And for trespassing.” She still didn’t know what she’d been thinking. “I should’ve come to talk to you instead.” But she’d learned her lesson. Committing misdemeanors wasn’t her strong suit.

  “Don’t worry about it. I made plenty of mistakes in this whole situation myself.” He leaned his forearms on the window frame, good-natured smile intact. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you? That fall through the window looked painful on the surveillance video.”

  Tess’s cheeks heated. He must’ve gotten a few good laughs watching the video. She was lucky he hadn’t posted it on social media. “No. I didn’t get hurt. Just a few bruises.” And a wound to her pride. “I’ll pay you for the window though.” Traffic started to move again, but the cars behind her easily got around her.

  “No need to pay. My father is the one who started this whole mess anyway.” The man’s smile faded. “I should’ve told you at the meeting, so technically it’s my fault too. When you described the UTV, I knew who it was right away. But I was trying to keep him out of trouble.”

  “I understand why you didn’t say anything.” Talk about an uncomfortable position, deciding whether or not to turn in your parent. “What’s Natalie going to do to them?”

  “They’ll have to pay a steep fine and do community service.” Irritation flared through the words. “Honestly, she let them off easy. I’m disgusted by the whole thing. I mean, growing up on a ranch, my parents taught me to respect animals, and then my father goes and does something stupid like shoot at a herd of wild horses.”

  “That doesn’t make a lot of sense.” At least Brad wasn’t involved. She was glad they could still be friends. “Did he say why they did it?”

  The man shrugged. “The three of them feel like the herd is threatening the cattle. They’re worried there won’t be enough food to go around, I guess.” He straightened, taking a step back from her truck. “Dad said they were only trying to scare the herd off the land.” His expression remained skeptical. “Either way, they needed to be held accountable. And I’m sorry I made trouble for you by keeping quiet.”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly handle the whole situation well either.” That was clear. “I could’ve simply asked you about the UTV instead of proving what a terrible criminal I am.” Breaking into his garage hadn’t been one of her finest moments.

  “We’ll put the whole thing behind us.” His smile returned. “And just so you know, I suggested that their community service should revolve around helping you turn the ranch into a wild horse sanctuary like you were talking about. And I’m more than happy to help too.”

  “That would be great.” She was going to need all the help she could get installing the fences.

  A car honked behind her.

  “I’d better get going,” she told Brad. “But bring Callie by this weekend. The girls would love to hang out with her.”

  “Will do. Thanks.” He gave her a wave and then Tess drove off.

  Instead of going home, she found herself driving to Silas’s small craftsman only a few blocks from Main Street. Seeing his truck in the driveway brought on a rush of adrenaline.

  She parked along the curb, hesitating only for a moment before she turned off the engine and climbed out of her truck. The few times she’d been to Silas’s house, she’d been struck by how bare the place was. He had nothing out on his front porch—unlike most people in town who at least had a few chairs or a bench to sit on. And the lack of comfortable personal touches continued to the inside too.

  Silas had never put down roots. But he’d never had a reason to. She had no idea what he was thinking after the scene at her house. She had no idea how he felt right now, or what he planned to do. She only knew she had to see him. She had to kiss him. And she had to tell him that she didn’t care how long it took Morgan and Willow to come around. The waiting would be worth it.

  Footsteps sounded behind the door and either the porch shifted or her equilibrium did. He answered within a few seconds, before she could brace herself, before she could right her balance.

  “Hey.”

  How could he speak? Didn’t he feel the same chaos she did when he looked at her? Words were swirling in her brain, tangling and rebounding off each other, but none of them seemed right for this moment. She wanted to tell him she was sorry for what Morgan had said, and she wanted to tell him he was wrong, they could make anything work. But instead she stared at him.

  “You want to come in?” He stepped aside, making room for her to move past.

  She walked through the door, holding her breath when she caught sight of the boxes stacked on the outskirts of his living room. “Are you packing?”

  He shoved a large box away from the front of the couch. “Just going through things and getting rid of a bunch of stuff.”

  Tess’s heart deflated. “Are you leaving?”

  “I haven’t talked to Fletch yet.” He hadn’t made direct eye contact with her since she’d walked in. “I just don’t know what else to do, Tess. If I go, it’ll give the girls some space. I don’t want our relationship to make things so hard for you.”

  A sudden desperation pushed her to him. Things should not have gone this way. They’d been so close to having something. So close. And now he was giving up. “I’m sorry for how the girls acted toward you yesterday.”

  “I’m not upset with them.” His gaze finally held hers and his jaw softened. “Not at all. They were surprised and they had every right to react.” His voice quieted. “And I’m not upset with you either. I couldn’t be.”

  Then why hadn’t he come to see her? Why hadn’t he called or texted? “I thought you would stop in at the house. When Aiden brought you to pick up your truck.”

  Silas took her hand and prodded her to sit with him on the couch. “I don’t want to force anything on Morgan and Willow.” He let go of her. “They’re not ready to let someone else in. And that’s okay. It just means I have to take a step back right now.”

  But it wasn’t okay. This was frustrating and difficult. All she wanted to do was sink into his arms, but he didn’t open them for her.

  “They don’t want me to be a part of your life.” Silas stood. “And I can’t go back to being your friend. Not after knowing what it’s like to be with you. I can’t go back, and I don’t think we can move forward together right now.”

  He’d made up his mind. She saw the resolve. But she couldn’t leave things this way between them. The girls might not be so sure about Silas becoming part of their lives yet. But they would come around. She had to believe. He may have given up, but she wouldn’t.

  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 to build a life-size model? Maybe you could draw a 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.”

  “I remember 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—”

  “It has to 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’t wanted to stick around forever.

  But now he didn’t want to leave. Even for a month or two, or however long this assignment with Fletch would take. He didn’t want to go. That was the bottom line.

  He walked up the narrow staircase and found himself standing in the austere kitchen. The man who’d sold him the house had updated everything with a clean, plain modern style, all whites and grays, and he’d never thought about making any changes. Mostly because he’d never thought of making any place a home. He’d never needed a home. He’d never longed for a home because he’d never known one.