Page 67 of Chasing Home
Something pushed Aurora toward Frost, and I’ve been around horses long enough to recognize when an instant connection is born. I’d have been fucking blind to miss the one I saw between them.
“Let me load her up, and we’ll get out of your hair,” I add.
The grumpy old man stares at me, attempting to get me to break beneath the sharpness of his expression, but it’s not going to happen. Not here, not ever.
Finally, he slices a hand through the air. “Fine. Fuckin’ take ’er. But don’t get used to coming here and callin’ the shots, boy.”
I’m already heading back to the stable when I call over my shoulder, “Got it.”
Footsteps pound the ground behind me before Jill’s falling into pace at my side. “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”
“I don’t exactly.” Not yet.
“Is that why she doesn’t like me? If you had said something, I’d have kept my distance.”
“You’re fine, Jill. I’ve upset her myself.”
“You didn’t do anything besides be nice,” she says.
Aurora tracks the two of us when we pass the trailer. I want to stop and plant a fat kiss on her pouty lips, but now isn’t the time. I think I’d wind up with claw marks if I attempted that without a proper conversation first.
For now, I need to get this horse loaded up quickly. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner I can confirm what I did wrong and fix it.
“I appreciate the talk, Jill, but I just really want to get this done,” I tell her, softening my tone as much as possible.
Crossing into the stable, I head directly for Frost’s pen before I’m tugged by the back of my shirt. I sigh and turn to face Jill. The spark in her eyes makes guilt creep in.
It’s been a year since we went out for drinks that single time, and nothing came of it. I didn’t feel anything besides friendship between us, and I’ve made that clear. She thought differently, and it’s why I’ve avoided coming here since. Thomas loves horses and hasn’t minded picking up the job. But today of all days, Wade put his foot down, and I knew better than to say no.
It’s easy for me to be a nice, welcoming guy. Being a decent person is natural for me with how I was raised. But I’ll only be pushed so far before even two fantastic role models aren’t enough to stifle my annoyance. Having my words ignored and someone I care about hurt because of it has my patience thinning at an alarming rate.
“I missed you, Johnny. You’ve been avoiding coming here, and the time that you finally decide to come back, you bring a woman with you. Was that on purpose? To hurt me?” Jill asks, water filling her eyes.
My throat grows tight as she sets a hand on my chest and a tear drips down her cheek. “That’s not what I was doing. Me taking Aurora here had nothing to do with you.”
“It feels like it,” she blubbers, letting more tears stream down her cheeks without attempting to wipe them away.
“I was honest with you after our date. I don’t?—”
“Are you almost done? I’m ready to leave.” Aurora’s voice is sheer ice.
I jerk backward, forcing Jill’s hand to fall from my chest. Alarm rattles me. Staring past her at Rory, I open my mouth to tell her . . . fuck, I don’t even know what. Something. Anything. But she spins on her heel and leaves before I have the chance.
“She’s nothing like you, Johnny,” Jill declares.
“Good. I don’t need her to be anything like me,” I say stiffly. “If you’re not going to help me load Frost up, then I don’t have anything else to say, Jill.”
And with that, I leave her standing there with her tears and judgmental attitude while I get my girl her fucking horse.
I find Aurora in the truck fifteen minutes later, her head tipped back and eyes closed. Her seat belt is already done up, and her arms are crossed over her chest. If she looked peaceful instead of tense and coolly calm, I’d have thought she was sleeping.
As opposed to the first time I started the truck, she doesn’t flinch at the loud roar of the engine. I stare at her, wishing not for the first time in my life that I could read minds. She’s completely closed off right now, betraying nothing as she continues to keep her eyes shut and mouth in a bored line.
I blow out a breath and double-check the hauling settings in the truck before driving us off the ranch. None of this went how I planned it to.
Not for a minute did I think that Jill would be as touchy as she was, nor that it would upset Aurora this much. I was hopeful that after a year of no contact, she’d have stopped caring.
This trip was supposed to be a chance to get Aurora out of town and away from the ranch for a while. Horses are an integral part of my life, and yeah, while I didn’t want to go by myself today, I brought her here to introduce her to my world a bit more without the weight of everyone back home watching.