Page 20 of This Broken Heart
What’s left to say?
But I’m a people pleaser and if Josh wants to talk, we’ll talk.
I dry my hands off and follow him into the dining room. There’s a wooden panel on the wall that says ‘family’ and is surrounded by family photos. Vacations they took. Ana in a beautiful lace wedding gown. The rest of the family is in that picture, too, but she steals the spotlight looking heartbreakingly beautiful.
I sit at the table, watching him lower that big body into a chair across from me. Still cute, even when he’s being a dick. “Where’s Maven?”
“Napping.”
He nods, resting his hands on the table in front of him. “I should apologize.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
He glances at my face and winces. “I overreacted. I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “Maven fell. It was an understandable reaction.”
He rubs his neck, a nervous habit. “I’m told I’m a little overprotective.”
“You care about them. That’s not a bad thing.”
He studies my face. I want to shrink under his scrutiny but hold my chin high.
“I’m having a hard time adjusting.” He admits. “I guess I leaned on my parents pretty hard these last two years. And now that they’re retiring, it just throws me back to square one.” He forces himself to meet my gaze. “We have a pretty small circle. It’s hard letting someone else in. Especially having someone else in the house.”
I shrug. “Your nanny doesn’t have to be a live-in. They could find an apartment in town.”
He shakes his head. “We’re going to start calving soon and that means sometimes I’m out all night. I need someone here when I’m not.”
“Okay. So, what’s the answer?”
“The answer is that I need to get over my hang-ups. If you’re willing to overlook that little tantrum back there, I was wondering if we could try again?”
An apology.
Huh.
I hardly know how to respond. Matt was never one to admit he’d done something wrong. He’d usually just crack a joke to get me laughing.
I find an apology from this handsome man to be rather disarming. I sigh. “Sounds good to me, Josh. Let’s give it another try.”
Josh’s mom, Lisa, drops Trace off later that afternoon. She looks happy, and maybe even a little relieved, to see me.
Trace’s secret was squirreled away in an old shoe box. He shows it to me like it’s the best thing ever.
An owl pellet.
He puts it on the kitchen table and dissects it while I prepare dinner. I hear Josh step inside. He’s so quiet when he does that. I have to familiarize myself with the barely audible sounds, otherwise this man is going to scare me right out of my skin one of these days.
He appears in the kitchen with a sleepy Maven in his arms.
I glance up at him, pausing at the stove. “Was she awake?”
He shrugs, smiling sheepishly when she snuggles under his jaw. “I just went in to look. I might have woken her up.”
He’s a bear with everyone else, but that little girl just melts his heart.
Throwing a quick supper together, I set the table and retreat to the kitchen to let them eat in peace, but Trace drags me back into the dining room so we can all ‘eat as a family’. Shooting Josh a wary look, I reluctantly sink into my chair.