and smiled at him, her green eyes bright, then turning wary. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She did that all the time, asked about him, made sure he was okay and happy. How often did he neglect to ask about her?
She always looked good. Happy. Content with herself, her life, and everything going on. So he accepted what he saw and didn’t ask.
But then she stopped calling and it took him weeks to notice.
What else had he missed by not paying attention to her?
“How are you, Liz?” He made sure not to call her Lizard. She said she hated it. He always thought she secretly loved it. But maybe he’d been wrong.
Maybe he’d been wrong about a lot of things.
Her head tilted to the side. “Are you sure nothing is wrong?”
Irritated, he frowned. “Why? Because I remembered to ask about you?”
The smile faded from her pink lips as those resentful words left his mouth.
When did her lips ever look that tempting?
She walked toward him. “Tate, are you mad at me?”
“I think I’m mad at myself.”
She chuckled under her breath. “You think you are?”
He waved his arm toward the house. She walked ahead of him, but instead of going inside, she sat on the top porch step and stared out at the pasture and the horses he knew she loved to ride. His dad taught her along with him when they were still little tykes.
She still didn’t look at him. Or maybe she just didn’t want to look at him.
He took a seat next to her, stared at the sky turning from a deep orange to a soft pink, and asked what he really wanted to know. “Why did you stop talking to me?”
“Why did it take you so long to notice?”
Frustrated, he ran his hand over his head. “We’re never going to get anywhere if you answer my questions with questions of your own.”
“Your answer to my question will help you answer the question you asked me.”
“Because I was busy and got caught up with Trinity’s shop and Drake and his issues, and then Juliana died and everyone, including me, was stunned by her death. Once everything settled down, Drake and Adria got married. Declan and I had a lot to do here. We’re shorthanded and fell behind with everything else going on.”
“You called all the time to talk about Drake, the problems at the ranch, how Juliana’s death hit all of you hard. Then, nothing. Not even an invite to Drake’s wedding.”
He’d wanted to ask her to be his plus-one, but then he’d been in a strange headspace seeing Drake all happy and moving on to a better life. It messed with him in a way he couldn’t really explain. He’d wanted to be alone.
“You didn’t need me”—she went on, even though that wasn’t true—“because there was nothing going on in your life that you needed to offload on me.”
He turned to her, but she still faced the pasture. “Is that what you think?”
“It’s mostly true, Tate. You can’t deny that you rely on me to call and check on you, to be there anytime you need me.”
“I do. And I’m here for you.” He touched her shoulder.
She jerked but settled quickly.
“Look at me, Lizard.” He used the nickname hoping it took her back to better times.
Instead, she sighed and turned to face him. “What?”
“I care about you, you have to know that.”
“That’s the problem, Tate. You don’t see how much I care about you.”
His stomach went tight and he looked away because he wasn’t sure he wanted to go down this road. If they did, there was no turning back.
“Right. You do see it.” She stood, walked down the steps, and turned back to face him. “Do you remember what you said to me on our last call?” He hesitated to talk about that weird mental space he’d been in, so she prompted him. “About Drake and Adria and their relationship.”
“Drake is nuts for her. He married her in like a split second after meeting her.”
“Because he loves her. He can’t live without her. You said you wanted something like that. For a second, put yourself in my place hearing that from you.” Her voice softened and filled with emotion with that last part.
She loved him.
It still went unspoken, but he knew it. He’d always known it.
He felt it in his chest, warm and comforting with a zing of excitement in his gut in contrast to the apprehension that went with it. He liked knowing someone felt that deeply for