“Besides Kaylee, that is.”
“I can’t even imagine what that had to be like for you and your father.”
Her head snapped up, and she looked at me. “It was hard on us both.”
I nodded. “I’m sure it was.”
“About your mom...” Timberlynn took a deep breath. “I guess I understand her thought process, not wanting to talk about the profound loss, so I can see why she shuts down about your brother. Sometimes when I try to talk about my mom, the pain hurts so bad that it’s better if I don’t talk at all. I think it’s because my father would never talk about her. I’m almost positive he still hasn’t gotten over her death.” She paused for a few moments. “But if it helps you to heal from your brother’s death, I think it’s a good thing you and your brothers talk about him.”
I nodded. “If you ever want to talk about your mom, I’m here to listen.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she quickly looked away. She shook her head as if to shed a thought, a feeling, a memory, maybe? Before I could get another word out, she lightly kicked Rosie’s side and took off into a trot. She called back over her shoulder, “We should get going!”
I followed her and made a mental note not to push her when it came to her mother. She needed to learn to trust me first, and I could be patient.
A few minutes later, we were on another path and heading to the cabin. Timberlynn had been silent for about five minutes or so, and then started asking me questions about the area. Where the closest large animal vet was. How many large horse breeders there were in Hamilton. I answered them to the best of my knowledge, but I had no idea how many breeders were now in the Hamilton area since I was usually gone more than I was home.
“My mother would be the best person to ask,” I finally said. “She’s always had a love of horses. Bogo here is a rescue horse himself.”
“Is he? How wonderful!” Timberlynn exclaimed, her eyes finally coming back to life.
“Do all these questions mean you’re looking to change from nursing to becoming a vet or something?”
She laughed. “No.”
“What made you pick nursing, then?” I asked as we walked the horses side by side up to the cabin. The path was flanked by tall trees dusted in snow.
“My mother was a nurse, as was her mom. It was something my mother and father both wanted me to do. So, I did it.”
“Did you not want to be a nurse?” I asked as I slid off of Pogo and helped her down once more.
“Yes, I wanted to be a nurse.”
I gave her a look that said I knew she was lying through her teeth.
With a laugh, she looked up at me, her head tilted and an adorable smirk on her face. “Was it that obvious of a lie?”
Motioning for her to head up the small set of steps to the cabin porch, I replied, “Yes. Although it wasn’t how you answered, it was in your eyes.”
“In my eyes?” she asked.
Before I opened the door, we faced each other. Her eyes moved quickly as she studied every inch of my face while I stared at her. One thing was for sure, there were gold specks in those eyes that seemed to light up only when she was happy. I liked that about her. Her eyes told their own story. “Yes, in your eyes. You can read a lot about a person when you learn to read their eyes.”
“Is this something you learned on the rodeo circuit to pick up women?” she asked with laughter in her voice.
“No, my granddaddy used to take us fishing up in the mountains at a lake called Hidden Pines. It’s a magical place, just ask Ty and Kaylee. They exchanged wedding vows up there. Their first exchange of vows, that is.”
Her brows rose in surprise.
“My brothers and I loved the time we got to spend with him. He would always give us some worldly advice, and once he told us you can tell a person’s truths by watching their eyes. When I asked you about nursing, you spoke in a cool, easy tone. Almost like it was rehearsed. But your eyes said something different. They disagreed with you, told a different story.”
Timberlynn gazed up at me with an expression I wasn’t able to read. I wanted desperately to cup her