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The tension slipped away from her face, and for a moment, the swirling misery in her irises disappeared like a ripple in a still lake. My heart warmed, pattering gently against my ribs, which still ached from a few bruises.
“You’ll get through this,” I quietly said.
“How do you know?” she whispered, staring directly into my soul.
“’Cause I’ve never met someone stronger than you. And you don’t have to do this alone.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to do it at all. But what if she somehow finds out…?” Her bottom lip trembled, and she pulled her hands into her lap.
I shook my head. “That woman isn’t owed your presence ever. So, if she somehow tries to confront you without your consent, I’ll fight her.” I gave her a lighthearted wink that pulled a faint smile onto her lips. “But if you ever feel the need for an answer from her, then you do what you need to. For you. That’s it. Not for anyone else.”
“And whatever I choose…” She paused, her chest rising with a deep breath. “You won’t see me any different?”
“Goldie, you couldn’t do a thing to change how I feel about you,” I stated without hesitation.
A single tear slid down her cheek. “I can’t ask you to wait like you have been. Especially since I don’t know how long all of this insanity is going to take.”
“Ha!” I exclaimed with a grin. “So, you do have feelings for me.”
She rolled her eyes, a tiny smile flashing across her face as the tension slithered away. “Hush, Cassidy Duke. Just hush.” That was her answer. Not a denial either, and there was no stopping the grin that widened on my face. “Oh, wipe that smirk off of your face, dummy,” she said, and I smiled so wide, my cheeks hurt.
“So, Miss Briar Kensington, when are you gonna go on a second date with me?” I asked.
“Never.”
“We could go to a honky tonk this weekend. The bar over on Ninth Street usually has some good music, and we could swing by to see how things are going with Doc if he hasn’t called with any results by then?” I pushed, and she shook her head, burying her face in her knees, which she scrunched up to her chest.
“Am I allowed to be happy while all of this other stuff is going on?” she asked, her voice muffled against her thighs.
“How boring would this life be if we were only allowed to feel one emotion at a time?” I replied, and the legs of my chair grated against the wood floor as I pushed it back from the table. Gathering the empty plates, I slid on my socks over to the sink.
“You’re not going to give up, are you? No matter how many times I say no, you’re just gonna keep asking,” she called out after me as I ran the dishes under some warm water.
“Did you hit your head too? ’Cause even I remember you very briefly saying you didn’t want to be in charge of whatever is going on between us so clearly. That leaves me as the leader,” I teased. Fishing out some dish soap from beneath the sink, I snatched up a washcloth and began scrubbing away. “Oh, and don’t roll your eyes at me,” I tossed over my shoulder knowing she totally did even though I wasn’t facing her at this moment.
“Cassidy!” she exclaimed in defiance, her voice no longer muffled as Briar pulled her lips away from her legs and plunked her chin on her knees. “Nothing is going on between us.”
“No? You didn’t say no to the second date, though.”
“Well… So?”
“That’s all you have to say is ‘so’?”
“Why do you want to take me on a second date? I mean, the first one kinda ended disastrously.”
Shaking my wet hands off, I spun around and narrowed my gaze at her. “First off, just because it ended in an accident that was just that, an accident out of our control, doesn’t mean the date itself was disastrous.”
“Okay, fair.”
“Second, the only time I’ve seen your hair out of a braid was on that date, and I want to see that again, Rapunzel.” I raised a brow as her eyes widened, and she turned away from me. Grinning triumphantly to myself, ignoring the dull ache that was a constant in the back of my head, I grabbed a towel and quickly dried the dishes. “It’s a date. I’m hoping Doc will have some answers before Saturday, though.”
“You haven’t—” her voice squeaked and she paused, clearing her throat. “You haven’t heard anything at all from him?”
“Nah, but I mean the labs take several days to send out and process from what I know.” Turning around, I gave her a gentle smile. Not wanting to let her change her mind or back out from her agreement that wasn’t really an actual agreement, I changed the subject. “Ready to go move some panels?”
She nodded, pushing back from the table.
“You do know how to drive a tractor, right?” I teased, plodding over to the mudroom.
