Page 196 of Tessa and Nash

The reaction comes a beat slower this time.

A few cheers rise, scattered through the room, followed by polite applause as Nash climbs onto the stage, tipping his hat toward the crowd like he’s stepped into this moment a hundred times before.

Which, to be fair, he probably has.

And my heart drops straight through the floor.

“That’s bold,” someone mutters nearby.

“After what he did?” another voice replies, quieter.

“At least he told the truth,” a third cuts in. “Eventually.”

The stage lights catch on the brim of his hat and the familiar crooked smile that used to drive half the women in Buckhorn slightly insane. He rests one boot on the edge of the platform with easy confidence, leaning against the microphone stand while the auctioneer claps him on the shoulder.

“Well now,” the announcer says loudly, “if this one doesn’t bring in some bids tonight, I’ll eat my hat.”

The room laughs.

Maeve goes very still beside me.

“Oh no,” she murmurs.

I don’t answer, because suddenly the entire room feels tilted.

Nash looks exactly like himself.

Relaxed.

Amused.

Perfectly comfortable standing in front of half the town after all that happened.

Like nothing has shifted beneath his feet.

Like the last two days didn’t fracture anything at all.

Is this real? Is anything he does real, or is it all a performance? How can I tell? Especially when he isn’t looking for me.

The man who stood on Old Mill Road two weeks ago with his voice shaking as he told me he loved me now looks like someone who has already forgotten the entire conversation. Same as the drama with the town council.

How the hell is that even possible?

The auctioneer gestures grandly toward him.

“Mr. Nash McCoy is offering a full-day ranch date, ladies and gentlemen! Trail riding, lunch by the creek, and stories that get better with every mile.”

Nash leans toward the microphone, his eyes shining with a false joy I can’t stand to see.

“Stories get better after lunch,” he says.

The crowd laughs again. He knows exactly how to hold them there. How to give them just enough charm to forget whatever they were thinking before.

The sound hits me like a small explosion inside my chest.

Maeve glances at me carefully. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”