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“You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished. From what I know, your business is a great success. I was stunnedwhen I first looked up how young the company was. You’re a very good businesswoman.”

I tilted my head. “And you weren’t expecting that from the socialite who just does things for her ego, were you?”

Zachery closed his eyes, shaking his head before opening them again. “I truly apologize for that. Marcel’s words coupled with our first interactions gave me the completely wrong impression. I usually don’t jump to conclusions like that.”

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because he’d jumped in the Mississippi River for me.

“I gathered a lot of experience in the family’s company before I got married,” I said.

“And then you quit.”

“Yes. It was one of my husband’s wishes that I become a full-time wife.”

“Why did you do it?”

The obvious confusion on his face made me second-guess myself all over again. I guess I was just trying to keep the peace in our marriage at the time, but that wasn’t something I wanted to tell Zachary.

“Honestly? I don’t know. I thought at the time that’s what good wives are supposed to do. I didn’t realize his intentions, though.”

“Interesting. And you didn’t like it? Being a stay-at-home wife?”

“No, not at all. I always loved working even though I wasn’t seeing eye to eye with my brothers on many things. To be fair, maybe that’s one of the reasons why I quit. I wanted some distance from them. They were more like my husband than like me, I came to find out later.”

He nodded once. “Makes sense. From what I know of Kyle, I wouldn’t want to be around him either.”

“You don’t need to sugarcoat anything. I know who he is, and I make no apologies for him. He’s always had a chip on his shoulder somehow regarding Dad. Wanted to prove that he could do better.”

“Even if it was illegally,” Zachary said through gritted teeth.

“Sounds that way. He and Beau were very eager to get me out of the company and make it clear that there was no place for me.” I glanced at the floor. It bothered me that I’d never had the sibling relationship that other kids had in their families. But everyone’s upbringing was different, so I tried not to dwell on it too much.

“What the actual fuck!” Zachary exclaimed. “That’s pretty shitty of your family, in my opinion. One thing I know is that not one of my brothers would try to undermine any of us in business. That’s just not our way. We have one another’s backs.” His voice was hard, like he couldn’t possibly accept what I told him.

“Then your family has a bit more heart than my brothers. Anyway, my husband—I only realized much later on—wanted me to stop working so he could have the upper hand. You know, if he controlled the finances, he’d control me. Bit by bit, he started to chip away at my confidence.” I couldn’t bring myself to look up from the floor. “He started very subtly, telling me what was okay to buy or not. Then he got angry when I’d use my savings.” I shook my head, finally looking up to see the coldness in Zachary’s eyes.

Why am I telling him this? It’s not like we’re friends.

“That son of a bitch.” His visceral response actually made me feel good. How strange was that? It was like he really cared.

“I’m happy it’s all over, honestly. And I’m happy we never managed to get pregnant.” I closed my eyes. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. It’s very personal.”

“Grace.” His voice was soft. When I opened my eyes, I realized he’d stepped closer. “I’m sorry for everything you’vebeen through, and I’m very sorry for being such an asshole to you. It wasn’t my intention to put you down.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly welcoming either. I can imagine that having someone continuously make snide remarks would put you on edge. I’m sorry too.”

It was hard to form a coherent thought with him so close. He smelled like rain, and mud, and hay, and horse, and I somehow loved it.

“The snide remarks weren’t helping.” He winked. “Still, I don’t want to excuse myself. When you’re an asshole, you’re an asshole. And I was an asshole, so the excuses don’t matter.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that even though I do have my share of blame.”

“Right.” He tilted his head to one side, breaking eye contact. Taking a deep breath, he added, “Want to run back? The rain doesn’t appear to be slowing down.”

As if on cue, another lightning bolt flashed across the sky, followed by a roll of thunder.

“Yeah. This is only getting worse. How are we going to drive back in this weather? Visibility is zero.”

“We’re going to probably need twice as long to make it back to the city.” He was looking outside the barn, obviously trying to decide what to do.