Page 104 of Someone to Hold

She gives me a little shove forward then turns to her kids. “I’m going to walk Chase out to his truck real quick.”

I start to turn when the front door shuts behind her, but she points forward.

“Not so close to the house. I don’t them want to hear this.”

Despite the slight breeze cutting through my chambray shirt, my palms and pits are sweaty. “This isn’t what you think,” I say when we get to the bottom of the steps. “I’m not kicking you out.”

“You signed the contract without giving me a chance to talk to Linda first.”

I rub a hand over my jaw and look up at the cobalt blue sky, trying to figure out how the good deed I wanted to do went so bad. A few fluffy clouds drift over the mountain peaks, but it feels like we’re right back in a storm again.

“I saw Bryson in town last week. He said there’s a developer from the East Coast looking for available land in the area for a master planned community. They were going to approach Linda as soon as she got back with an offer bigger than anything you or I could make.”

Molly narrows her eyes. “Why would he tell you that?”

“He thinks keeping the land around Skylark locally owned is better for the town.” I shrug. “I’m the hometown boy people want to see win. I had Bryson contact Linda to expedite the sale.”

“You didn’t think to talk to me first?”

“You were so excited about the wedding reception, and I didn’t want you to feel discouraged before your big event.” I wince at how weak my reasoning sounds now. Fucking hindsight. “Then everything happened with my dad and the storm…”

I shake my head. “I talked to a real estate attorney aboutsubdividing the property so you can buy the acreage you need. We’ll split the land, and you keep the house. I’ll sell it to you for a fair price.” I offer her what I hope is a convincing smile. “You kind of have an in with the owner, you know.”

Molly goes perfectly still, her lips pressing into a thin line. “Because I’m having sex with you.”

“What? No. That doesn’t have anything to do with?—”

“You should have told me.”

“You said you might not have the money until the end of the season. I didn’t want you to worry about whether or not you’d be able to swing it or if Linda would wait. I was trying to take care of you.”

“Right. Like everybody in my life tries to take care of me. And make my decisions without me. Because nobody seems to think I can handle it.”

Her words land like a slap, and I visibly flinch. But I don’t know how to fix it. How do I make her see this came from love, even if I haven’t said those three words out loud?

“I didn’t do this to control anything. I did it because?—”

“No.” She holds up a hand, and her voice cuts like broken glass. “I can’t talk to you right now. I’ll say something I’ll regret.”

“Molly—”

“Please leave.”

She’s looking at me like she doesn’t even recognize the man in front of her. I need to make her see that I wanted to protect what we were building. That I thought I was doing the right thing. But the way she refuses to meet my eyes, holding herself closed off and still, tells me I’ve broken something that might not be fixable.

So I do the only thing I can. I walk away for now, hoping like hell I haven’t just ruined the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

32

MOLLY

Chase movedthe two horses and his Airstream back to Ray’s ranch the morning after I asked him to leave.

Neither of my children was happy to find him and the animals gone when they got off the bus that afternoon, but I reminded them that the deal with Chase had always been him helping until my ankle healed. And with Linda due to arrive home next week, there’s no point in him staying here any longer.

I didn’t bother mentioning the small fact that he’s about to own our home.

“Have you talked to her about us staying in Skylark?” Laurel asked as we shared an after-school snack of apples and peanut butter. “She can’t stop us, right?”