Page 51 of The Moments You Were Mine

“Stop it,” I growled. “I refuse to let you blame yourself for any of it. This place wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for you! Rafe never would have rolled up his sleeves and worked side by side with you to save it if you hadn’t convinced him it was the right thing to do. Your mom would have slipped away into addiction if you hadn’t found a way to get her help. You are one of the strongest humans I’ve ever met. So donotberate yourself for acting your actual age for a few short years instead of being the mini adult you’ve always been.”

Theo came out of the house, his eyes darting between Fallon and me, worry in them. I swallowed hard over the fury I felt. It wasn’t directed at Fallon but at whoever had made her doubt herself. The asshole JJ. Whoever was attacking the ranch.

“You ready to go see some horses?” I asked him.

His eyes lit up. “Dogs too?”

I glanced over at Fallon, and she shrugged. “Teddy usually brings his dogs with him to work. The female, June, just had puppies, so she’ll probably still be at his place, but it’s likely he’ll have Johnny with him.”

“Puppies!” Theo exclaimed just as I said, “Johnny and June?”

My lips twitched, and I was relieved when I saw hers do the same.

“Teddy is a romantic. He says Johnny Cash and June Carter are his ultimate life goals.”

I snorted. “Isn’t he, like, fifty or something and still single?”

Fallon’s expression turned wary. “Yeah. But before Mom’s accident, I thought maybe…” She shook her head. “He’s been a regular at the rehabilitation center since she’s been there.”

“Your mom and Teddy are hooking up?” It was hard to imagine the wild beauty, Lauren, dating the narrow-faced, red-haired, skinny cowboy.

“I’m not sure she’ll let anyone close after what happened to her leg,” Fallon said sadly.

“She’s going through a lot right now, but people live long, happy lives without a limb. The prosthetics they make nowadays allow people to do nearly everything they did before.”

She shrugged and started down the drive, veering off to take the steps and the worn path to the main house on foot.

“Fallon,” I called out, irritation growing inside me as I realized she was just walking away from the house. “You aren’t going to lock up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut the door, Parker. It locks automatically. I’ll give you a code once I have it programmed in by the security team.”

I mounted the porch, slammed the door a bit harder than I should have, scooped up Theo, and jogged down the path till I caught up with her. “The security team has some explainingto do.”

She glanced over at me. “You’re right. They do.”

“Does the detective in San Diego still insist JJ is there?” I asked.

“When I talked to him after the tractor incident, yes.”

“There are ways to trick an ankle monitor, Fallon. I could do it with my eyes closed.”

Her eyes turned thoughtful. “A month ago, I would have said JJ didn’t have that much tech savvy in him, but I’m not sure I ever really knew him.” That bitter tone eked into her words again. The self-reproach.

“Who really ever knows anyone?” I said. “Who was it that said that quote you love? The one about people only seeing the version of us that we choose to show them?”

“You know who it is,” she shot back. And I held back my smile.

“Eleanor Roosevelt?”

“Try again, Kermit.”

“Oprah Winfrey?” She rolled her eyes at me, and I considered it one of my achievements for the day.

“I know, that chick from The Painted Daisies? The singer who died?”

She gave me an exasperated huff. “That would be Landry Kim, and no, it wasn’t her or her sister, whoactuallywrites their music. But you’re getting closer. It was a singer.”

“Country artist or pop?” I put as much loathing as I could into the words, and she finally slammed a fist into my shoulder like she had in the old days.