Marisol turned, trying to smile at the slim woman with the long brown braid parking a smaller ATV next to Robert’s, but her face refused to cooperate. She’d lost her grip on her control. All her stupid feelings were simmering inches from the surface, a fact that made fear come rushing back in full force, banishing the more complicated emotions.
“Hey Lily.” Robert lifted a hand in welcome.
Marisol took advantage of the moment to move away from him, heading back toward her own ATV, determined to make a break for the safety of her dusty little room as soon as possible.
“Glad you’re home,” Lily said, waving at Robert before turning to Marisol. “You must be Marisol. I’m Lily, John’s wife. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” Marisol extended her hand, but Lily held hers up in a sign of surrender.
“I’m probably contagious with this horrible bug,” the other woman explained, dividing her attention between Marisol and Robert. “John came down with it a few hours ago, and after three days the kids can barely keep down a few teaspoons of Sprite. I’m afraid Peyton might have to go to the clinic for an IV if we can’t keep more fluids in him tomorrow.”
“Shit,” Robert said, lifting his hat to run a hand through his thick hair. “I’m so sorry, Lil. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“You’re already helping, sweetheart.” Lily’s smile made dimples pop in her freckled cheeks. Even with dark circles under her eyes, she was a cute woman. Not pretty, but the kind of person who was interesting to look at, with a sunny spirit that made interesting attractive. “I’m just sorry John won’t be able to help tomorrow. He thinks he’s going to throw it off by then, but this bug is hitting adults even harder than the kids. Kip’s been out since Monday, and Darrell ended up at the hospital last night.”
“Tell John to take care of himself. Cole and I can handle everything on our own,” Robert said. “What about Cole? Is he still okay?”
“Last I heard,” Lily said. “But he’s been gone since yesterday. We’re missing about a hundred head, some of them calves that need to be worked on. Cole thought they must have wandered up the gulley and gotten trapped in the canyons, so he rode out on horseback to look. I tried calling him a little while ago, but his cell isn’t getting service.”
Robert sighed. “Well, I’ll wait until tomorrow morning. If we don’t hear from him by seven or—”
“Why don’t I head out and let you two finish talking business?” Marisol slid a leg over the seat of her four-wheeler, sensing there wouldn’t be a better moment to make her getaway.
“You don’t have to leave,” Robert said, in a tone that made her suspect he wanted to pick up their conversation where they’d left off. “We won’t be long.”
“And I promise not to breathe on you,” Lily said. “I’m so sorry your first visit coincides with the Lonesome Point plague. We’re usually a lot more fun around here.”
“Absolutely no worries. I understand, and I should get some rest anyway,” Marisol said, in desperate need of a few minutes alone. “We’ve had a big week, and I’ve got a ton of email to tackle tomorrow while Robert’s depriving baby bulls of their balls.”
Lily laughed, but Robert barely smiled, and Marisol could feel his pointed gaze on her face as she started up the four-wheeler and waved goodbye. “Nice to meet you, Lily.”
“You too,” Lily said, but she didn’t seem upset to see Marisol drive away. She and Robert had important things to discuss, after all, and Marisol was only in the way.
Marisol didn’t like being in the way. She disliked being under fire even less.
The past hour with Robert had left her feeling like she’d been under siege, and barely managed to hold the gates against the opposing army. She had intended to offer to help out around the ranch if she was needed, but now she knew better than to think she could spend an entire day with Robert and have any hope of emerging intact from the experience. He’d have her throwing herself into his arms and confessing her stupid sob story by lunchtime if she weren't careful.
She was going to have to find an excuse to get off Lawson land and away from Robert Lawson or there would be no question ofifshe would break, only when.
As soon as she was back in her room—after creeping through the empty kitchen and living room, doing her best not to make enough noise to summon Laura Mae from the den down the hall—Marisol got online and started searching for ways to keep busy. In a couple of minutes, she had a plan to keep herself occupied tomorrow. There were two coffee shops with Wi-Fi in Lonesome Point, as well as a tea shop and several saloons in case she decided she needed something stiffer to drink. There also appeared to be decent shopping, including the lingerie store run by Robert’s best friend, Mia, whom Marisol knew from exchanging emails about the benefit concert. If Marisol paced herself and could convince Mia to join her for dinner tomorrow night, she would be able to ensure she and Robert weren’t alone again for twenty-four hours.
She would have twenty-four hours to patch up the weak places in her defenses and prepare for another siege. She hoped it would be enough. By now, she knew Robert well enough to know that he was inexorable once he found a wrong in need of righting. The moment he’d realized the wiring was faulty in her apartment, he’d had to make a trip to Home Depot for copper wire that very instant. Now that he had a clue how screwed up her internal wiring was, he wasn’t going to rest until he’d done his best to patch her up.
Unfortunately for them both, human hearts were much harder to fix than the average electrical system, and Marisol had no intention of letting anyone get close enough to hers to try. She wasn’t here to be fixed, she was here to get Robert’s head on straight with regards to his career and steer them both toward continued success. Success was what kept her warm at night, not friends or family, and she was perfectly happy that way.
So happy that when she turned off the light and curled under the well-worn patchwork quilt, she only had to fight the urge to cry for a few minutes before she fell asleep.
CHAPTERFIVE
Timing is everything,and it was becoming increasingly obvious Bubba’s timing was complete shit.
By the time he helped Lily bring popsicles from the freezer in the barn back to her house to tempt the sick kids, chatted briefly with John through the bathroom door where the poor man was camped out by the toilet, and got the four-wheelers locked in the shed, both his mother and Marisol had gone to bed.
It was only a little after eight, but their doors were closed and the lights were off. Bubba’s plans to talk sense into his mother and finish the conversation he and Marisol had started by the barn were both put on hold. A part of him was relieved to have been spared the tough talk with Laura Mae—hopefully she’d be back to her usual stern, but friendly, self come morning—but he hated to lose his chance at getting through to Marisol. She wanted to trust him. He’d seen it in her eyes before Lily pulled up.
Hell, she needed to trust him. He would never have guessed it from the time they’d spent together so far, but the woman was in a lot of pain. The easy laughter, quick wit, and abundance of sass were all part of the shield she used to mask her hurt. But the shield had slipped tonight, and Bubba had seen a wounded woman who desperately needed a friend.
At that moment, he’d resolved to be that friend, to put aside how much he wanted her and be a person she could count on.