Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“Morning,” Charlie mumbles as he walks past me into the barn. “We need to talk?”
I don’t look at him until she turns and walks back to her office, never once looking my way. “Not really.”
“She’s transferring her horse to the other stable,” he informs me, and I just nod. My eyes get dry as I try to blink them.
“Okay,” I say softly.
“Wow.” He shakes his head, and I finally look down at my boots and then up. “Just like that.”
“Just like that,” I repeat. “I have to get to work,” I tell him, walking to my office, knowing I have to let her go. I have to really let her go.
Chapter Thirty-Five
LILAH
The front door opens, and I look up from my desk and see Lucy skip in. “Hey, Lilah.” She smiles at me as the door shuts behind her. For the past almost two weeks, Lucy has been coming into the office by herself. Which makes it a bit better than me having to deal with Emmett. Ten days since I last woke in his arms. Ten days since the end of us even though nothing said we started to begin with. In the blink of an eye, it was gone, and I was pushing forward. I was doing what I needed to do in order not to see him more than I had to.
“Hey, pretty lady.” I smile back at her, trying not to show her how much my heart hurts. How much I hurt. “How was your day?” I lean back, watching her walk to me. The same routine as before, hanging with me before going home and doing their thing. Something that was our thing but is now not.
“Good,” she answers, plopping her bag down beside my desk. “I had gym with Wyatt.”
“Oh.” I raise my eyebrows.
“Yeah, it was all outside, so they put the two classes together,” she explains to me, taking out her binder that she puts her homework in, as she comes to the chair that is beside my desk for her.
“Did you like it?” I ask as she sits down and opens her book.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I also asked why we didn’t have horseback riding as an activity,” she informs me. “The teacher said he would look into it.”
“I bet he will.” I try not to laugh.
“Will you come riding with me tonight?” she asks again. She’s asked me all week long and all week long I’ve come up with excuse after excuse, hoping that one day she won’t ask me, and I won’t have to let her down.
“I can’t tonight,” I say, not bothering to come up with another excuse because frankly, I don’t know what else to say.
“You never come riding with me anymore,” she pouts softly, and I have to fight back the tears.
“I want nothing more than to go riding with you.” I rub my hand over her hair. “One of these days, we’ll go riding again together.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back at me.
She does her homework beside me until I push away from the desk. “Okay, pretty girl, I have to head out.” She closes her binder and puts it in her bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say, and she nods as I walk her to the barn. My eyes stay on her the whole time she walks into the barn and toward her father. She skips to him the remainder of the distance, and he looks up at me, and for a split second, I watch him before it just becomes too much, so I turn around, leaving them both there together.
I’m walking out of the barn, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth toward my truck. My head is down when I bump into Charlie. “Hey,” he says.
“Sorry.” I try to blink away the tears that threaten to come. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“No worries,” he assures me, taking me in. “You good?”
“Yup,” I confirm. “All good. Thanks for transferring Juliet for me,” I tell him of the uncomfortable request I made last week as soon as I got to work.
“No worries, we had a place, so it’s all good.” He puts his hands on his hips. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’m fine.” I swallow the lump. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you then.” He smiles sadly at me as I walk around him.
Instead of going home, I make my way over to the little creek. I put my phone in my back pocket as I take a walk. The sounds of the stream make it very peaceful. My head is still twirling, and I’m sadly still thinking about Emmett when I spot someone in my peripheral vision. Turning my head to the side, I spot Derek walking down the same path, his hands in his pants pockets as he looks up and stops walking. “Lilah,” he says, “I had no idea you would be here.” He holds up both his hands and shakes his head side to side.