She shrugs. "You have not answered one of my questions since I came here. Why would I ask another?"
"Smart ass," I mutter. She raises a brow and smirks, and I tell her anyway. I owe her some answers, even if they're partial truths. "Sheriff Townsend owed my father a favor, so he brought me here instead of taking me to prison. To stay here, I had to keep quiet. I had to be forgotten. No one could know who I was, where I was from, or why I was suddenly here. You don't just get to kill somebody and walk away." She's quiet, and I know I haven't said anything that's probably not obvious. Laney is well aware my name isn't Dallas, and given she knows precisely what happened back in Willow Creek, it's not hard to draw conclusions about why I'm not using that name now. "For the record, I never lied about not having siblings. I didn't know I had a brother until I showed up here. Hell, I didn't know I had an uncle for that matter."
"How exactly is he your brother? I thought Baylor is his father, and if Baylor is your uncle, wouldn't that make him your dad's brother?"
"Yep, sure does, hence why I didn't know he existed. My father and Baylor hadn't spoken in eighteen years until I showed up on his front doorstep. Remember that fantastic mother I tried to hide from you? Turns out she's even more stellar than I knew, because she didn't just royally screw me and my father over; she screwed his brother first."
"No," she says with a gasp.
I take my hat off and run my hand through my hair before putting it back on my head and hanging my arms over the fence. "She hooked up with Baylor before she ever married my father. My mother lost her virginity to Baylor, got pregnant, and then put the baby up for adoption without anyone ever knowing. It's the weight of that secret that I believe ended her marriage to my father. She couldn't bear the weight of her deception. Every day,she had to look at him and keep this despicable secret. You know I spent three summers with her in high school, and she never once mentioned Baylor or Trigg. Even now, she holds onto her secret."
"Wow, I don't even know what to say. Did she love Baylor?"
"I don't think so, but from what I've gathered, I'm pretty sure he loved her. Baylor doesn't talk about what happened, and of course, my father never did; hence, how I didn't know he existed, but from what Trigg and I have put together, there was a party that both my mother and uncle attended. There was lots of drinking, and what we speculate happened is that she didn't want to be inexperienced for her first time with my father. We think Baylor knew exactly who she was, but she didn't know it was him. Seven Minutes in Heaven was played differently around these parts when they were teenagers. When you entered that dark room, you didn't always know who you were going in with, and the time stopped when you came out. Speculation aside, we know she loved my dad first, and because she loved my dad, she tried to erase what happened until finally she couldn't block it out anymore, and she just left."
It's unfathomable to me how she could so easily walk away from two of her children. The second I saw that little girl by Laney's side, my heart sank into my stomach at the possibility she might have been mine. I never could have walked away.
"Does Trigg know who I am? I mean, does he know about our past?"
"No...or rather, I don't think he does. I'm still trying to piece that together myself. The only person who knows who you are is Baylor. I don't talk about you, Laney. I left you in Willow Creek."
Damn it, the second I see her spine straighten, I know I chose the wrong words.
"Ouch, thanks for the reminder." She hops off the fence. "Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up. I need to finish up with Madison," she says, starting toward the center of the arena. "Oh, and don't worry about your secret. It's clear people here know youas someone else, someone I don't know anymore. I'll stay out of your way, and you can stay out of mine."
After six years of carefully constructed distance and cutting ties with everyone I cared about, I finally started to build something that resembled a life after her, and now she's here. This is going to be a long, long summer and an even longer forever after that—if my secrets don't burn it all down first.
Chapter 17
LANEY
"Christ!" I throw my hand over my heart and stop dead in my tracks on the side of the road.
Bending down, I grab my knees to recenter myself after being spooked half to death by the deer that just darted out in front of me on my morning jog. I'm not a runner; the most athletic I'd been growing up was dancing on the drill team, and I only did that to be with Sydney. I've never been drawn to working out. However, something about the open countryside and the crunch of loose gravel under my feet has my thoughts untangling. The weight of my problems feels manageable, and the rhythmic, steady beat of my heart almost sounds like natural meditation. Right now, I need to quiet the noise more than ever.
I have so many things to sift through, and I don't know where to begin. I knew there was a possibility I'd run into London when I agreed to work with Madison's horse, and when I left Fairfield, I was prepared for that possibility. I had even run through possible scenarios of how to bring up the past and what had brought him here, and while I know even the best laid plans can turn to shit, I studied. I thought I knew what cards he would pull, and I was ready to hit back and demand answers. What I didn't see comingwas the part where he acted like he still cared or, even worse, was hurt.
At that moment, I was taken aback, and then I was mad, and because of that, I threw up my walls. I tossed and turned all night, thinking about how all of this could simply be one big devastating miscommunication. I understand why London needed to disappear, to hide—but severing connections with those who matter most to live a life in exile? That's the part I cannot reconcile.
He made his choices believing they served everyone's best interests, but the flip side of those decisions is trusting your friends and having faith that the people you care about will understand. He could have confided in me, in Fisher, in Sydney… We all would have stood by him unwaveringly.
I've also considered that miscommunication might be the least of my worries. Misunderstandings can be rectified, but regret is a different matter. It lingers, remaining constant, until the person holding onto it decides to let it go. It's the regret I believe he harbors for me that eats me alive. I'm the reason he had to leave to begin with, but how dare he make me the villain. It may have been his knife that made the fatal blow, but I'm the one who wielded it. He stole my crime, pushed me away, and now blames me for the life he chose. I never would have asked him for this.
"Damn it." I kick a rock and put both my hands atop my head.
The distinct sound of a horse snorting has me whipping around. "It's kismet that we keep running into each other this way," Trigg says, slowly riding his horse out of the grove along the road.
"I'm not sure that's the word I would use for trespassing," I say, dropping my hands to my hips. "You must be the reason I almost got trampled by a deer."
"So, that's the reason for your delightful greeting," he mocks. "Well, I'm very sorry for spooking a deer. I assure you I did not instruct him to mow you down."
I roll my eyes. "Whatever." I came out here to clear my head,not clutter it by giving more time to another Hale. "Just stay on your own property, and you won't be liable for any collateral damage due to your trespassing." I know I ran farther than last time, but there's at least a mile or two between where I stand and the Hale property.
He chuckles as I pull my foot to my rear and stretch out my thigh muscles before preparing to take off. "Technically, this is my property."
I drop my foot and squint as I look at the land. I work with the horses on the back half of the property, away from the stables where the racehorses and breeding mares are kept. On the second day of working with Pria, I took her for a ride along the perimeter to explore and determine her temperament. I know he's lying.
"I'm not in the mood for head games today, Trigg. I need to get back to Fairfield and get ready for my shift."
