12
GARRETT
Pine’s Ranch
I pulled in behind her Mercedes and followed her into the house. “I want details, Brin,” I growled at her. I was still slightly pissed that she’d immediately assumed I wouldn’t believe her about the stalker.
It meant she didn’t trust me yet. Not fully. I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have her not trusting me. I didn’t think too long about why it was so important, I just knew it was true. Despite knowing I could never truly trust her because I didn’t have that in me anymore.
“Not before I feed Romeo. I’m a mother now. He needs to be my first priority.”
Was she kidding me? Her safety was less important than feeding a cat?
But I could see she was not about to be deterred. She assembled the bottle of formula with the tiny little nipple and coaxed the kitten’s mouth open by rubbing gently under his chin.
Finally the cat got the idea after she plopped a few drops into his mouth. Then he latched on, and when she turned around to look at me the expression of wonder and pride in her face was unlike anything I had ever seen.
I nearly staggered, I was so thunderstruck by how that look made me feel. It was as if she had just discovered she had value in this world and I was discovering that with her.
I made my way to the couch and watched as she concentrated on her pet. As if she could will the animal to live.
“It’s tiny, Brin. Really tiny,” I said, trying to make sure she understood not to get too attached.
But she looked at me stubbornly. “I know. I know he’s at risk. But he deserves a chance. His mother just left him in the barn and no one should be left by their mother.”
I thought of her own mother. Barely present in her life. Only there when Brin had become attractive enough to deserve her attention. That was no kind of mother. And lord knew Hank hadn’t been any kind of father.
It suddenly occurred to me just how on her own Brin had been growing up.
Romeo, simply too tired to eat anymore, fell asleep in Brin’s hands. She looked at me anxiously and I thought I would do anything in the world to make her happy.
Which seemed like a bizarre thought to have, but it was there.
“Would you mind getting the supplies out of my car? I bought him his own bed.”
Of course she had. And as I pulled the bags out I realized she’d bought about a hundred toys, too. It was then I had my second revelation of the day when it came to her.
Brin wanted to love something so bad it was exploding out of her.
What if she loved you?
Immediately I shook that thought away. I didn’t want love. I’d had love—or thought I’d had love when all I’d had was a lie.
I remembered standing up in front of that church in front of all my friends and family waiting for Betty to walk down that aisle, thinking it was the happiest moment of my life. In those fifteen minutes I told myself she was just fussing with her dress or her hair. In those fifteen minutes I told myself she was having a battle with nerves. But somehow I knew. I knew in those fifteen minutes, before her father entered the church alone and handed me a letter, the expression on his face grim, that love was the biggest fucking lie of all time.
I wanted nothing to do with it. I just wished I could be honest enough with myself to say I wanted nothing to do with Brin.
I brought in all her stuff and watched as she settled Romeo into his bed. Some fuzzy toys pressed in with him to keep him warm.
“I’ll need to wake him up every two hours or so to feed him. I should set a timer on my phone.”
Yeah, like she was going to forget to feed the cat.
“Brin, enough,” I said, catching her attention as she started to make her way back out the door to the car.
“Let me just get my stuff. I dumped it all out of my purse into my car.”
“Brin.” I grabbed her hand so she had to turn and face me. “We need to talk about this afternoon.”
