“I want to be like you,” I admitted. “Like how you just were with Emmett.”
Her head tilted, a smirk on her face. “What? Annoying?”
“Confident.”
Something in her expression wilted just barely. “You don’t want to be like me, bug, I’m a scatterbrained mess.” She scooted across the bench closer to me, taking my hands. “Your ice is thawing, and we’re going to find out who the real Tess Hayes is, and I already know I’m gonna love her like crazy.”
I squeezed her hands. “I don’t even know where to start, honestly.”
She smiled softly. “I always say rock bottom is the best place to start because there’s nowhere to go but up.”
“Are you saying I’m at rock bottom?”
She pursed her lips, shrugging a shoulder. “I mean…you basically said it without saying it.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned. “What kind of therapist are you?!”
“The best kind, which is why I’m going to start doing weekly equine therapy sessions with you to work through all the shit that asshole put in your head.”
My chest tightened. “Really?” My voice was thick, all humor completely gone. “You’d do that for me?”
She looked at me, confused. “Of course I would, Tess. I’d do anything for you.” Her hands firmly clasped my shoulders. “Now, let’s think of something you can do. Something you’ll enjoy.”
“And will preferably make me money,” I added. “At the hearing last Friday, the judge said I needed to have a job by next month when we meet again.”
“Okay, so you need a job and a hobby.”
“What’s your hobby?”
“Creating chaos, but I don’t think that’s your vibe.”
I frowned. “No, not really.”
She squinted at me. “Savannah likes self-care?”
“Is that an actual hobby?”
She shrugged. “Fuck if I know. I just like reaping the benefits. All those samples.” She glanced around the truck. “What about lifting weights like Emmett?” I shook my head, grimacing. “Beau’s into all that techy agriculture stuff, what about that? You’ve always been good with computers.”
“Doesn’t sound very me.” I glanced around the ranch, at all the people working with their hands and bodies. They looked strong, capable. I wanted to feel like that after spending years feeling the opposite. “I think I need something physical, something that makes my mind and body feel good. But not that insane bulking stuff Emmett does.”
“What does Levi do?”
My eyes snapped to hers. “Levi?” I squeaked.
Her eyes took on a wicked gleam. “Yes, Tess, Levi, your sexy lawyer who’s been drooling over you for weeks. That man definitely doessomethingphysical to look like that while sitting behind a desk all day.” My mind instantly went back to when I drove past him running in the park last week, and the way the muscles in his legs flexed with each stride, his skin glistening with sweat.
“He is not drooling over me.” I shifted in my seat. “And I’ve seen him running a few times.”
“Running has a shitload of mental benefits, actually. Maybe you should try it.” Then, she nudged me with her elbow, smirking. “And it’d be something he could help you with and for y’all to bond over.”
I blushed, looking down at my lap. “He’s already helping me enough as it is. The last thing he’d want is some needy client asking to hang out outside of work.” That’s all I was to him anyway: work.
“Okay, I’m chalking this up to Jeremy rotting your brain, but you’re hot and he’s hot, and the chemistry between you two is insane.”
“We don’t have chemistry, Delilah. He’s just nicer to me because of how interconnected our families are.”
“No. I was at that wedding; there’s something there. Maybe he’s holding back because of everything, but he didn’t dance with anyone else like that. Just you. So that argument is bullshit.” I wanted to believe her, but it was so hard to. Sometimes I thought maybe he saw me as something more, but then there were times I wasn’t so sure.
