Page 64 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

“I’d appreciate that.”

Just like the first time I met him, the confidence he truly cares and is going to do his best settles over me. None of the other attorneys I discussed the situation with gave me any hope. They all said it was an impossible ask. But Matt Fields said he wouldfight, and that’s what I need right now.

A fighter.

It was worth it, Lyla.

All this.

The heartache. The contract. The wedding. A potential lifetime with Silas giving me whiplash.

All worth it if Fields does his job well.

“And Lyla?”

I fight back the sting of tears. “Yeah, I’m still here.”

“He’s in good hands. I want to reassure you of that. I’ll do everything I can.”

And I believe him.

I don’t know why. Attorneys are notorious for telling people what they want to hear. But when he says it, I believe this may all work out.

Somehow.

I end the call and swallow the emotion threatening to choke me. The last thing I need to do sitting on a bench on Main Street in Millsburg is break down into hysterics.

It would only add to the gossip already swirling around town about me and Silas.

I have to keep my cool here and back up the mountain with him.

Anything that happened between us the other night has to be forgotten, as if it were a bad dream instead of the harsh reality of my new life.

* * *

SILAS

Lyla steps out of Jensen’s with two plastic bags hanging from her hand and approaches me at the truck, her eyes slightly red as if she’s been crying.

After watching her sit on the bench and make phone calls for half an hour, then walk this way and duck into Jensen’s without a word of acknowledgment or glance my way, my entire body is so tense, it feels like I might snap in half. But now that I can see she’s upset, my chest tightens with concern instead of the annoyance I’ve been harboring all morning.

She finally reaches me, stopping a few feet away, and Whiskey walks over to her, rubbing his head against her thigh, waiting for her to scratch him.

Traitor.

The longer she’s around, the more attached to her he seems to get—which means I’m losing my best friendandmy sanity to this woman. She shifts her bags into one hand and scratches the top of his head, murmuring something to him without looking at me.

“You ready to go?”

Her head snaps up, and she narrows her gaze on me. “Yes…areyou?”

I push off the truck, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’ve been ready for half an hour.”

She offers me a saccharin-sweet smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, which I probably deserve after my snide remark. “Well, I’m glad I gave you some time alone then, to think.”

To think?

Lyla brushes past me, her shoulder bumping into mine deliberately, sending a little zing of electricity through me, along with renewed annoyance. She opens the passenger side and climbs in without another glance my way.

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