Page 35 of His Eighth Ride

He led the way up the steps to the porch and through the door, holding it for both dogs before Opal arrived. She met his eye, fired a fierce look at him she wasn’t sure how he’d take, and continued past him into the warmth of his cabin.

She gave Max a death glare as the dog went to drink out of Boots’s bowl, and she didn’t quite know what to do with herself as Tag put Boots back in his crate and then started getting out milk, hot chocolate packets, mugs, and spoons.

Finally, he had nothing else to do to distract him, and he had to look at her. Then he turned away and said, “I was saving these.” He opened the cupboard and grabbed something. When he plunked it on the counter, she saw the box of candy canes.

Her heartbeat bobbed against her breastbone. “You got candy canes for me?”

“I’ve never had them in hot chocolate, and you swear by them.”

Opal reached for the box, and he let her take it. She opened it and pulled out one of the cheery red-and-white treats. “I love these.”

“Never had much use for them myself,” he said.

“This is not the kind of talking I want you to do,” she said.

He turned to the microwave when it beeped and took out the milk he’d put in a few minutes ago. He poured it into two mugs and pushed one in front of her.

Tag came around the counter and sat down at the other end of it, with one barstool between them. Opal reached for a packet of hot chocolate powder and ripped it open. She poured it into her mug, then did it again with a second one. She used her candy cane to start mixing, knowing she’d get the extra-chocolatey flavor combined with mint in only a minute.

“Talina was a flirt,” he said. “She cheated on me.”

Opal’s stirring motion stalled. She couldn’t even get her eyes to move over to his. “That’s crazy.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means—that’s crazy. Who would cheat on you?” She managed to look at him then, this gentle giant of a man. He sat with his shoulders hunched forward as if he needed to protect himself. Head down. Eyes on his steaming milk, without any hot chocolate powder in it yet.

“With who?” Opal asked, her thoughts just spilling from her. “I mean, you’re so, so amazing, and handsome, and wonderful. How could she ever want someone else?”

Silence descended on them then, amplifying and shouting her words back at her. Embarrassment climbed through her veins, and Opal sucked in a tight breath and held it in her lungs while she refocused on her hot drink.

“I just mean,” she said when Tag didn’t jump in with anything. “That I find it very odd that someone would want to cheat on you. It feels crazy to me, that’s all.”

“Well, thank you for sayin’ so,” he drawled. “But it happened, and maybe I jump—jumped to some conclusions of what was happening in the barn.”

Opal slid off her stool and over to the next one. Tag usually put his arm around her first, or took her hand first, or leaned into her first. This morning, he sat like a statue, and Opal leaned her head against his arm.

“I don’t want to go out with Steele,” she said. “Not even a little bit. He said something funny about not being able to find anything, and it reminded me of something my momma used to say to Easton. That was it.”

Tag nodded. “I hear you.”

Opal took a moment to think about what he’d said. “But do you believe me?” she asked.

He started to nod really slowly, and he finally ducked his head and looked at her. “Yes, honeybear, I believe you.”

Opal glowed under his attention. “Honeybear,” she said. “That’s a new one.”

“I’m sorry I—I just saw something that wasn’t there.”

She’d learned to listen to what patients said—and what they didn’t say—so she could ask questions to get to the root of their ailments. “What did you see?”

“The truth?”

“If you can’t tell me the truth, I don’t want to plan the Christmas party with you later today, and I don’t want to go get breakfast burritos with you before church on Sunday.”

Tag smiled, but it didn’t stay long. “My mind blitzed out. I saw her flirting with another guy, and then him kissing her, and she was kissing him back, and….” He trailed off, his voice turning into a ghost of itself.

Opal said nothing, because Tag had gone, and he probably wouldn’t hear her anyway.

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