Page 69 of Until Then

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and Hayley.”

“Yeah?”

Mom pauses at my front door. “If you tell Noah and he thinks you’re pathetic, he’s not worth your time.”

She leaves me alone, her words pinging back and forth in my skull.

The last thing I want is my deadbeat dad to jump back into my life to get to my . . . boyfriend? Is Noah my boyfriend?

I don’t know, but I’m not shying away from the idea of it.

TWENTY

Noah

Hayley.

I keep thinking of Hayley.

For two weeks, I’ve spent nearly every waking moment with her. Sometimes not awake hours. Twice we fell asleep on her couch, only to have Nan wake us both up, demanding we get to work with chores.

I don’t even mind.

Milton taught me how to move the hay bales on their tractor. I’m eighty percent sure Hayley’s jealous with how much attention I’ve been giving the old girl.

Two weeks of rides across her property, of late-night movies with popcorn and sweats. We drove to Vegas last Saturday and Sunday for a weekend concert Perfectly Broken put on. Tucked in the family suite with Hayley dancing and cheering Rees and the guys on stage was a sight I wouldn’t forget.

She got on with all the band wives and I’m almost positive my nephew has a crush on the woman.

Jude always had great taste.

Yesterday, she brought her world to mine and the ranch opened its gates to my kids in the youth program. For three hours they learned about choreography with animals on set.Hayley supplied the horses, Carter and the stunt team fromWicked Darlingsprovided the demonstrations of leaping and dodging swords like a well-planned dance.

I could spend every hour with the woman. She’s . . . she’s a light in the dreary of the day to day.

Tomorrow will be the first day apart since the trail ride. She’s supposed to go to freaking Oklahoma with her uncles to buy a new horse.

The worst part is I wasinvitedand I can’t go.

After avoiding Rob—my agent—for too long about new contracts and future planning, I finally agreed to meet with a new director about some movie project. Meetings, workouts, emails, prep for the upcoming season. It’s all keeping me from some epic convoy to a horse auction with my Wildfire.

With Briar and Tyrell back from their honeymoon, they insisted we all meet for dinner with Greer, Carter, and a few others.

I’m half-convinced Briar wants us to come because she wants all the gossip about what’s happened since her wedding, and the other half is positive our mutual friend is still holding a grudge we were missing during her wedding send-off.

What’s worse is the morning feels . . . heavy.

Not a good sign.

There’s a weight on my spine. One too familiar. It’s not there, only perceived, but I still walk across the room to reach my ringing phone with a slight curve to my spine.

Maybe it’s time to open the curtains.

I snatch up the phone and answer before I can think too long on it. “Chase.” The grin spreads naturally, a good sign. “Been a few months, man.”

Chase Thorn, the author of theWicked Darlingsseries, became a friend and mentor years ago when the show was first being filmed.

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