Page 136 of We Redeemed the Rain

Sleep deprived and drugged up on anti-nausea and anti-dizzy medications, I was exhausted. Holding my phone up to my ear in order to hear Jackie’s message felt like a lot of work, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to wake Tag up and ask him to help. So I opted for turning the phone volume down a bit and setting it back on my chest to listen.

“Hey, sister. I almost broke my neck running to Google flights. The good news is I already got a flight booked. The bad news is it’s not until tomorrow? I’m set to land in San Antonio around ten o’clock in the morning. That’s the earliest I could find. Is there someone at the ranch who could pick me up? I don’t really want to shell out the cash for a rental. I hate to sound like a jerk, but I’m happy this happened to you. Want to know why? I FINALLY GET TO SEE THAT SEXY COWBOY!!”

I seized, my body jerking upward and my hands flying to the phone.

“—that you have outright refused to sneak a picture of?—“

To my horror—my gut-twisting horror—my panicked hands did not grip the phone but knocked it off my chest. In slow motion, Iwatched it slide down the white blanket, and slip beneath the railing, clattering to the floor like a stick of dynamite.

I laid there, helpless, squeezing my eyes against Jackie’s slew of words. Gosh, somanywords. I couldn’t look at Tag. That phone drop probably woke the dead.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to finally lay eyes on his”—her naturally low, raspy voice lifted, mimicking my higher voice register with caked-on drama—“gorgeous hair you want to plow your fingers through, his ripped and tan body covered in mud, and his piercing gray eyes that see right through you. If I gotta shell out a few hundred to see how he fills out a pair of work jeans? Then a few hundred it is. Okay, anyway! I got a lot to do before I leave. Love you! Give Tag a kiss for me.”

The silence was deafening.

I was going to kill her.

My chest heaved as humiliation gripped my throat. I’d never been more embarrassed in my entire life. The mud didn’t hold a candle to this. How stupid could I be playing her message out loud? Of course Jackie would say something vulgar. She always did!

I fought conflicting urges to burst into tears or laugh until my sides ached. I covered my face with my hands.

It was crystal clear. She was parroting exactly what I’d told her about Tag. And he would know. Because why would she have said that if I didn’t say it myself?

Even though it was impossible—literallyoutsidethe realm of what could be—I prayed that Tag was still sleeping.

And then I heard him.

A stifled laugh. A shifting foot.

My need to know if he heard trumped my need to hide. I peeked out from my hands to see Tag’s face.

His posture hadn’t changed. He was still head back, arms crossed, legs relaxed. But his eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling, lips pressed into a strained line.

His shoulders quietly shook.

We didn’t say a thing for agonizing seconds. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move.

Samuel Taggart now knew I wanted to touch his hair? That I notonlynoticedhow his jeans looked, buttalkedabout it? It would’ve been bad enough without the jeans comment! Why did I tell her that?

I begged something in the universe—anything out there—to come end me. End me right now. I didn’t deserve life.

His laughter grew until he swiped a hand over his face, covering his mouth.

I whispered, shame creeping up my neck and into my face. “I’m so so sorry.”

He cleared his throat.

“I may have told…” I took a deep, steadying breath as heat melted my face off. “I may have told her you were cute.”

He made a quiethmmsound.

I glanced over to find playful eyes studying me. His chest pulsed with a laugh before he said, “She got all that from the wordcute?”

I covered my face again. “Please kill me.”

Tag lost it.

He laughed, heartily, too heartily, at me. Tossing his head forward and putting his hands on his chest, he gasped for breath. “You’re so—so—red.”

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