Page 36 of Destined for the Cowboy

“Yes, it does. And there’s a lot of that there, but this seems…more. Like he assumes he’s not wanted or welcome. Or rather, is surprised when he is. Maybe that’s closer.”

“Is this one of your students?”

Tris grimaced. “I wish, because then I would have access to his history, and maybe that would help.”

Lark looked at her consideringly, and after a moment asked, “Is this somebody from Last Stand?”

That made her smile. “Yes. And if you ask me, an important part of Last Stand.”

The other woman smiled back. “I believe you. You were, after all, married to an important part of Last Stand.”

Comments like that always gave her a sort of double-sided snap, pleasure that people remembered and honored David, underlain with the sharp sting of pain that he was gone. Except…this time, the sting wasn’t quite so sharp. Because she was distracted, and wanted to know anything Lark could tell her.

“So, do you want to tell me who it is on the off chance I may know some specifics that I can share—understanding that there’s much I couldn’t, if it was from my prior work—or do you want to keep it vague and general?”

Tris hadn’t expected her to be quite so direct. “You’re going to fit right in with the Highwaters,” she said, not keeping her admiration for one of Last Stand’s first families out of her voice. “They don’t beat around the bush either.”

“Kane did,” she said simply. “It took a long time for him to trust. Sometimes he still catches himself slipping into his old way of thinking.”

The open, honest admission blew up the walls Tris had thought she needed. If, after what he’d been through, Kane Highwater had been able to trust this woman, then she had to be worthy of it.

“Logan Fox,” she said abruptly.

“Ah.” Lark said it as if she’d had a suspicion confirmed. At Tris’s look, she smiled. “I’d heard you two share a love of history and visiting historical sites. And that he went with all of you Thorpes and the soon-to-be Thorpe to the Space Center.”

“Oh.” Silly as it was, she sometimes forgot just how her brother could make any grapevine hum. “Yes. He did.” She threw away the last of her reservations. “I’m trying to understand, but he goes from open and interested in things to withdrawn and distant so quickly sometimes…”

She didn’t mention that one of those things was her. She was still wrestling with the very thought of being so…fascinated by a man. She’d thought that part of her life over. But she couldn’t deny he intrigued her, and in more ways than one. She wasn’t sure what to call it, not yet, but at the very least she wanted to be his friend. And not just because it seemed like he needed one.

But she sensed this was a man you’d have to tread carefully with, and to her own shock, she didn’t want to put a foot wrong with him. He mattered to her. Whether that could become something else, become more…well, she didn’t know that. Yet.

“If you’ve gotten open and interested out of him, you’re ahead of most of us,” Lark said with a smile. Then, seriously, she asked, “So, I’m guessing you want my take on how his time in the system might have affected him, and maybe caused this?”

Tris went with honesty. “I don’t want to ask just anyone, because I know a lot of people in town think he’s…odd. You’re the only one I know of who might be able to tell me, without me stirring up a lot of unwanted dust, or sparking rumors, oranything like that. I don’t want to pry into things that aren’t my business, but I don’t want to hurt him inadvertently.”

Lark considered this for a moment, then nodded. “I don’t work at CPS anymore, but I still feel bound by their rules. So I can only give you my speculation on how it might affect someone, based on my experience.”

“Exactly what I want.”

“And,” Lark added, “in any case, I would never want to betray Logan. It’s his story to tell, not mine.”

Tris appreciated that, and liked that Lark had said it, and meant it. “I understand. I just wanted to know…if there was a way I could help, or at the least, not hurt.”

Lark studied her for a moment, then nodded. Tris felt as if she’d passed some kind of test. Lark took a sip of her latte, as if she needed to brace herself. And Tris had the thought that if this was how she felt about a case that occurred long before she’d started working for the agency, it was no wonder she’d left. And if she could feel that way about a case she’d had nothing to do with, it was no wonder she was so good at what she did now.

“All right. A child who went through what he did will obviously have trust issues.”

“I would think so,” Tris said. “The very people he should be able to trust most to take care of him, he couldn’t.”

Lark nodded. “And…” She hesitated, then went on. “This was in the news early on—it was a huge local story back then—so I’m not betraying anything that’s not general knowledge. He was very young, and there was physical abuse involved.”

Tris’s breath jammed up in her throat. When she could speak, she said in no small amount of wonder, “So a child who was abused and abandoned so young grew up to be a man who could calm frightened or nervous horses. In a way, that makes perfect sense.”

“Yes, I suppose it does,” Lark agreed. “But regarding your question, every child is different. Some adapt very quickly, some take longer, and some never adapt at all. A lot depends on their age when they came into the system. Babies tend to do better, and get adopted more readily, because there’s less…debris to deal with. The rest run the gamut from adjusting well to shutting down completely. Many will have trust issues ranging from low level to chronic and serious.”

Trust issues.The words rang in her head, explaining so much. “Even with people they—” she’d almost said “he,” but didn’t want to put Lark in an awkward position “—know, and have no real reason to distrust?”

Lark gave her a sad smile. “In many instances, it becomes a case of ‘not to be trusted’ until proven otherwise.”

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