Page 58 of Stay for Me

She loved that kid just like I loved him—with everything I had.

“Take the day, Beau,” I ordered, looking back down at him. I didn’t need to be thinking about Diana right now—or ever. The last time she was here a few weeks ago, she’d shown up at the main house for a meeting. It was the first time I’d seen her in over seven months. “The work is done.”

“The work isn’t done,” he argued.

“Your work is,” I corrected coolly before jerking my chin. “Go.”

He dropped his arms from the fence, twisting his neck to look up at the house. “Caleb hasn’t come out today, has he?”

“No, he hasn’t,” I answered, my gut twisting. The boy hadn’t been outside since Valerie went to the hospital; this entire shitshow probably traumatized the boy more than he was willing to admit to anyone, including himself.

“I’ll go spend time with him,” Beau said. “Get his mind off all this.”

“Good idea,” I muttered as he turned to walk away.

I needed some fucking time to think.

It wasn’t until he was at the top of the hill that I dismounted from Midnight and walked her over to the water bin, tying her to the post. I walked into the barn, needing some fucking silence. Once I was in the shade, I pulled off my hat and ran my hand through my hair, knowing damn well I needed to cut it. I just couldn’t bring myself to. Hair held memories, and I just wasn’t ready to let them go.

“You can’t dictate my life anymore. I’m a grown woman,” a female voice echoed from the other side of the barn. “I don’t have time to talk about this. I have a client who needs me.”

Diana.

I put my hat back on, my eyes searching for her.

“Cuss at me again, and I’m hanging up the phone. I don’t have the time or patience to entertain this,” she said sharply.

Who the fuck was cussing at her?

I moved then, my boots hitting the floorboards of the barn, not stopping until I spotted her in the last horse stall—the only empty one we had. She stood in the middle of it, wearing a gray pencil skirt, black heels, and a white blouse.

No color.

She wasn’t wearing any fucking color—again.

For the last month, every time I was blessed with a glimpse of her, she wasn’t wearing her usual bright colors. I detested this new monotone look she’d adopted. I needed her color, her flicker of light.

She shifted her weight, putting her hand in her now--blonde hair and gripping it like she wanted to pull it out. “Mom, I have a life here.”

I took a step into the stall and didn’t move another inch as she whirled around to face me, her eyes widening. “Mags,” she breathed, dropping her hand to her chest.

On the other end of the phone, the female voice was yelling.

“Hang up the phone,” I ordered gently.

She pulled it away from her beautiful face, swallowing as she looked at the screen and then back to me. “It’s my mom.”

“Mothers don’t talk to their daughters that way,” I replied gruffly. “Hang up the phone.”

Diana didn’t move.

Instead, she stared at me in a way that made me want to take her into my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. She’d had a hell of a fucking week ,and the day of the fire, she’d arrived just after Denver and Valerie were pulled out. She ran out into the field and dropped to her knees behind the crowd, crying out for Denver and Val. If one of the twins hadn’t gone to her, I would’ve lost my mind. I had been too busy holding Kings back so the medics could do their job.

Exhaling through my nose, I stepped forward and gently pried the device out of her hand, ending the call.

“We were in the middle of a conversation,” she murmured.

“About what?” I asked.

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