Page 76 of Love Off-Limits
Perry nodded, shooting a wary look at Tyler, then disappeared down the hall.
I kept my eyes on my desk andoffof Tyler. Maybe if I didn’t look up, he would disappear too. Maybe this whole situation would disappear.
“You know you can’t keep ignoring me forever, right?”
“It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet,” I grumbled.
“It feels like it’s been a lot longer than that,” Tyler said. “I’ve been worried about you.”
I sighed and moved around my desk. “You want to go for a walk?”
He fell into step beside me as we headed out the front door and down the winding front drive. The farm was quiet today; luckily, Sundays usually were. The storm from the previous day had moved on early in the morning, leaving a cloudless blue sky in its wake. The still-wet leaves glinted overhead and sparkled in the afternoon sun, and the air felt refreshed and clean.
“I love the day after a storm,” I said. Even the typical humidity of midsummer seemed lower than usual.
“I love every day up here,” Tyler said. “It beats the heat in Charleston right now. How’s Penelope?”
“She’s great. Mom says the gash on her leg looked worse than it was. It was pretty superficial. She took her back up to the house with her last night to make sure she stayed warm enough, but she texted this morning and said she seemed good as new.”
He nodded. “I’m glad she’s okay.”
We walked in silence for a few beats. “I’m sorry about what happened yesterday.”
He took an easy breath. “Me too,” he said simply.
“And I’m sorry I ignored your messages.”
“Yeah, thanks. I was really worried about you.”
“I’ve been worried about you, too.”
“Your brother...” he started, but then he hesitated. “Did he...did he say anything else to you yesterday?”
The concern in his tone pricked my heart even if it was unjustified. The worst of what Perry had said to me, Tyler had been present for.
“It’s fine,” I said, dismissing his concern. “Perry said some stupid stuff yesterday.” I folded my arms, the wordstypical Oliviapinballing around in my brain. “Butit wasn’t anything that wasn’t justified.”
He slowed his step. “Wait. What do you mean by that?”
I heaved a sigh and turned to face him. “I screwed up, Tyler. Big time. It was really important that I be with Calista managing a really big, really complicated problem. And I flaked. I got distracted. I made a selfish decision to put what I wanted first.”
“I get that. I was selfish too. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay with me.”
I shook my head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. I screwed up the minute I left the pavilion and decided to drive out and look for you instead of heading straight to the farmhouse. Who does that? In the middle of a crisis?”
“To be fair, we were all in the middle of a crisis. You knew I was out looking for Penelope. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have come to find me had you thought I was chilling in the common room eating popcorn and watching football.”
“Maybe not. But it doesn’t matter now. The damage has already been done.” I took a slow, steadying breath. “I thought I could do it, that I could be with you and still keep my head in the game and be responsible, but obviously, that’s not possible.”
“Olivia, you stayed in a barn—a dry, safe barn—for thirty minutes during a hailstorm. That’s not irresponsible behavior.”
“It was more like an hour. And the only reason I stayed was so I could be with you. I shouldn’t have even gone to the barn in the first place. I should have gone straight to the farmhouse where I was needed.”
“But I needed your help, too. I’m glad you were there.”
I pinched my lips together. “You would have been fine. I just have to stay focused, Tyler. I have to show my family that I can be what this farm needs.”
“I wish you’d stop saying that,” he said, his jaw tight. “You’realreadywhat this farm needs. If your family doesn’t see that, that’s on them, not you.”
