Page 5 of When It Reins
I turn and meet Mitch’s gaze. “Yes?”
“Can I speak to you, please?”
The rest of the table goes silent as I stand from my chair. Didi gives my arm a pat, and I smile at her, trying to conceal how weird this is, how I have a thrumming sensation pulsing through my neck at the thought that Mitch not only wants to speak to me, but asked in front of the crowd of family and friends surrounding us.
I follow him back outside and on to the porch. I’m grateful because the heat that is pooling in my cheeks is too intense for the inside temperature.
I go to the railing on the porch and let the winter breeze hit my face, taking in a grateful breath of the air. I am wearing asweater, and it keeps me from getting too cold, but there is a sheen of heat that lances through my whole body.
Especially when I meet his gaze.
“What’s up?” I try to be nonchalant, but the squeak in my voice gives me away. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even quirk his lips at the obvious nerves I am displaying.
“I have to go out of town for a while, so I may need some time off.”
His answer does nothing to satisfy the burning in my chest. “What’s a while?”
“Couple months.”
I stare at his golden hazel eyes and lift a brow in surprise. “Couple of months? What on earth is keeping you away for two months?”
He clenches his jaw, and my gaze finds itself there, tracking the tension. He shifts, and my gaze jumps back to him. “If it’s a problem, I understand.”
“I just don’t understand why you’d need to be away so long,” I admit, probably as honest as I was going to get.
Mitch shifts on his feet, his eyes leaving mine, and I glance down at the cowboy boots I was sporting. Since moving here, the city girl that nestled deep, deep down rarely came out, and I embraced the life I lived in, including wearing cowboy boots often.
I hear him take a breath, but keep my gaze from straying to his. “Just club business.”
I almost shake my head. I knew that would be the answer. I’ve heard it before, so I don’t know why I am surprised that his answer right now would be any different.
“Fine.”
My answer seems to make him uneasy. He shifts in my peripheral, and I glance back to him, watching him watch me with a bend in his brow. “Fine?”
I shrug, confused. “I guess so. Annmarie won’t mind. You two have a little deal about this, don’t you?”
He purses his lips, and I watch his mouth far longer than should be appropriate. His scruff is more like a beard right now, and I hate that I like how he looks.
I straighten from the post I was leaning on and give him a smile I don’t feel. “Be careful, Mitch.”
Because I know he won’t respond, I don’t bother waiting for anything more from him. Instead, I leave him on the porch, pushing aside the uneasy feeling that rests in my gut every time I have an interaction with him and wonder when it’ll get any easier.
4
juniper
One of myfavorite parts of owning a restaurant and bar with my sisters is the hours before we officially open and the time we get to spend talking during it.
I use the time today to distract myself. Things have been going well lately. Bottle Grounds—our bar—has been thriving thanks to the amazing community that surrounds us.
When we first moved here all those years ago, after having been through some seriously traumatic stuff, we weren’t sure how this town would welcome the news of a family moving in and starting a business. But I was thankful that they had embraced us off the bat.
Some of the Cash brothers were the first to help us out. Logan, my now brother-in-law whom I assumed was sweet on my sister, Thea, since the moment he saw her, was a huge help with renovations, and his younger brother, Stetson, was too.
It’s only been the last couple of years that the other two Cash brothers even came home, and since then I’ve gotten to know Jax really well since I am good friends with his wife, Felicity.
Then there is Mitch, who, despite being gone for over eight weeks, still manages to find a slot in my brain.
