Page 108 of Sunshine
Not. Going. To. Happen.
Then I wonder if it ever would. Poppy says she’s loved me for as long as she can remember, a secret crush that drove her from Aster Springs but kept her from moving on with another man. She’s handed me her heart like it’s some kind of gift, and I’m holding it with trembling hands. And while it’s too late to offer her years of unrequited love in return, I’m so sure that I’ve loved her harder and greater in the last few months than she loved me all the years before. She’s the one. I just need to find a way to make her see it.
I drive my truck around to the Silver Leaf Ranch entrance reserved for guests taking our guided trail rides and let myself into the stables feeling agitated and anxious, but the minute the smell of hay and horses hits my nostrils, something else entersmy blood. A reminder of calm and laughter and Mom. It doesn’t ease my stress completely, but I’m suddenly thinking clearer.
I can’t be stupid and rash right now. I need to be the mature one. Responsible, like always. I need to fix this, not make it worse.
And Daisy’s in pain too.
Our stables were made to hold more than a dozen horses but less than half the stalls are occupied. Izzy’s sorrel gelding, which she insisted on calling Mabel, accepts my hand on his neck with a gentle whinny. Beside him, our retired gray rodeo pickup, Stallion Blanc, twitches his ears and stomps a hoof like he’s ready to be outside. On the opposite side of the wide aisle, our newest recruits—a smaller mount we named Pony Noir and a quiet Palomino Quarter horse called DeCanter—flick their tails and munch on mouthfuls of hay.
And in the open stall at the farthest end of the building stands Daisy’s golden mare. With five horses in the stable, that means Daisy isn’t out on a trail ride right now, and as I creep closer to Chardonneigh, I find my baby sister hiding behind her horse’s athletic frame.
“Go away,” she mutters, her words trembling as she strokes her horse’s withers.
Fuck. Her sadness knocks down my defenses. Chaos and mess, right? That’s what I wanted. That’s what I got.
I step around Chardonneigh and hold out my arms. “Daze…”
She glances at my offer, then away again.
“You lied to me,” she says. “Why would I let you hug me?”
“To say sorry?”
Daisy makes a show of watching her hand as she runs it over Chardonneigh’s coat, and I get the impression she’s avoiding looking at me directly. “Are you sorry that you lied to me? Or sorry you got caught?”
I pull on my shoulder, then drop my hand with a sigh. “For the lie. It was wrong.”
Daisy nods as she gently strokes her horse’s nose. “Yeah.”
“But I love her, Daze. I love her a lot.”
Finally, my sister raises her head, and I jump on the unspoken invitation to keep talking.
“You wanted me to find someone,” I remind her. “You’ve been hellbent on setting me up with women you thought were perfect for me. I’m more than a father with a business and a million responsibilities, remember?”
“I remember.”
“And you were the one who insisted that Poppy be Izzy’s nanny. If I had a time machine handy, we could go back to that night in the kitchen and replay the exact conversation.”
Daisy’s face brightens with her usual fire, and somewhere inside, I sigh with relief.
“Because Poppy is incredible,” she says. “Izzy adores her. It made sense.”
“Poppyisincredible,” I agree. “She loves Izzy with all her heart—and I love Poppy. You do get that, right? This isn’t a fling. It isn’t a temporary arrangement. It’s real, and I love her. I don’t want to not love her.”
“But Dylan. That’s the part that hurts so much.”
“What? That I love her?”
Tears fill Daisy’s eyes. “Yes! Don’t you think I love her too? Don’t you think I want to be part of this?”
“I—”
“No. Let me say this. It hurt to overhear my best friend confess her secret to someone she just met in the same breath she said she’s afraid of me.”
“What?”
