Page 46 of Carly's Heart

“Because I can’t stay away. I’m not sure what happened the other night. Whatever it was, I want a chance to talk about it. I want to make it right.”

“Okay.” She tried to look him in the eye and ended up staring at the floor.

“Can I come in?”

“Um. No. Not this morning. Busy day. I have to go to work.”

“In two hours.” He looked over her shoulder. “Is someone here?” He glanced down. “Those are Tanya’s favorite shoes. Is she here? Why is my sister here? She should be with her husband.” He pushed forward.

She stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Yes, Birch. I’d like a chance to talk to you. Not here, not now. Later. I’ll come out to the ranch after work. I’ll bring Layla to play with your mom. Okay?”

He squinted then leaned close and whispered, “Will you tell me why my sister is hiding out here?”

She nodded. She was betraying a friend, but Tanya needed her family’s support. She wouldn’t give him details, just enough to help him relax until Tanya was ready to go home.

“Okay. See you later.” He reached out and ran a hand down her messed up hair. “I missed you. I’m sorry.”

“Bye, Birch. See you at the ranch around four.” He backed out the door, visible reluctance in every step. “I’ll come. I promise.” She wasn’t sure she was ready to talk to him. Her feelings were all jumbled up and Tanya’s crisis wasn’t helping. She’d go and take what came and deal with it then. With Layla around, she’d have an excuse to leave if she felt the need. “Bye.” She closed the door and bolted it.

She leaned against the foyer wall for a moment, struggling to get her bearing and calm her erratic heartbeat. Steadied physically, but not emotionally, she went back to the kitchen.

“Birch knows you’re here. You better stay here until you’re ready to talk to him. You know he’ll come to the café. Don’t worry about work. I’ll tell Hank you’ve got food poisoning.”

“Thanks.” Tanya hugged her. “Wait. Why was my brother here at five-thirty in the morning on a weekday? Or anytime?”

Heat filled her face.

“Oh, my goodness. What happened after the wedding? What did I miss?”

She was not getting pulled back into the wedding drama right now. “We might have seen each other once or twice.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“But this early in the morning?”

“We might have had a tiff. He wants to talk about it.”

“What about you? Do you want to talk?”

Wasn’t that the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question? What did she want? “It doesn’t matter. I’m committed now. I said I’d go over after work.”

“Don’t you dare tell him what happened. I’ll do it in my own time. I swear. They don’t know about my endometriosis. Thank heaven for free Canadian health care.”

She spent the entire day at work waffling between worrying about Tanya and trying to solve her own problems. There was no easy resolution for any of it. The only thing she decided was that she’d be there to support Tanya when she laid her marriage and reproductive problems out on the table for her family.

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