“You going to tell them about me?”
“Nope.” The word flips out fast. “I like having you all to myself.”
“I like it, too,” I admit. It’s nice. I feel like we’re lost in our own little world, and I want to stay here, not thinking about anything else.
“What do you do with your land? My father mainly grows corn for feed and raises some hogs.” I stiffen, realizing what I just revealed. I don’t know if it’s anything I should or shouldn’t say. I’m still not sure how far I’d gotten from my father’s farm, but I have a feeling it wasn’t far enough. Or maybe it was. Most of yesterday is still foggy.
“I won’t dig. You give me things when you want to.” He places another kiss on my neck. “I have a few animals here, but they aren’t for any real use. We have oil. I watch over the rigs, but they don’t really need much tending to. We have a company that works them, so I more or less watch over them. Make sure nothing big happens.”
“Sounds boring,” I admit, and I feel his body shake, giving off a soft laugh.
“And what would you do if you had a farm?” he asks.
“Probably not a lot. I’ve always wanted to have my own little garden, maybe a few chickens and even a cow. I like the idea of cooking using stuff I grow myself, or with what my animals give me. I guess I’m not any more exciting than you,” I admit.
“I think it sounds nice. Simple and nice. We’d really never have to leave then, would we?”
I turn to look at him, and he’s got one of those dimples showing that I keep noticing. Without having to ask, he leans down, taking my mouth in a kiss. It’s soft and slow, like we have no place in the world to be. Nothing but us matters in this little world we’re in.
“I think I can live off this,” he says against my mouth before placing another kiss on my lips.
“I didn’t know kisses could be so good,” I say, licking my lips.
“I didn’t know anything could be so good.”
I stare into his eyes, wondering how my life has changed so much in such a short time. “Don’t say a word, baby doll.” Trace places his fingers on my lips in a hush gesture as his head pulls up from mine. I turn to see where he’s looking but don’t see anything.
He slides from the horse, putting the finger to his own mouth now and letting me know to remain silent. He looks me dead in the eyes and whispers, “Don’t move. I’ll be right back. Promise me.”
I mouth the words, still not wanting to talk, worried about what’s going on, but I can tell by his face now is not the time to make a scene and grab on to him like I want to. I watch him jump over a fence and walk through some high bushes.
I wait for what feels like an eternity. When I finally see him again, I feel like I can breathe. He slides on the horse, and neither of us says anything as we take off. This time when the horse sets off, she moves faster than before. She keeps a steady pace until we reach the back porch of the house.
Trace jumps off and helps me down, placing my bare feet on the porch.
“Go inside. I’ll be right in.” I do as he says, not uttering a word. I’m worried about what happened out there, and my mind races. Not even two seconds later, Trace is back in the house and I’m still standing right inside the doorway.
Trace picks me up and I wrap around him, really starting to freak out.
“What’s wrong? You’re scaring me,” I say into his neck as he sits down.
“I saw some lights flashing, so I went to go look. It was the sheriff.” I pull back to look at him. “There was a car stuck on the edge of my land, and they were pulling it out of the mud, talking about the missing girl named Addison, saying she’d stolen it.”
“I didn’t steal it. I just needed it for a second. I had to. I wanted to leave and he wouldn’t let me. I didn’t mean to steal it.” My eyes start to burn, and I know tears are about to come. I don’t want to cry. I haven’t even thought about crying since I got here. The feeling was nice.
“Hush, baby doll. I don’t care if you did or didn’t steal anything. I just wanted you away from there. I didn’t want any of them seeing you.”
“Am I going to get you in trouble?” I ask, knowing he probably lied for me.
“The only person who’s going to be in trouble is whoever made you run.”
5
Trace
I hold Addison in my lap for a long while, petting her hair and listening to her heartbeat. At one point I thought maybe she fell asleep, and I didn’t move because I didn’t want to wake her up.
There’s a knock on the door, and she startles in my lap, clinging to me. I can see the terror in her eyes, and I hold her face in my hands to try to calm her down.
“Go to the bedroom. I’ll get rid of whoever that is. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you. Okay?”
She looks at the door and then looks at me, biting her lip. After a moment of hesitation, she does as I ask, and I stand in the living room, watching her until I see my bedroom door close.
I walk over to the front door and look out the small window to the side and roll my eyes. I pull the front door open and look at my brother Blake.
“What?” I say. I don’t have time for niceties.
“You missed a meeting this morning, and Dolly said you didn’t pick up your pies from MJ. You okay?”
“I’m fine, Blake. I didn’t get the messages, and I’ve been riding fences.”