Page 14 of Secret Heart
I frown, glancing at my phone on the reception desk near the doors. That must have been why my phone was going off like crazy an hour ago. No way am I risking waking up Penny to go grab it now, though.
“You want to go?” Caleb asks, clearly surprised by Brielle’s request. I turn my attention back to them. Brielle’s cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are tired, but there’s a small, intimate smile curving her lips.
“I’d love to see Triston,” she says in that same quiet voice.
The name clangs through me like a bull trying to get to an unprotected cow, knocking down emotions inside my chest I didn’t realize were still there. Unease and disbelief war with each other even as a deeper anxiety spreads like molasses between my ribs and up my throat.
Triston’s back?
Caleb nods and kisses Brielle. After a moment, Naomi squirms, her soft cries cutting through the room. Brielle sighs, the sound perilously close to a cry. Caleb carefully pulls Naomi from her lap
“Wait, Triston’s back?” Melissa asks. “Is that who the ranch hand Ethan hired for branding season is?”
“Yep,” Hudson says, completely nonchalant. “Apparently it’s been in the works for a couple weeks. He’d had to sign an NDA over it all, though, so we didn’t get any kind of warning. Triston’s staying with Scott and Lynn. According to our brother, he doesn’t want to attract too much attention from the town as a whole.”
Damn, Beau’s managed to talk to his brothers first about it all? I try to keep my breathing even so my scent doesn’t spike. Every single person in this room will be able to feel and smellthe edge to my vanilla if it surges with the roiling emotions pitching my stomach at the moment. Now I regret not grabbing my phone for the messages that Beau must have left for me. No way would he leave me to find out from our family that Triston was back, however temporarily.
I tighten my hold on Penny. It’s a fool’s dream that it won’t be obvious to literally everyone that she’s Triston’s and not Beau’s once they’re in the same room. There’s no freaking way we can let that happen with everyone watching. Even if he was a Beta, I wouldn’t want his reaction broadcast to our entire family and friends, especially with him just coming back. But since he’s an Omega? Any small reaction will feel astronomical to any Alpha near him. The thought of someone else wanting to comfort him through the shock has a growl rising in my throat. I swallow down that reaction, too, willing my body to keep unresponsive.
“We can go now,” Melissa offers. “I can have Ben and Sage finish these up once they’ve signed off on the dining and activities lodges.”
Olivia stands up with more enthusiasm than she’s had in at least an hour. Jonas claps as she kisses his cheek.
“That sounds great,” I manage to say, my voice only a bit hoarse. Caleb frowns, but no one else seems to notice something’s off.
I reorganize the piles, arranging them so the various pieces of flowers don’t get mixed up with each other. Hudson carries them to the desk, setting them on the clean surface before grabbing my phone and handing it to me. Sure enough, there’s three missed calls from Beau and a single text from an hour ago. I slide it open even as I adjust my hold on Penny so I can grab our backpack and head out to the car.
Call me, firecracker.
I send a single text back as everyone walks onto the lodge’s wraparound porch.
Is it true?
Beau’s response is within moments, like he’s been waiting for me to reach out.
Yes.
Oh God.
Breathe, firecracker. Just breathe and call me.
Caleb settles Brielle into the passenger seat of her car then slides behind the wheel, his attention entirely on her. Hudson does the same with Olivia, getting Jonas buckled before making sure she’s comfortable. Both cars start down the dirt road before Melissa and I move off the porch.
“You okay?” Melissa asks quietly.
It’s only then I realize my arms are shaking and there’s a low, nearly inaudible growl climbing up my throat. I swallow down the sound and breathe carefully through my nose. The last thing I need is losing my cool with Melissa. It’s like hitting a puppy but even worse since she’s my friend.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I manage to say in an almost-normal voice. “You want to ride over together?”
Melissa shakes her head. “I’m going to check on Ben and Sage and then make sure the night chores are done. It’s the new person’s first time doing them, and I just worry after last year.”
I grimace remembering the summer help we’d had to fire last August when they’d left the chicken coop open two nights in a row. We’d walked in that next morning to an absolute blood bath of a mess.
Another text from Beau pops on my screen.
“Fair enough.” I grab her hand. “I’ll see you over there, then.”
I squeeze her hand before she starts down the stairs, smiling enough to soothe her worry over my own panic. As she gets into her Subaru and heads deeper into the ranch toward the activities building on the other side of the sprawling meadow, I look at the last text.
