Page 12 of Apple of My Eye

The Congressman, silver-haired and broad-shouldered, held the particular polish of a man who’d been shaking hands for thirty years and had never once lost his grip. He nodded atme pleasantly while closing the conversation with Mr. Chesson off to the side.

Trevor stepped forward before I could get further, filling the space between us in a way that required me to either stop walking or I’d run smack into him.

“Haven’t seen you in some time,” he stated.

“I’m busy.”

“You always were.” He said it like knowing that about me was a thing he was entitled to. “I should stop by. Catch up. See how the orchard is doing.”

“Please don’t. Like I said, I’ve been very busy,” I clipped.

“Hope I can count on your vote in the election.” Nothing about his voice was threatening, or his posture imposing. At least not in front of his father or the rancher. He was perfectly pleasant in the way a man was superficially so—when he wants you to feel like you’re the only constituent who mattered. Underneath all of that, I knew the real Trevor Brewster.

“Excuse me, I have a horse to see to.” I shuffled around him, but his next words stopped me.

“I’ve been thinking about Forest Grove a lot lately.WhenI win the election, I’ll be around town regularly. Permanent presence. You understand what that means. The county sheriff has eyes everywhere, Daisy. Every property and person.” He let that land. “In fact, I’d consider it a personal mission to keep a close watch on you and your sisters. Make sure nothing happened to your pretty orchard, given everything you’ve all been through.”

“We manage just fine,” I gritted out, trying to not let him get to me. “We always have.”

“Trevor.” The Congressman’s voice came in sharp and low behind him, the particular tone of a man who’d beenmanaging his son in public for years and had perfected the art of making it sound casual. “We need to leave.Now.“

“I’ll be in touch real soon. You can count on it.” Trevor’s smile held for exactly one beat longer than it should have, then he stepped back and shuffled around his dad.

The Congressman’s eyes met mine for a split second. An acknowledgment passed between us. Two people who knew the shape of an old arrangement, checking that it still had legs to stand on.

I held his gaze until he looked away first, and then I forced my feet to move, the boots clicking into the barn at a perfectly even pace while my pulse was anything but.

For the better part of two hours, working on Chesson’s abscessed horse and a few others while I was there kept me sane and away from reading into every word from Trevor’s mouth. Every chance I could, I kept looking over my shoulder as though he might still be standing there.

By the time I loaded my equipment back into the rig, I was a mess. I hit the road and turned up the radio. I'd taken the back roads, not the main route, and didn't analyze the choice. It was just what my hands did when a certain kind of unease got into my body, old wiring from years ago, still live.

It didn’t stop a memory from moving through my mind, uninvited, the way it always did when Trevor Brewster was involved. One of many unpleasant memories from years ago…

Ivy and I had been standing in line at the county fair, waiting to buy a lemonade when Seth Brewster appeared behind us, tanned and easy-smiling, two years ahead of me in school and already the kind of entitled guy who thought the world owed him. Trevor had come and stood beside him, quieter,watching me with those odd eyes of his, while his brother turned the full force of his charm and attention on my sister.

I never really cared for the brothers, and had very little interaction with them at school if I could help it. When another friend of mine happened by, I’d thought nothing of leaving Ivy with the Brewster boys for ten minutes while we went on the tilt-a-whirl. What was ten minutes?

From that day on, Ivy and Seth had become almost inseparable, a fact she and Dad argued over often. After our parents’ accident and everything fell apart, she’d left, and took off with him, leaving me with our two sisters to look after, an orchard to run, and a grief I didn’t have time to properly heal from. Only later did I learn how he’d mistreated her, and all the horrible things she’d witnessed because of him.

When Seth landed in jail, Ivy found the strength to return to town, and to patch things with me. She and Colt were together now and everything seemed back on track for Ivy.

All these years later, I clung to the guilt, knowing she might never have gotten together with Seth if I hadn’t left her for ten minutes alone with him and Trevor at the fair in the first place. And… if only I’d known then that Seth wasn’t the only Brewster to worry about.

It was the quiet ones who could be the most dangerous.

I figured I’d catch a few more customers while I was on this side of the county, and gunned my rig, speeding like I was trying to leave the past far behind. In my rearview mirror, the road behind me was empty. I checked it twice anyway.

By the timeI reached the orchard, the sun had dropped enough to turn the trees gold at the edges. The guys from the ranch were gathering empty bags and loading bins into our cold storage. The long day settled over everyone in tired shoulders and dusty boots.

I cut the engine in front of my house and sat there a second, willing my face into something normal, releasing the tension in my muscles. Then I got out.

Knox noticed me immediately and met me halfway. “You look like you’ve been trying to outrun the devil.”

I gave him a tired glare. “Nice to see you too.”

His brows stitched together. “Something happen?”

“No.” That came too fast.