Page 94 of Shattered Melodies

I’d seen him around, of course. Caught glimpses of him working in the stables or walking the fence line, his head down and his shoulders hunched like he was carrying the weight of the world.

So I set out to find him, my heart pounding and my palms sweating with nerves. I didn’t know what I was going to say, didn’t know how he would react or if he even wanted to talk to me at all.

But I had to try. Had to take the chance, had to see if there was still a spark between us, still a chance for something real and lasting and true.

I searched the ranch, checking all the usual spots. But he was nowhere to be found, not in the stables or the pastures or any of the places I thought he might be.

I was just about to give up, to head back to the house and try again later, when I spotted Leo. He was one of the new hires, a kid fresh out of high school with a shock of red hair and a face full of freckles.

“Hey, Leo,” I called out, jogging over to where he was mending a fence. “You seen Liam around?”

Leo looked up, squinting against the sun. “Yeah, boss. He’s with the llamas, last I saw.”

“Appreciate it, Leo. Keep up the good work.”

I found him in the llama pen, just like Leo had said. He was brushing one of the males, his hands gentle and sure as he worked out the tangles in its thick, woolly coat.

For a moment, I just watched him. Drinking in the sight of him, the way the sun played over his hair and the muscles of his back moved beneath his thin t-shirt.

So I stepped forward, my heart in my throat and my hands shaking with nerves. And when he looked up, when his eyes met mine.

I sat down beside him, close enough to feel the heat of his body, the brush of his shoulder against mine. And for a moment, we just looked at each other. Drinking each other in, re-learning the lines and planes of each other’s faces.

“You know,” I said finally, my voice soft and teasing. “That llama you’re petting has a secret trick.”

Liam’s eyebrows shot up, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Oh really? And what might that be?”

I grinned, feeling a rush of something that might have been happiness, might have been the first real joy I’d felt in years.

“Spit!” I shouted, ducking out of the way just in time.

The llama let loose, a stream of saliva splattering across Liam’s face and chest. He yelped, jumping to his feet and wiping at his face with his sleeve.

“Caleb!” he yelled, but there was laughter in his voice, a spark of mischief in his eyes. “You’re a dead man!”

And then he was chasing me, his feet pounding against the earth as we ran and dodged and laughed like we were kids again, like no time had passed at all.

I led him on a merry chase, darting between the trees and leaping over fallen logs. But he was fast, faster than I remembered, and before long he was gaining on me, his breath hot on the back of my neck.

And then he caught me. Tackled me to the ground in a tangle of limbs and laughter, his body warm and solid against mine.

We lay there for a moment, catching our breath and grinning at each other like idiots. And it was perfect, it was everything, it was the way things were always meant to be.

But then something shifted. Something in the air between us, in the way Liam’s smile faded and his eyes turned serious and searching.

He pulled away, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. And I felt my heart sink, felt the hope that had been building in my chest start to crumble.

Because I knew that look. Knew the walls that were going up, the distance that was creeping back in.

“Liam,” I said softly, sitting up and reaching for his hand. “Talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

He sighed, his fingers twitching in mine like he wanted to pull away. But he didn’t, he held on, his grip tightening like he was afraid to let go.

“What are we doing here, Caleb?” he asked, his voice rough and raw with emotion. “We’re in this place where we’re both scared to know what’s going to happen next. I’m tired of walking on eggshells with you, of not knowing where we stand.”

I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. Because he was right, we were in limbo, stuck between the past and the present with no clear way forward.

But I knew one thing, knew it with a certainty that went bone-deep. I loved him, had never stopped loving him, not for a single day in all the years we’d been apart.

---