Page 9 of The Moment They Can't Forget

Mr. Carter had told him that the journey he and his family had taken was etched in the walls of his old home. It was full of happiness that he hoped helped JD settle into his new life there.

He’d never really given much thought to the places he lived in, other than making them comfortable. But after months of renovating the farmhouse, he realized he’d made sure what he’d done had kept the place true to what it had been when the Carters lived there. JD had simply modernized in a way that left the house with happiness still etched in the walls.

There’d been pressure when he bought it because the locals didn’t like change, but he’d assured them he wasn’t pulling the farmhouse down and building fifty condos, and they’d relaxed.

Parking, he got out with a bag of muffins and coffee and headed to the barn, which he’d made bigger. He saw the beat-up old bike leaning against the door when he approached.

“Hey, you two.” He greeted Marty and Biff, his dogs, as they bounded out to meet him. Heading inside, he looked for his helper.

“Vi?”

“In here!”

Making his way to the room where they stored all the feed, he found Vi, the girl who’d turned up on his doorstep six months ago and told him he could pay her to look after his animals.

“I thought I told you to take the day off?” JD said.

“I didn’t want to.” She shrugged.

She was small with dark hair and legs she hadn’t grown into yet. She had knobby knees and ran about the place like a newborn foal. He rarely got a smile out of her, and he thought she had the soul of a sixty-year-old. Vi had knocked on his front door one day, asking for a job. JD had said he didn’t have one. She said she’d heard he had lots of animals that needed looking after, and seeing as they liked her, he should hire her. Something about the precise way she spoke and the solemn look in her eyes had him doing just that before he’d realized it.

It usually took a lot to crack JD’s inner hard shell. Only a few people had ever managed it, but Vi had been one of them from the start. Plus, she was good at what she did, and his animals loved her. He’d asked about her family once, but she’d closed up tight and told him nothing, so he’d never gone there again. But he was curious.

“Okay. Well, if you’re here, that means I don’t have to feed them, and this is for you.” He held out the muffin bag. “Mr. and Mrs. Becker wanted me to give them to you.”

“Not hungry.” She shrugged, but he saw her eyes go to the bag.

“I’ll just leave them here. If you don’t want them, throw them in the trash before you leave.”

She shrugged again. JD had known Vi for months now, and in that time, he’d learned she loved animals, but nothing more. He didn’t even know her last name. Someone in town would tell him if he really wanted information about her, but he’d wanted her to talk to him.

“Need some help?” JD said for no other reason than he didn’t want to go back into the house yet and make the bed he’d spent last night in with Zoe.

Vi shrugged.

“A shrug is not a response, Vi. Do you want some help?”

She looked at him then, and he saw a bruise under her eye.

“Who did that?” JD demanded, coming to stand before her.

“It was just an accident. I was wrestling with one of my brothers.” She looked away.

He’d seen marks on her before. A bruise on her arm or cheek, and she always said it was from wrestling with her brothers, which it could be, but JD felt like that wasn’t the whole truth.

“Vi, if ever you need?—”

“Here.” She thrust a bucket at him. “Feed Potato and then let her out.” She then grabbed some of the other buckets and walked out of the room.

“Well, hell,” he muttered, following. What was he supposed to do now? He had a woman who’d rocked his world last night and never wanted to let him touch her again, and a teenager who was hurting but wouldn’t tell him why.

The thought of someone harming Vi made him want to hit something. But he didn’t know if that was what was actually happening. He’d have to think about what he should do next, and maybe it was time to ask someone about her, preferably a Duke, because they could be trusted to keep their mouths shut.

Heading to the second to last stall, he looked over the half door and saw two long ears standing upright.

“No biting,” he said, opening the stall. He’d rescued the donkey, and she’d hated him ever since. Tentatively, JD stepped in. The little gray beast bared her teeth. He lowered the bucket and ran, leaving the door open so she could head out to the paddock when she’d eaten. Luckily, the lure of food stopped her from sinking her teeth into him.

“If only other people in my life were that easy to please,” he muttered, heading to his house for solitude and another bucket of coffee.

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