Page 4 of Hard Candy Christmas

“Small town mill, of course.”

I cocked my brow as I grabbed a brush, starting to groom my horse.

“What exactly are you referring to?”

“Belinda is back in town, right? Thought I’d go over, welcome her back, offer her a friendly smile. See if she needed anything.”

I stopped brushing as I tossed over his words. Bo was a great guy. Hell, we all hung out in school. They were friends. Itshouldn’t be a surprise he’d go over and welcome her. It also shouldn’t bother me that he thought about it.

But for the fucking life of me, it did.

I turned to look at him.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because it’s been ages since I’ve seen her. The last time I did was about six years ago.”

“How? She hasn’t set foot back in this town.”

“Ah, you forgot I was on the rodeo circuit. She was there and I spotted her. We talked for a bit, but then her asshole husband got on her case and basically dragged her away.”

“Asshole husband?”

I knew she had gotten married, and gotten divorce, but I hadn’t heard about the asshole part.

“Yeah. Real dick. I’m pretty sure I saw bruises on her arm. And a good couple gashes on her leg. Almost positive he gave her the one over her eye but couldn’t be sure. That one was healed up then.”

“Wait, wait, you’re saying her ex was abusive?”

“Chase, you hadn’t heard anything?”

Honestly, no. When it came to Belinda Carmichael, I kept my distance. I didn’t want to know anything because everything just seemed to chip away at my heart. So, when her name got mentioned, I made sure to tune it out.

“No, why would I?”

“I guess that’s true enough. Anyway, I’m going to go say hi. You know, I never got the chance to ask her out in high school, wonder if she’d go with me now?”

My mind kept focusing on the scar I saw on her face this afternoon and hearing how much of an asshole her ex was that his words didn’t register. Not until he started walking away and I had to holler after him, startling my horse.

“Sorry, Nightwish,” I told her, lightly touching her nose. “What were you saying, Bo?”

“I was going to go over and say hi. You don’t mind, do you?”

“That you say hi? No. Why would I?”

“Right. So, you also don’t mind if I ask her out?”

That had me clenching my teeth. Not to mention causing me to stiffen up. So much so that I was adding more pressure to Nightwish, who made it known how unhappy she was with me and my handling.

“No.” I cleared my throat, hating how high it sounded to me. “No. Ask her out. She deserves a good time.”

He tipped his hat in thank you and took off.

The thought lingered with me though. And I fully refused to acknowledge why that bothered me so much.

Chapter Three

Belinda

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