Page 36 of Nashville Cowboy
Jackson’s stomach took a hard dive and he stood stone-cold, locking eyes with Eve. Her eyes were wild, shimmering, and completely unreadable to him.
“Give me that, please.” Eve snatched it out of his hands.
She stomped away from him, headed toward the stable, hips swinging. “I’m getting Thimble and bringing that cow pony back.”
“Let me do that,” Jackson said.
She faced him. “Why? Suddenly don’t think I canhandlethis?”
“It’ll keep. He’s not far.”
“He needs to remember that he’s a cow pony. We may need to take him to the Truehart’s for some serious remedial training if he doesn’t get in line. No freedom for him.” She huffed. “Not yet.”
“Wait. You and I have to talk.” While it might be none of his business, he couldn’t ignore this development.
When?
Why?
How?
Was this what everyone had kept from him?
She continued to walk ahead of him, not turning once to acknowledge him.
He caught up to her and, hand on her shoulder, spoke softly into her right ear. “A hearing aid? Since when?”
She turned to meet his eyes and hesitated only a moment.
“Since I have single-sided deafness. It’s not a big deal. I’m not completely deaf. I just can’t always catch the flow of conversations and sometimes I don’t know exactly which direction a sound is coming from. The aid sends signals from my left ear to my right.” She self-consciously pulled at her earlobe. “When it works. But it’s hardly perfect. Guess I’ll need a new one now.”
When he didn’t speak for several seconds, staring at her dumbfounded, she added, “I meant to tell you. Just waiting for the right time.”
“When did thishappen?” He managed to keep his tone low and even despite the coil of emotion that burned in his gut. In his heart.
“Um, I got very sick my third year away at Texas A&M. I was hospitalized for weeks.”
“Jesus, baby.”
“Yes, Jesus did help.” She gave him a half smile. “I’m alive, after all.”
“I wish someone told me.”
“Oh, your family didn’t know when it happened. Sadie did, but y’all were barely speaking to my family or Sadie.”
“Everyone knows now?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, he couldn’t speak. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me, Jackson Carver. That’swhyI didn’t want to tell you.”
“What do you want me to do? Act like I don’t care that you lost your hearing?”
“I want you to act like I’m the same old Eve. Because I am, except for this.”
That wasn’t true, not by a long shot. Somethingelsehappened. Simply losing her hearing in one ear, while bad, wouldn’t have her this fearful. But he hesitated, unwilling to fight. This wasn’t the time or the place. He almost couldn’t accept that this happened. To think he’d asked whether she couldhearhim. Accused her of notlistening.
