Page 102 of Tumbleweed Temptation
She’d hoped he’d tell her at lunch. She’d spent yesterday envisioning them sharing lunch upstairs in his apartment, maybe more. But he got backed up, and told her to go on to lunch without him.
Feeling sorry for herself, she took the lunch she’d finally remembered to pack, and headed across the street to eat in the park. She would talk to him at the end of the day.
But when his last patient left, his keys were in his hands as he walked out behind Mr. Zapata.
“I’ve got to head out,” he said, one hand on the door latch. “Do you mind locking up?”
“Um, sure. I need to clean up anyway.” She pushed to her feet, wondering why her legs were shaking. They were alone, so...would he kiss her now? Do something to acknowledge what had happened over the weekend?
“I really appreciate it, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And he was gone. Not a kiss, not a “wait for me and we’ll have dinner,” nothing.
And where was he going?
She sat back on her chair and rested her head in her hands, just for a moment, then she kicked herself in the butt and got up. If that was how he was going to be, well, then, she’d deal with it.
Not for long, but she’d deal with it.
*****
AUSTIN DROVE OUT TOthe McKay place after his last appointment. He’d seen the question in Ginny’s eyes as he’d headed out the front door, but he wasn’t ready to talk to her about this yet. The McKay family needed to be the first to know, even though Ginny would never let the secret slip.
The energy between them had been weird today, anyway. No acknowledgement of their weekend together before their patients started to arrive, and it was too much to think about when he had the whole McKay situation hanging over his head.
They couldn’t even eat lunch together because he got backed up with patients, and when he was finally free, he saw Ginny had eaten her lunch already.
Mr. McKay would be mad at him just showing up at the ranch, knowing his presence would alarm the family, but he had to convince Mr. McKay to come clean. He wasn’t going to be able to get through this without his family, and the sooner they knew, the harder they could work together to keep him strong.
Austin figured since the sun was still up, the rancher wouldn’t be in the house yet, so he parked his Jeep closer to the barn and walked in.
The scent of horses had a calming effect, if he thought about it. The barn was almost as clean as his office, which explained a lot about Mr. McKay’s reaction when he’d walked into his office. Austin saw a few hands working, and approached one to ask the whereabouts of Mr. McKay.
Con poked his head out of the office. Surprise lifted the bigger man’s eyebrows.
“Austin, man, what are you doing here? Looking for work? I hear business has fallen off.”
Austin stiffened at the implication. “I’m doing okay. Today was pretty busy. I’m just looking for your dad.”
Con approached down the aisle of the barn, brows now furrowed. “My dad? What’s going on? Something with your office?”
“Yeah, ah.” Man, Austin was no good at lying, but he seized on that excuse. “Yeah, I need to talk to him about getting some new equipment.”
“You couldn’t go talk to Mr. Davila or anyone else?”
“Your dad is the budget guy, so they sent me to look for him.” Boy was he glad he knew that information. The detail made the lie seem more like truth.
“Yeah, okay, but did you call first? He’s gone up to the house to work on something.”
“Ah, I thought maybe he’d be working still.”
“Hah, he said he had some paperwork to do. He’s up at the house.”
“Should I just go on up there, then?”
“Yeah, go on ahead and knock. If he can’t hear you, my mom is there.”
Austin nodded and turned away, glancing back to see that Con was still watching him.
