Page 37 of Unspoken Hearts
“What’s wrong with that?” His dark brow arch curiously.
A snort escapes my throat. “Nothing. I guess living on a ranch you should know these things.”
He blinks at me, like he’s trying to read me, his face straight before. “Dad wants me to run the place when he retires soon, so I need to learn all that I can before then.”
“But isn’t reading about it boring?”
Reid’s mouth twitches. “What do you read about then?”
“Human things.”
“What genre?”
I shrug, eyes moving to the empty fireplace in front of us. “Motherhood mainly. Sometimes fiction if I need to escape the real world for a while.”
I feel his stare on me, like a beam of light searing my skin, but it’s oddly reassuring.
“You’re not a parent, though,” Reid states the obvious in his husky voice that makes my spine shiver.
I press my eyes shut before blinking up to him. “I know, but nobody taught me about raising Axel, so I read books from the library for help. Now it’s just become a comfort thing, I suppose,” I answer honestly, the ache in my chest reappearing.
I know he might think I’m insane for admitting that, but what else does someone who is thirteen do when raising their six year old brother? I didn’t know what medicine to give him. What teeth were normal atwhat age. What words he should know and how much he needed to eat to grow properly.
The prickling at the back of my throat returns when Reid whispers softly, “I’m really sorry you went through all of that.”
Biting my lip harshly, I nod numbly, pushing those painful memories from my mind. “It’s okay, I wanted to be there for him. If one of us could have a good upbringing, I wanted it to be Axel. And now look at him. He’s at university. He has a chance to be something great.” A smile pulls in my pink cheeks.
Avoiding Reid’s eyes again, I take another gulp of my water, accepting the buffer to break the intensity of our conversation.
“You have that chance, too. To be something great,” Reid responds quietly. “And you are. You’re writing your book.”
I shrug. “I don’t know if that’ll be great, but I’m happy with my life. I have a job with my friend. My brother is only a call away. I did have a house but…”
He hums low beside me, hand dragging through his inky hair. My eyes track the muscles of his arms moving, and the veins beneath his skin. He’s attractive, that’s never been a doubt in my mind. Many girls have always found him handsome and manly, just like me.
But he probably just sees me as his brother’s friend who interrupts his reading time.
“We’ll figure out your house situation, but at least you know that you have this place in the meantime. My family likes having you here.”
I look at him again, ice blue eyes vivid under the dim amber light. They’re so kind and rounded, framed in long, dark lashes lightly pressing against his glasses. “Your parents are something else,” I let out honestly.
Reid’s grin cracks wider. “Aspen likes having you here too. She was talking about you all evening. She has a lot of plans for the two of you.”
“Like what?” I question, thinking of his little niece.
Reid rubs at his stubble, and again, I can’t tear my eyes away. My skin tingles, and the fluttering in my insides quickens.
“Something about flower crowns and painting. She’s very creative.”
My grin widens. “I made her a flower crown today from the wildflowers up near the creek. She loved it so much.”
My eyes drift to my hands in my lap, fiddling anxiously. “My friend, Rosie, used to have wildflowers in her backyard when I grew up in the city, and we used to make flower crowns, perfume and daisy chains all the time. This was when my mum used to forget to pick me up from school, usually when she was too high or sleeping off alcohol. Rosie’s mum would watch me, and regularly I had to stay over because neither of my parents would show to pick me up.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I peer up to see Reid’s frown deepening, hundreds of questions colouring his bright irises. The longing in his eyes has been replaced with pity, a look that I normally can’t stand, but on him, it makes my heart race a little more.
“Your mum used to forget about you?”
My shoulders shrug, brushing it off because it’s something I came to terms with at a young age. “Yeah, I got used to it. Maybe I really was a mistake like the kids at school used to tease me about.” I let out a forced laugh before snapping my lips shut at his glower.
