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Eva beamed with pleasure and Tyler could hardly take his eyes off her.
“When are you returning to Austin?” Carson asked.
It took Tyler a moment to realize the man was speaking to him. He jerked his gaze away from Eva, feeling embarrassed to be caught staring at her. “Um, I’m scheduled to leave the day after Thanksgiving.”
But now Tyler wasn’t so sure. He didn’t want to leave his mother until he’d recovered his sister’s horse. That might take some time. Mom already was upset that he was going away, because she’d be all alone. Until this year she’d let most of their land lie fallow and hadn’t been running any livestock. This summer, Tyler had worked hard to get the ranch back in shape...just in time to leave again. And Mom wasn’t thrilled by the proposition. She didn’t say a lot, but he could tell by the sad, faraway look in her eyes that she didn’t want him to go. But he had to. Had to get out of this dinky little town and back to his old life. He just didn’t belong here anymore.
Or did he?
“Well, I better get back to work. If there’s anything I can do, you just say the word,” Carson told Eva.
She smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
Carson left, and Tyler figured he should do the same. There was no reason to stay here any longer. Yet he liked being near Eva. She had a soothing way about her that made him feel at ease.
“You’ll be missed when you leave town,” Eva said.
Her words brought a hard lump to his throat. Other than his patients, he figured only his mom would miss him. It was nice to know someone else cared. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“I can see how you’d rather live in the city,” she said.
He caught a bit of hesitancy in her voice.
“But you don’t agree?” he said.
She inhaled deeply and let it out, then shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. I love living at Stillwater Ranch. And I love the twins and Aunt Mamie. But it’s not my home. Not really. But Little Horn is. It’s the town where I grew up. Where my people are from. It’s a part of me. It’ll always be my home, no matter where I go.”
Tyler swallowed hard. “Yeah, I get that.”
And he really did. He was surprised by the difference one event could make in changing his mind-set. Losing his sister’s horse had hit him harder than he thought. It had reminded him that this was his home, too. That his mom was counting on him. That he’d been raised in Little Horn. Whether he liked it or not, this community was in his blood.
Eva arched one of her eyebrows. “But you don’t agree?”
He released a pent-up breath. “I didn’t use to, but maybe now I do.”
She inclined her head, her long ponytail bouncing. “What do you mean?”
He looked at the baby, wondering what he should say. “At one time I thought Little Horn was nothing more than a tiny speck on a very large map. A go-nowhere town with a big dead end in front of me. All my life I dreamed of becoming a respected doctor. Living in a city far away from cows and a small-town environment. I wanted the lights and action of a big city. I wanted to do medical research and live anywhere but here.”
Oh, maybe he shouldn’t have told her all that. But for some reason, Eva was so easy to talk to. He felt as though he could confide his deepest secrets in her. An odd notion, surely.
She took a step closer. “And now?”
He gave a scoffing laugh. “And now I’m not so sure. Losing Applejack has hurt Mom and me a lot.”
What an understatement. Losing that horse was agony. Tyler felt torn up inside. As though he’d lost his best friend. And suddenly he felt as if he was a part of this community he’d tried so hard to shun. He had to protect his ranch. But more than that, he had to protect his family. His father had fought so hard to keep their home. Laboring with blood, sweat and tears to build it into a prosperous place to raise his children. Tyler’s sister had died way too young, but that didn’t change his feelings for the place. He couldn’t walk away from his mom and childhood home without making things right. Not without recovering Jenny’s horse first.
He realized Eva was partly to blame for making him recognize all of these feelings he’d kept bottled up inside. He needed to get away from her. Fast. Before he made a huge mistake and asked her out.
“I better get going, too. Like Carson said, if there’s anything you need, all you have to do is call and I’ll be there,” Tyler said.
And he meant every word. He wanted to protect Mom and their home. But he felt protective of Eva, too. Maybe it was an offshoot emotion from when he’d been young, riding around Stillwater Ranch with Ben and Grady. He’d always helped them look after their little cousin Eva. But somehow Tyler’s feelings had changed toward her recently. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He only knew he was worried about her. He cared about her and Miss Mamie. And the baby, too. He wanted to help them out. Yet it was something more. Something he’d never felt before. Something he didn’t understand. And that scared him. A lot. Because caring brought with it a lot of heartache. And because he’d vowed never to care for another woman as long as he lived.
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