Page 16

Claire stood with her back to the door, long blonde hair twisted up loose so the nape of her neck showed. The grey thermal stretched across her shoulders as she measured grain. Delaney shoved her hands into the canvas pockets.

“Hey,” Delaney said, not wanting to startle her. “I thought I’d come give you a hand.”

Claire’s hands stilled. She didn’t turn around right away. When she did, her blue eyes were guarded. “It’s late. You’ve got an early call tomorrow.”

“I’m not tired.” Delaney stepped into the small room. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. For the last three days.” She pressed her lips together, trying not to sound frustrated. “If I did something wrong, just tell me.”

Claire’s jaw flexed. She set the scoop down with a quiet click. “You didn’t.”

The words landed between them and stayed there. Delaney waited. Claire didn’t fill the silence. Finally she nodded toward the stack of clean buckets.

“If you want to help, top off the water. I’ll finish the grain.” She paused, then added, quieter, “You really don’t have to.”

They worked without saying much after that. Delaney carried the heavy buckets down the aisle, cold metal biting into her palms. Claire moved behind her with the grain cart. Every time they passed each other in the narrow space their arms nearly brushed. The loose strands of blonde hair at Claire’s neck. The way the thermal clung to her back. The faint smell of her skin and sweat and hay that seemed to live in the air around her.

At the last stall her grip slipped on the wet bucket. Cold water poured over the rim and down the front of her jeans. The shock hit her thighs hard.

Claire was there in two strides. Her hand landed on Delaney’s hip.

The bucket hit the floor at their feet and rolled, water sloshing across the boards, and neither of them reached for it. Claire’s fingers flexed once against the wet denim.

Her palm settled just above Delaney’s hip bone. The heat of it bled through the cold, soaked fabric. She looked up. Claire’s face was close enough that Delaney could see the faint flush climbing her neck.

Claire didn’t pull her hand away.

The wet denim cooled against her legs while the rest of her stayed hot, and behind them a horse shifted in its stall and went quiet again.

Delaney’s throat tightened around the words. She barely recognized her own voice, thin and rough.

“You touch me like that,” she said, “and I’m done pretending I don’t want you to.”

Claire inhaled sharply. Her fingers tightened against Delaney’s hip through the wet denim. Claire’s eyes dropped to her mouth.

“Delaney.” The word dragged out of her chest.

She wanted to close the last inch. She wanted Claire to stop fighting whatever this was between them. The heat of Claire’s body filled the narrow space, her breathing uneven, the faint tremble in the fingers still gripping Delaney’s hip. Every second that passed made it harder to remember why they shouldn’t.

Claire’s gaze flicked back up to her eyes. For one suspended heartbeat Delaney thought this was it. That Claire was finally going to kiss her.

Then Claire exhaled sharply and pulled her hand away. She took one deliberate step back. Her eyes fixed on the water pooling around their boots, and whatever had been open in her face closed.

Claire reached down and righted the bucket. When she straightened, she didn’t look at Delaney’s face. Just at the soaked denim clinging to her legs.

“I’ve got the rest of this,” Claire said. Her voice was flat, though it wasn’t quite steady. “Go back to the house and get out of those wet clothes.”

“Claire.”

“Go on, Delaney. You have an early call tomorrow.”

She turned back to the grain, her spine straight and her shoulders rigid, and picked up the scoop again.

Delaney stood there for another second. The place where Claire’s hand had rested still burned against her skin, but there was nowhere left to go with it. Not tonight.

She turned and walked out through the south doors, leaving Claire alone in the aisle.

Gravel crunched under her boots as she crossed the dark yard.

Claire had wanted to kiss her.