“So how long are you going to spend your days lying in a field with a horse? What did Lilah call it? Man pain. She said you’re in deep.”
Zach couldn’t help but laugh. “What the fuck is man pain?”
“She said you’re wallowing in a way only a real man can. Deep, bone-deep pain. No tears though.”
“Oh, there’s been tears. Plenty of weeping and wailing, I’ve just been doing it behind closed doors.”
“So, what do we do, man? Help me out.”
“Hell if I know. I just miss her. I spent ten years pretending I didn’t and it finally caught up with me.”
Zach was trying his best to give Evie space. He’d texted her one more time, to ask if she was doing okay. Her response wasn’t bad.
Dr. Manzo is very happy with my progress. Cleared to resume on-camera work in a week. Thank you for asking.
But he hadn’t heard from her again. Nicole had been keeping them in the loop regarding the Melanie Burns situation. Evie had gone to the police, told them every detail of what happened that night, and filed a restraining order. They’d sent officers to pick up Melanie for questioning, but she was out of the country. On paper it was a simple assault case, so it wasn’t like they were going to have Interpol track her down, but at least Evie had put something official on the cops’ radar. And once the restraining order was served, she had legal cause to tell Melanie Burns to stay the hell away from her.
He knew if any of that changed, Nicole would be the first to tell him or Jesse. Zach was back in the loop and he appreciated that. It didn’t do anything to ease the bone-deep ache that had settled in the center of his chest.
“I don’t know. Maybe I just gotta get over it.”
“You think you should move on?”
Zach let out a dry chuckle. “No. I don’t want to close that door unless I absolutely have to.”
“Makes sense.”
“I thought you were coming out here to tell me to get over myself.”
“Nah. I realized I can give you shit about work, the ranch, getting on Miss Leona’s nerves, but I can’t give you shit about this.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve never been in love.” Jesse looked down and dragged the sole of his boot over the bottom fence rail. “Can’t really set an example for you either.”
“Eh. It’s not on you,” Zach said, meaning every word of it. He never pressured Jesse when it came to women. People thought because he was built like a Mack Truck, women threw themselves at his feet. Which was true, but Jesse didn’t know exactly how to pick up women. He’d always been shy, and when he found the nerve to talk to a woman, he was too blunt. He’d blown a few chances at a good thing and then he just stopped trying altogether.
And though they’d only talked about it once, Jesse had made it clear that casual sex just wasn’t an option for him. He needed a connection with someone who got him. When he loved, Jesse loved hard, and Zach knew any woman would be lucky to have him in their corner. Zach just had no idea how to help him get to that point.
“Should we call Sam? Ask him to give us some pointers?”
“It would be wild if we had a father we could talk to about these things. Oh wait,” Jessie said, cracking a ghost of a smile.
“You know exactly what he’d say. ‘Just marry her. I don’t understand the problem.’”
“I know Evie’s upset, but I know she loves you too. Just give her some time.”
“It’s all I can do.”
“Let me get back. If you’re still out here after dark, we’re staging an intervention.”
“I’ll be back in a minute.” Then something so obvious occurred to him, something his baby cousin would definitely understand. “Actually, can you spare Lilah for a second?”
“Yeah, of course. Text her.”
“I will.” They executed their elaborate Pleasant brother handshake before Jesse turned and headed back for the office.
“Keep that horse away from me!” he called out. Zach shook his head at his brother’s retreating back, watching as Clementine ran to catch up with him. He pulled out his phone a few seconds later and shot Lilah a text. Eager for a break from emails and paperwork, she happily met him out in the corral.