Before I had a chance to answer him, Dirk opened the office door. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
Tanner cleared his throat as I quickly wiped my tears away.
“Is everything okay?” Dirk asked, his eyes bouncing from Tanner to me.
Tanner didn’t say a word, he simply walked past Dirk and out the door. And in that moment, I knew what a breaking heart truly felt like.
“If that little prick said anything to hurt you, I’ll kill him.”
A laugh mingled with a sob as I shook my head. “No, he didn’t. But I’m pretty sure I just did one hell of a job pushing him away. Or, at the very least, confusing the hell out of him.”
“Is that what you wanted to do?” Dirk asked as he leaned against the doorjamb.
With a shake of my head, I closed my eyes and whispered, “No.”
“It’s not hard to notice the connection between the two of you,” Dirk stated.
I opened my eyes, wiped my damp cheeks, and took in a deep breath. No more crying for me. I was done and I needed to figure out how in the world I was going to fix this mess I had gotten myself into.
“Timberlynn.” Dirk’s voice was so kind and soft. “You don’t have to hide your scars, you know. Open up to him, and I promise he’ll help you heal them.”
My jaw muscles ached as I fought to keep myself from crying once again. Everyone in my life who mattered only had kind words to say about Tanner. So why had I let the gossiping fools get into my head. “What if I’ve totally messed up…”
Dirk raised a brow, causing me to instantly stop speaking. He smiled. “Doll, let me tell you something about the Shaw men. When they fall, they fall hard and they fall fast. And trust me when I say that the one who just walked out of here has fallen so freaking hard for you, that I think he might have gotten the breath knocked out of him. You didn’t mess anything up. He’ll come back around.”
“You don’t know that, Dirk. You don’t even know what happened.”
He walked over to me, gave me a once-over, and then grinned. “What I do know is that your past is keeping you from living your future.”
I lifted my chin and straightened my shoulders. “It is not. I’m moving on and I’m…I’m….”
“A future without someone to love is no future at all, Timberlynn. You and I both know that. Whatever happened can be fixed, at least I think it can. Tell me what happened.”
My cheeks puffed up as I exhaled. “The short of it?”
“Yep.”
“My father neglected me, my boyfriend cheated on me, my best friend at the time betrayed me, my father missed my birthday, I have some serious effed-up trust issues. I keep leading Tanner on, only to get spooked and then push him away. I told him I couldn’t trust him, but that’s not true. I found out tonight that my ex and the bestie are getting married. I got angry, and I took it out on Tanner. Then I said some things that were hurtful, and I didn’t mean it, and I’m pretty sure he’s already sick of the whiplash I’ve put him through. Oh, and did I mention I had daddy issues?”
Dirk nodded. “Twice.”
“Okay, then, there ya go.” I tilted my head to look at him. “Did any of that make sense?”
“Weirdly enough, I think I’m up to speed. I’m going to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly.”
“Okay,” I replied with a nod.
“Do you want to have a relationship with Tanner?”
“Yes, but I’m also scared.”
“Fair enough. Do you want to fix this mess you’ve made?”
I nodded.
“Okay. Seems like you Holden women like to make big messes.”
With a smile, I gave him a half shrug.
“Next big question. Do you trust me to help you?”
I chewed on my lower lip for a moment. “You’re not going to try and make him jealous by acting like we’re flirting or anything, are you?”
He pulled his head back and then motioned to his face. “Do I look like I want to have this face beaten to a pulp?”
There was no way I could stop the laugh that tumbled from my mouth. “No, you do not.”
Dirk held out his arm and motioned for us to leave the office. “Let’s go.”
After another moment or two of getting my nerves settled, I nodded and took his arm. We left Ty Senior’s office and headed down the hall.
“Do we have a plan?” I asked.
Dirk laughed. “We don’t have a plan. I have a plan.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Shit.”
Chapter Fifteen
TANNER
“Where’s Timberlynn?” my mother asked as she looked past me and into the living room.
“I’m not sure if she’s in the mood to bake and decorate cookies,” I stated.
“She should be! She seemed over the moon after I showed her a small little ranch out toward the mountains,” Kaylee said as she focused on cutting out stockings with a cookie cutter.
“What?” I asked, my voice sounding angrier than I meant for it to. That caused Kaylee to glance up at me with a confused expression. She had probably figured that was why Timberlynn wanted to talk. To tell me this little bit of news.
“Is everything okay, Tanner?” Brock asked. He could clearly see I was still upset from my encounter with Timberlynn. I knew I had overreacted, but damnit all to hell if she hadn’t frustrated the fuck out of me.
I pushed that thought away. Timberlynn wasn’t just anyone. I needed to make things right. A part of me wanted to head back to my father’s office, but then I realized how long I had been gone, and neither Timberlynn nor Dirk had come into the kitchen.
Brock’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Hey, Tanner, are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
Even I could hear the lie in my voice. I glanced back over to
