Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm) by Elisabeth Naughton Page B

happened, I—”
    “No.” Tate waved a hand again. “I don’t want to hear any excuses. That’s not why I came here. I just came to tell you I realize I’ve been an ass lately and that you two don’t have to worry about me anymore. Someone made me see things in a different way, and I’m...bowing out gracefully and admitting defeat. If I run into either or both of you in town, I won’t make a scene.”
    Neither said anything. They just stared at him as if he’d grown a third eyeball. And even though he felt like an idiot, Tate figured that was probably for the best. He’d said what he’d come to say. He’d been the bigger man. Now it was time to go.
    He rounded the corner and turned for the barn doors. Stepping into the early evening light, he drew a deep breath and knew he’d done the right thing. Only he didn’t feel a whole lot better.
    But the moment he spotted Mary Louise leaning against the hood of his car, studying her phone, that pressure in his chest eased. He took two steps toward her before he heard shuffling at his back, followed by his brother’s voice.
    “Tate, wait.”
    Drawing a breath for patience, he turned to face Tucker. Thankfully, Hannah wasn’t with him. “What?”
    Unease passed over Tucker’s face as he stepped into the light and slipped his hands into the pockets of his worn jeans. “I know you don’t want to hear apologies or excuses so I’m just gonna say...I love you. You’re my brother, and I love you, and I know it doesn’t change anything but somehow I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
    Shit. He just had. Something light replaced all the anger inside Tate that had been weighing him down. Something he didn’t know how to define and wasn’t even sure he could define. He frowned because...yeah, he wasn’t ready to do much more just yet. “I love you, too. I just don’t really like you very much right now.”
    Tucker grinned, looking more like the annoying kid brother he’d been Tate’s whole life than the man he’d grown into. “I can live with that.”
    So could Tate. If nothing else, it was a start. He glanced toward the barn where Hannah was standing just inside the shadows. He wanted to tell Tucker to be better to her than he’d been, but he wasn’t there yet either. The most he could do was nod her way. She answered with a sad smile and a wave, and as Tucker turned and headed back to her, Tate took a deep breath that felt a helluva a lot like...freedom.
    Mary Louise was waiting at the car with a warm smile on her pretty face when he reached her. She’d been watching him with Tucker. He could see it in her eyes. He wasn’t sure where her phone had gone, but he didn’t care. In the fading light of dusk, on the farm where he’d grown up, she looked absolutely perfect.
    “Are you okay?” she asked as he drew close.
    “Yeah,” he answered, meaning it. “I’m good.”
    “Really?” She lifted her brows and looked up at him.
    He nodded. “And I have you to thank for it.”
    “I didn’t really do anything.”
    “Yeah, you did. You talked some sense into me. Pretty sure my old man would say you’re the only person who’s ever been able to do that.”
    A wide grin spread across her face. “Well. Yay, me, huh?”
    He felt himself smiling for the first time in weeks. “Yay, you.” He moved closer, until they were only a breath apart. “I want to kiss you, Mary Louise Prager. Would that be too forward of me or would it be okay?”
    Her smile wobbled, and her chest rose and fell with her increased breaths. “No. I mean, yes. I mean...I would love for you to kiss me.”
    Those breathless words touched his heart in a way nothing had for a really long time. Lifting his hands to cradle her face, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. And the moment he did, he felt something inside him finally come to life.
    They were both breathless when he drew back. Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him, and the way she licked her lips and glanced