Close Your Eyes (53 page)

Deep in
thought,
she walked on, enjoying the solitude. A wind picked up, swooshing
the heads of cattails
back and forth and
rustling them softly
. A bird chirped nearby
. T
he short
,
piercing sound startl
ed
her from her bittersweet memories.
She looked up to see its small
,
roundish silhouette perched only a few steps away
. B
eady black eyes focused on her with suspicious interest.

‘Hey there, buddy
.
’
She
smiled
and pushed
aside a stubborn strand of her heavy,
soaked hair.

The bird cocked his head to one side, eyeing her carefully as it listened to some sound, before hopping away and disappearing in the tall grasses.
And then she heard it
,
too. In a surreal sense of déjà vu, she knew exactly what it was and where it was coming from
, or rather
who
it was coming from
.
Graceful and fluid in its easy, powerful motion, a
horse was galloping over the open plain
bordering the marsh
.
Meg
stood looking
at
its silhouette, dark and sleek against the grey sky. Over
and over again, the strong
horse’s sinewy legs, almost flying over the grassy field,
touched the g
round.
Trying to recognize the rider, s
he held her hand over her eyes.

It was Ry
an
. She watched him come closer
. T
he horse
slowed
to a leisurely trot. He must have noticed her
,
too, because he steered the big black stallion to the edge of the marsh, where it met the yellowy grass of the paddocks.
Meg
realized he was riding his grandfather’s horse,
and
the midnight black animal with
a
silky mane and
expressive
eyes
follow
ed
his guidance with zero resistance.

‘
Megs
?’
Ryan
sounded
just as familiar
as he always had.

Meg braced
herself for the stab of pain that should
have
follow
ed
. Only
,
it didn’t
. N
othing inside her hurt
nearly as much as
the pain she experienced when she thought of the way she
had
treated
Matt
.

‘I
s that really you?’

It was funny
,
in a way, what a difference a year could make. She
remembered
Matt
asking her the same question as she stumbled along, crying after her row with Ry
an
. Now it was the other
brother’s
turn to watch her
with
concern as he added
,
‘Are you
okay
? I had no clue you were back. Your parents said you were staying in Holland for a while.’

She wondered if he
had
asked them himself
,
and
if so, how he’d been
received. Knowing her mum,
he’d probably been treated
very well.

‘I just came back today
.
’
She
looked up, taking in his forest
-
green jacket and black boots,
which were
all achingly familiar.
She had to admit that h
e was as handsome as ever
. H
is eyes
were
just
as blue
and
intense
as they had been
when
she and Ryan
were together. ‘I felt like taking a walk here
.
I like the marsh.’

He nodded and slid
from
his horse in one fluid motion. His graceful descen
t
made her think of
Matt
,
and she felt her cheeks warm.

‘How are things here? Everyone is fine?’
she asked, hoping to sound normal.
That
was as far as she was willing to go
.

He
walked over to her,
and
his long, confident steps
brought
back a lot of memories.
‘
Yep
, pretty muc
h
.’

From close up
,
she couldn’t help but notice the golden stubble adorning his cheeks. It was different from his usual
clean-shaven
look, and it suited him well.
‘You aren’t shavin
g as much as before, are you?’
she
asked impulsively, smiling
.

H
e blushed
, and his hand went
to his face in a
self-
conscious
gesture.

‘I know
.
Alice likes it more this way.’

He seemed awkward
at
mention
ing
his girlfriend
,
and
Meg realized she
needed to make it all right
.
Her
previous anger at the dark
-
haired,
green-eyed
nurse
was
gone without a trace.

‘Well, she is right
. Y
ou look very good like that.’ Her friendly words did the trick
.

Ryan
relaxed visibly
. H
is smile
grew
wider.

‘I’m glad you think so.’ He watched her
for a
second in silence
. With a cautious voice,
he asked, ‘
Are
you back for good,
Megs
? I can’t tell you how horrible I feel for making
such a
mess out of our lives.’

It seemed
some of his
brother’s
direct approach
had
rubbed off on him
,
after all. She sighed and tried to tell him how she felt without giving away too much. Some things were very private, not to be shared even with Ry
an
.

‘I’m
okay
, Ry.
Don’t worry, I am not mad at you at all. I just… made mess of my own
out of
something very, very important and had to go away to think it over.’

To her horror, he nodded knowingly
. His
handsome face
held an expression of
understanding.

‘I figured that much. There is a reason why
Matt
’s been
moping around all the time. He
hasn’t
been like that since we were little kids,
Meg
. I figured it had to do with you.’

‘Why?’
she
asked weakly
. She a
llow
ed
him to take her hand and pull her to the large
,
hollow trunk of an old oak,
which
offer
ed
them enough space to sit down comfortably. ‘
What
does it have to do with me,
Ry
?’

‘You’re kidding,
right?’ H
e smiled again
with soft eyes
. ‘I know my brother better than anyone else,
Meg
. I know how he feels about you. I guess I
’
ve known for a long time, ever since I noticed the way he liked being around you
,
even years ago.
I just preferred to ignore it and let it be, afraid
of
any confrontation.
’

‘That’s silly, R
y.
We
’ve been friends, that’s all. He never did anything inappropriate, ever.’ She was defending
Matt
because she
worried that Ry
an
might hold it against him, even
though
they were
no longer
a couple. Loyalty went a lo
ng way for everyone,
especially
for a
member of the
Harper
family
.

‘I would never even think he would do anything like that,
Meg
.’ Ry
an
’s fingers stroke
d
her hand soothingly
in an innocent and friendly
gesture. ‘
But
that doesn’t mean he didn’t think
about
it,
Meg
. He had a crush on you forever. You should have seen his fury when I
told him I’d
broken up with you. I thought he would beat me up for making you suffer. I knew there and then that he was way over his head, whether he was ready to admit it or not.’