Blinding Trust by Jennifer Foor Page A

turned around and took a look at Ty and Conner. “I told you both not to do that!”
    “We couldn’t help it, sis. It was a kickass idea!”
    “You both are asshats!” Amy pointed at them and shook her head.
    Miranda’s scorning did nothing to make Ty wash off the makeup and change his clothes. In fact, he and Conner walked around for the rest of the day like that.
    I spent the night in the guest room at Ty and Miranda’s, while Addy chose to stay with her cousins. Even though the mattress wasn’t as soft as mine, it was a great night’s sleep.
    I woke up to the smell of cooking bacon and a conversation between Miranda and Ty having to deal with nipple sizes.
    “I’m telling you, baby, their like fingerprints. Each set is different,” Ty said as he flipped the bacon.
    Mira nda sat in a chair with her knees against her chest. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and was reading something on her tablet. “That’s ridiculous! How would you know anyway?”
    “I am the master of tits, that’s how!”
    They didn’t look at each other as they talked and they didn’t notice me standing there, holding my hand over my mouth.
    “The master of tits?”
    “Shit yeah! You put a picture of your tits in a line up with a hundred other sets and I guarantee I can pick yours out!” I couldn’t help but start to laugh. They both turned and looked at me.
    “Van, can you please tell my husband that he’s full of crap?”
    “Honestly, I think you should take him up on the challenge.”
    “And let him look at ninety nine other sets of breasts? You’ve got to be jokin’. The last thing this man needs is permission to be a pervert.”
    Ty held up his arms like he couldn’t help himself. “It was worth a try, right?”
    “No!” Miranda and I said at the same time.
    They retreated into the living room shortly after, while I made a cup of coffee and sat in silence. It was nice to have a little time to myself, but also made me think of the reason that I wanted to leave town in the first place.
    I felt like my happy little bubble was being jeopardized and I didn’t know how to make things better. With my health being in question, no matter how much I was told not to worry, I still couldn’t see a way out. I think Ty being obsessed with breasts was making my morning worries heightened. As much as I tried to separate my problems from my visit, they were clearly one in the same.
    In just a short time, Colt was going to take Noah for a weeks visit with Zeke. Maybe I would have felt better about it if I were included in the decision. To be honest, I felt like I didn’t belong. Maybe I was being selfish. I’d known all along that I wasn’t Noah’s birth mother. I shouldn’t have been surprised that this kind of conflict had come in to play.
    Once the kids woke up, the house filled with chaos. I went outside to the barn, where I sat down on the couch and looked around, thinking of all the happy memories that we’d all shared in the place.
    I don’t know how long I’d been out there, but a man clearing his voice caught my attention.
    Ty came and sat down next to me. He put his arm around me and I nestled my head into his chest, like I did when we were teenagers. “You going to tell me why you’re here?”
    I shrugged. “I just needed to clear my head.”
    “Van, I know you. This can’t just be about Noah. You know you can talk to me. I’m not always a complete dick.”
    I couldn’t believe that he could tell something else was wrong. “I’m fine, really. I think I am just being sel fish. I mean, Noah has a right to know his uncle, doesn’t he?”
    Ty looked straight out at the wall, never really paying attention to me being so close to him. I appreciated that we could be like this and it didn’t harbor any feelings between us. He really was a good friend to me.
    He cleared his throat again. “Don’t get me wrong, Van. I think it’s cool and all that Noah has a famous uncle, but from what I’ve seen, he’s not