A flush crept up his neck. “No! No. Nothing like that. I just—well, I can’t stand aside and keep quiet when I know you’re about to make a huge career change partly because you think your job turns men off. I’ve seen how Wyatt responds to you, and I can’t let you go on thinking it has anything to do with you personally. He’s that way with all women. He’s never been interested, if you know what I mean.”

The nape of Erin’s neck tingled. “What are you saying, Kennedy?”

He took a deep breath and expelled it with a puff of his lean cheeks. “This can’t ever be repeated. You need to promise me that.”

“I promise.”

He raked the heel of one boot over a gold carpet of last year’s pine needles. “I, um—please, understand that I’m only guessing. Okay? Wyatt’s never said one way or the other, but I have every reason to think he’s gay.”

Erin gaped at him. “Wyatt? What on earth makes you think that?”

“Apart from the fact that he’s thirty-three years old and has never dated, you mean?” Kennedy held her gaze. “Never, Erin. Not once in high school, and as far as I know, never as an adult, either.”

Erin averted her gaze to stare off at nothing. Kennedy’s revelation was startling. “Being deaf from birth isn’t easy. I’m sure you’re more aware than I am of all the social difficulties your brother has faced. Imagine struggling to find the words to ask a girl out, only to have her laugh or turn you down cold. Maybe striking out with girls was so unpleasant that he just stopped trying.”

Kennedy fixed his gaze on the creek. The blush on his cheeks faded. “I thought of all that, and for a long time, I believed Wyatt never approached women because they wanted no part of him. He used to talk weird. He didn’t have a bunch of guy friends like I did, either. He hated school and couldn’t wait to get home every day. Then he spent every afternoon and evening with the horses.” He turned an imploring gaze to Erin. “I understood that, even as young as I was. He was different than me. He felt more comfortable with animals than he did with people. But you can hardly tell he’s deaf when he talks now. Very few people figure out that he can’t hear unless he tells them. I’ve seen a lot of women flirt with him.” He gestured limply with one hand. “He could have his pick. But he walks away and never looks back. He has zero interest.”

Erin throat constricted, making her voice sound thin as she asked, “Are you homophobic, Kennedy?”

He looked startled by the question. “No. Heck, no. Why do you ask?” He arched an eyebrow at her.

“I just wonder why you’ve never come right out and asked Wyatt. If you’re correct about Wyatt’s sexual orientation, and I think you probably are, it isn’t a bad thing unless you or others in your family could never accept it.”