Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
After washing my face and pulling my hair up into a high ponytail, I pull on some jeans and a T-shirt.
These jeans are too tight. My ass has grown since high school.
Please let my clothes get here today.
Not wanting to wake Gideon, I pad quietly out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where there’s a light on above the stove. While the coffee brews, I take a deep breath and glance outside. The sky is lightening, and I can see the outline of the mountains.
I want to sit outside with my coffee, but it’s chilly in the morning, so I check the coat closet by the front door and find a green army hoodie and slip it over my head.
God, it smells like him.
And it’s huge on me.
But it’s warm, and it almost feels like he’s hugging me, and damn it, even if I won’t admit it to anyone else, it’s the comfort I need this morning after that fucked-up nightmare and the altercation with his family yesterday.
I’m only in socks this morning, but my heels are still sore as I walk out the back door and sit on the steps, ready for Mother Nature’s show to begin.
I love that I have this front-row seat for this view. And I can picture this lake frozen in the winter, with snow falling and sticking to the trees, and I bet that’s just as beautiful.
Sipping the coffee, I take a deep breath and then let it out, watching the steam from my breath fill the air. It’s so peaceful here. So quiet.
Except for that rustling coming from the path that leads—
“Ah!” I jump up and narrowly avoid spilling my coffee when a figure rounds the house, and she squeals too. “Holy shit.”
“Sorry.” She puts a hand up to her chest and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Willow.
“It’s pretty early to be lurking around.” I swallow hard and sit back down, and butterflies erupt in my belly. I’m not mentally stable enough to have it out with her right now. I don’t want another lecture, or to have her yell at me. I haven’t even had half this coffee yet, and the nightmare is fresh in my mind. I needed this time alone out here to settle, and now it looks like I won’t get it.
“Gid’s usually up by now, and I wanted to come over and talk. I brought muffins.” She holds up the covered plate and then sighs when I don’t reply. “Is he around?”
“Haven’t seen him yet today.” I shrug a shoulder, and I see her eyes narrow when she recognizes the sweatshirt that I’m wearing.
Fuck.
One more thing for her to judge me over.
“I was cold, and I don’t have any clothes here, but I’ll put it back in the closet if it bothers you.”
“Listen, we got off on the wrong foot.”
“You think?” I stand and move to go inside. “If I see Gideon, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. Or you can call him—”
“He never answers the phone. Please don’t go.”
I pause and look over at her.
“Can I sit with you?” she asks.
“This isn’t my home. It’s yours. You can sit wherever you want.”
Willow huffs out a breath, sets the plate on the rail of the deck, and sits, gesturing for me to return to my spot and join her.
I could be a bitch and go inside.
But I’m not a bitch.
And I’m not good at telling people no.
So I sit and take a sip of coffee.
“Gideon and Ryker both think I owe you an apology,” she begins softly. “And they’re probably right. But before I do that, I need to explain where my anger is coming from.”
“You don’t have—”
“Yeah, I do.” She rubs her palms up and down her denim-covered thigh. “I met Gideon and Ryker when I was fourteen. They’re a year older than me. They came to the ranch under . . . difficult circumstances. I lived here every summer because I stayed with my aunt and uncle, who owned the ranch, and I loved it here. Then Ry and Gid came, and we became the Three Amigos.”
I’m so jealous of that. That friendship, that connection to each other. I don’t think I’ve ever had that with anyone. Even with Chelsea, it feels like her love for me is conditional, and there are things I know I can’t tell her. Can’t confide in her.
“Ray and Debbie adopted Ry and Gid the following year, and for almost twenty-five years, we’ve been a family.”
“Where are Ray and Debbie now?” I ask softly.
“In a tiny graveyard about a mile from here.”
My head jerks up, and my gaze latches on to hers.
“We lost them a while ago. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through. When we lost Ray two years after Debbie, Ryker retired from hockey, and Gid came home for almost a month so we could settle the estate and figure out what the next steps were.”