That old wrought-iron sign out front, with its big letters saying Black Spruce Ranch, looks just as rickety and rusted as ever, but it’s admittedly a bit nostalgic to see it again after years away.
The place is still kind of a wreck, just like the last time I was here, but it looks like they’re in the middle of some renovations right now. I think Jenny said something about Dad revamping the place last time we talked. Hopefully he plans to do more than just fix the fences. Pretty much everything around here could use a facelift.
Dust flies up from the dirt road and coats the freshly waxed paint on my SUV in filth. I pull into a random empty spot close to the walkway and wait for the dust to settle before hopping out. I pull my duffel bag from the backseat and close the door, but before I have a chance to even start up the walkway, the front door slams open.
Jenny storms her way down the porch steps in a tank top and Care Bear pajama pants, her brown hair barely contained in a ponytail at the base of her skull. Her face is drawn into a mutinous scowl. I drop the bag and hold my arms out with a wide grin.
“Big sis!” I greet cheerily. “You look like you’re having a great day already.”
Sarcasm drips from my tone, but it is genuinely good to see her. She’s always grumpy when we talk, so I’m not surprised to see her in a bad mood now.
“You righteous fucking asshole!” she shouts, closing the distance to drill a finger into my chest as she glares up at me.“Who the hell do you think you are to just show up here out of nowhere?”
I scoff, knocking her hand to the side and rolling my eyes. Sure, I’ve been gone for a while, but it’s not like I disavowed the fucking bloodline.
“Uh, your brother?” I say snarkily. “Didn’t realize I needed a written invitation to come home.”
She looks way more upset than I expected her to. Her anger is genuine, and actually directed toward me. I’m used to her taking her frustrations out on me, but I don’t know of anything I did to piss her offthismuch.
“You definitely do need one when you desert the fucking family, Wayne,” she bites out. “You fucked off to law school and left me and Dad to deal with the ranch on our own. Ibeggedyou to come home, over and over, but you were always too busy with your big city job. And now you just come waltzing back home like you never left?”
I blink at her in surprise, my grin faltering. She’s actually serious.
I mean, sure, she asked me to come help at the ranch a few times, but I wouldn’t call it begging. And it’s not like I could just leave my job when I was so close to making partner. That thought makes bitterness curl, sour and heavy, in my gut.
“Jesus, Jenny, I just wanted to come home for a vacation,” I say with an annoyed laugh.
“Yeah, well, don’t expect anyone to be happy to see you,” she spits.
She turns on her heel before I have a chance to respond, left sputtering and baffled at the acid in her tone.
Welcome fucking home, I guess.
KATIE
Angeline just barely managed to convince me to come out tonight. The bar scene isn’t really my thing, but she’s right about me needing to get out more often. I can’t let work consume my whole life, but that’s just kind of how veterinary medicine is. At least I love it.
What I don’t love, however, is hearing the bell above the door jingle and watching Wayne fucking Riggs walk in with a posse of his old high school friends behind him.
There’s no way. No way inhell. I try to convince myself that I’m wrong, but when I glance back, unease and attraction swirl around each other in my gut. He looks annoyingly good, still slim but obviously well-muscled, all windswept hair and cocky attitude. My face heats in instinctual embarrassment, and I turn my back toward the door in an attempt to hide from him. The last thing I need is to moon over my high school bully, no matter how unstoppable my crush was when we were kids.
I’m an adult with a career and a life. I can’t still be hung up on this asshole.
“Look, Petersucked,” Angeline says vehemently, sliding another shot across the worn wood of the bartop toward me.
I roll my eyes, but accept the shot and toss it back. I won’t drink another—two is plenty for a weeknight—but the alcohol does set a nice warmth singing in my blood.
“He wasn’t that bad,” I say with a laugh. “We just weren’t compatible.”
The truth is, Peter was… fine. Things were good in the beginning, but I realized after a few months that I only liked him so much because his work schedule as a lineman had him gone for two weeks at a time. The spark between us faded quickly, and things got boring. I broke it off last week, and he didn’t argue. Angeline has been insisting that I need to go out and find someone to hook up with to put that whole thing behind me.
It wouldn’t be too hard—I’ve really settled into myself as an adult, leaving the boxy sweaters and braces behind and embracing my natural curves and my bouncy blond curls. I’ve left the ugly duckling of my high school years firmly behind, but it’s not easy to forget.
It’s harder to forget with Wayne sitting at the end of the bar.
He wasn’tcruelwhen we were in high school, but he and his friends were the popular sports types, and I was an easy target. It hurt so much more from him than the others, though, because I’ve always thought he was drop-dead gorgeous. Apparently that hasn’t changed.
“Alright, I’m going to the bathroom,” Angeline says as she slides off her barstool. “When I get back, we’re going to find you someone to take home.”
