Grabbing my cell, I search through forgotten contacts until I get to Atlee. Pressing send on the call, I wait for the call to connect and then pick up.
“Aubree?” she questions. We left her back at the bar. She has no idea the shitstorm we’re dealing with. “Where’d y’all go?”
“We have a problem,” Nora says, her voice thick with authority. “We need painkillers and antibiotics. There’s been an accident on the Grizzly River Ranch.”
Atlee gasps. “Is everyone okay?”
Nora and I glance at each other. “They will be,” I answer, my voice firm, no room for doubt.
“But we need that medicine tonight. If we send someone, can you help us get it?” Nora asks, reaching up with the back of her hand to wipe the sweat from her brow.
“Yeah, yeah,” Atlee confirms. “I can get it.”
“I’ll go,” Devlin says from where he’s standing at the front door. I didn’t even know he was here, but his large presence is comforting, knowing that Atlee will be in good hands.
Nora nods. “Devlin Nelson will meet you. Hurry.”
Atlee’s voice is breathless. “On it.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, hoping that she can hear the sincerity in my voice as I hang up the phone.
Then I turn and watch my best friend work on my brother, trying to keep him alive. Strong arms wrap around my neck and hold me close. Jesse fits his front to my back, widening his stance to keep me upright when I threaten to tip over.
The warmth of his body against mine is the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart. I can feel the tension in his muscles, the way his breathing has turned shallow and uneven. He’s as terrified as I am, maybe more. Truett isn’t just my brother. He’s Jesse’s best friend, his partner in every sense that matters on this ranch.
I close my eyes and lean back into Jesse’s solid chest, letting his strength anchor me as memories flood back unbidden. I’m seventeen again, curled up in my bed, when Truett’s heavy footsteps echo down the hallway at three in the morning. The way he knocked so softly on my door, like he was afraid to wake me, even though he needed to deliver the worst news of our lives.
“Aubree?” His voice had been broken, raw with grief I’d never heard from him before. “Aubree, I need you to wake up.”
I remember how my heart had started racing before I even opened my eyes, some primal instinct telling me that whateverbrought my big brother to my room in the dead of night wasn’t good. When I sat up and saw his face in the dim light from the hallway, his eyes red-rimmed, his usually steady hands shaking, I knew our world had just changed forever.
“There’s been an accident,” he’d whispered, sinking down onto the edge of my bed like his legs couldn’t hold him anymore. “Mom and Dad…they didn’t make it home.”
The way he’d held me as I screamed, as I beat my fists against his chest and demanded he take it back, demanded he tell me it was some sick joke. But Truett had never been one for jokes, especially not about something like this. He’d just held me tighter, his own tears falling into my hair as he promised me over and over that we’d be okay, that he’d take care of everything, that I’d never have to worry about anything as long as he was breathing.
And he’d kept that promise. Every single day since that night, Truett has put me first. When I wanted to go to college, he made sure it was paid for. When I came back heartbroken and lost, he never asked questions, just made space for me to heal.
He’s never once made me feel like a burden, never once suggested that his life would be easier without me to worry about. Even when I know it would have been. Even when I know he could have sold the whole ranch, taken the money, and started fresh somewhere else without the weight of our parents’ memory and his kid sister’s dreams holding him back.
“He’s going to be okay,” Jesse murmurs against my ear, his voice rough with emotion. “Nora knows what she’s doing. He’s going to be fine.”
I can hear the desperate edge to his words, the way he’s trying to convince himself as much as me. Jesse and Truett have been inseparable since they were kids, getting into trouble together, working the ranch side by side, sharing dreamsand disappointments, and everything in between. If something happens to Truett…
I turn in Jesse’s arms, needing to see his face, needing to offer him the same comfort he’s trying to give me. His green eyes are bright with unshed tears, his jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscle jumping beneath his dark beard. He looks as wrecked as I feel, and the sight of his pain somehow makes mine more bearable. We’re in this together, whatever comes next.
“He’s too stubborn to die,” I whisper, reaching up to cup his face in my hands. The coarse hair of his beard tickles my palms, familiar and grounding. “You know how he is. He’s probably already planning how to get back to work tomorrow.”
Jesse’s mouth quirks up in a ghost of a smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Probably worried about who’s going to check the north pasture fence if he’s laid up.”
“God knows you can’t be trusted to do it right,” I tease softly, and this time his smile is a little more real.
“Hey now,” he protests, his voice still thick but steadier. “I’ve gotten better.”
“Mmm,” I hum noncommittally, and he huffs out a breath that might almost be a laugh under different circumstances.
We fall quiet again, watching Nora work. Her movements are sure and practiced, every gesture precise. She’s completely focused on Truett, her face a mask of professional concentration, but I can see something else in the careful way she touches him, in the gentle murmur of her voice as she talks him through what she’s doing, even though he’s unconscious.
It hits me like a revelation, sudden and blindingly obvious now that I’m looking for it. The way Nora’s eyes linger on Truett’s face when she thinks no one is watching. The way her voice changes when she says his name. They may have just kissed recently, but something has been brewing for a long time.
