“Hey,” I say, nodding at them. “What’s up? Somebody die?”
Jack snorts. “Not yet.”
Cami rolls her eyes. “Ignore him and come on. We’re taking the truck.”
Thank God.
My brows pull together. “What’s going on?”
“We want to show you something,” Jack says, already climbing into the driver’s seat, “Hop in.” That’s Jack’s version of subtle.
I climb in behind Cami, and the engine coughs to life. The seat’s cold through my jeans. Cami pulls her beanie down and tucks her hair behind her ear, and I watch her hands for a second. She’s fidgety and gets that way when she’s nervous. And that’s not very often.
Jack drives us past the main barn and out toward the back of his property, the land opening up and stretching wide like it could swallow you whole—fence lines cut through fields packed with snow, with the ridges of the mountains snow-capped and mapping out the sky in front of us. Snow sits in shallow drifts in the shade, but the sun has melted the rest down to brown grass and exposed dirt on the road we’re on.
I do miss the Wilder Ranch in some ways. But I made peace with letting it go years ago.We ride in silence for a minute, the engine rumbling beneath our feet. Jack keeps his eyes forward. Cami keeps looking at me like she wants to say something.
My stomach tightens. “Okay,” I finally say. “You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”
Cami exhales, a shaky breath, and then she reaches over and grabs Jack’s hand.“It’s good,” she says quietly. "You’ll see.”
Relief fills me because I can handle good. I can’t handle anything that isn’t good right now. What I have right now with Poppy, Owen, and Ellie is so much better than good. I won’t take anything less than good for my family and me anymore.
Jack slows the truck and stops next to a field. The engine clicks and then goes quiet. The world goes still except for the wind.
Cami turns toward me fully, eyes bright. “You’ve always been there for me,” she says, her voice cracking a little. “You’re the best brother I could’ve asked for.”
I blink hard, caught off guard by the emotion in her voice. I look away, out at the field, because I don’t want to cry.
“I don’t deserve you,” she keeps going, and her laugh is wet. “And somehow I get you anyway.”
I swallow. “Cami. You deserve me.”
“Let me finish,” she says quickly, shaking her head. “I need to say this.”
Jack hangs his head and listens. I can tell he’s emotional, too.
“Our parents are shit,” she says, blunt as always. “They’re selfish and broken, and they hurt us, and I hate that we got that.”
I soften as she lets it all out. I know she’s upset.
“But I have you,” she says, voice softening. “And you’ll always have me. You always have. And now you have Jack. You’ve always had him, but you have him as an official brother now.”
Jack shifts in his seat, glancing at her, then at me, his throat working like he’s swallowing something down, too.
“I don’t know how we turned out the way that we did with what we had.” I shake my head, trying to shake off the emotion that is pouring over me.
Cami’s eyes shine harder. “I want you here, Ollie,” she says. “I want us to raise our kids together, be there for each other. I want Owen riding horses and doing everything that he loves. I want Ellie growing up knowing she’s loved by more people than she can count.”
My chest aches. “Kids?”
“Someday we’ll have them.” She grins, squeezing Jack’s hand, and he nods.
“And we want you to have something,” she says, voice steadier now, like she’s decided to be brave. “Not because you need it. Because you deserve it.”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I feel the air has gone out of my lungs.
Jack clears his throat. “Cami and I want you to build out here,” he says. “We want you to have your piece of Wilder land.”
