Where’s Macey?
I need to see her.
And then I do see her.
At the ranch—just her and me in the barn. Macey turns toward me, and she’s so young. She’s a teenager. Her dark ponytail is high on her head, and she smiles at me with the most beautiful smile in the world.
The light is so bright. It burns my eyes and I fight to keep looking at her.
Macey beckons me closer to where she sits on top of a hay bale. Her whiskey eyes dance with pride as I hold up the painting I did of the two of us.
“This is for you,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “It’s for you, Logan.”
I step closer to her so I can kiss her.
“Hey!” The word is slurred as my father yells from outside the barn. “Are you in here, Logan?”
“Quick!” I tell Macey. “Hide!”
The second she’s out of sight, my dad storms in.
And he’s angry. And drunk. Which means he’s going to be violent.
I try to hide the painting, but I’m not quick enough.
The pain from his strike—all I see is red.
Can’t be like him…can never be like him.
Have to find Macey…
Macey
I sit next to Luke and Brayden in silence as Luke drives us to the hospital. The three of us are in the front seat of Luke’s truck, and no one’s said a word since we watched Logan get carried into the back of the ambulance.
He never regained consciousness after he fell off the bronc. I tried to get close to him, but the EMTs said they had to move quickly.
“This is the exit for the hospital,” I say as I point to the sign.
Luke puts on his signal, and we leave the highway.
“You okay?” Brayden asks me.
“I will be when Logan wakes up and he’s fine,” I say in a strained tone.
“He will,” Luke says, his voice rough. “Be fine.”
“I know.” I cross my arms over my chest.
He has to be.
78
The hospital waiting room is chaos.
Logan’s parents arrive the same time we do, and Luke and Brayden go down the hall with them to find a doctor.
