“Want to stop for dinner?” Ry asks us.
“I want to go back to the bunkhouse,” Aiden replies.
Ryker raises his eyebrow at me, and I nod.
“I’ll make dinner at the house,” I tell him.
We’re quiet in the car for about ten miles. Aiden has his earbuds in, so I assume he’s listening to music, but suddenly, he rips them out and shoves them in his pocket.
“Did they run out of battery?” I ask him.
“Why can’t we just move out to the ranch full-time?” Aiden’s voice cracks, making my heart hurt so much. “What’s the point in being in Missoula anyway? I fucking hate it there.”
“Let’s get out of the car and talk about this.” Ryker flips on his blinker and takes the exit for a rest area that happens to be empty right now, and as soon as he parks, we all get out of the vehicle, and Aidenstarts to pace. He’s so agitated, so upset, and I wish I could pull him to me and hug him.
But he doesn’t like to be touched.
“Baby, how long has that boy been harassing you?”
“Years,” he says and rubs the back of his hand over his mouth. “I hate him. I wish I could kill him. He’s relentless, and his friends are no better.”
“I want his full name,” Ryker says, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I’m so over it in that stupid fucking town,” Aiden continues, as if Ryker hasn’t said anything at all. “If I like a girl, that asshole swoops in and makes her hate me. If I so much as smile in class, he finds a way to humiliate me.”
“I’m going to kill him.” My voice is hard as granite. “And I want to know why you’ve never talked to me about this.”
“Because what are you going to do?” His voice is so loud now, but I allow it because I can plainly see that he’s needed to get this out for a long time. “Talk to hismom? She doesn’t fucking care. She’s just like him. I’m sick todeathof him talking shit about you. About Ryker and hockey and every goddamn thing. I don’t even use my phone anymore because he wouldn’t stop texting me.”
I tilt my head to the side, stunned. “Aiden.What in the hell? Baby, you don’t have to deal with all this bullshit by yourself, andyes, I can do something about it. We can press charges against him. Plus, you don’t have to defend me. I’m perfectly capable—”
“Yes I do,” he roars back. “Because I love you, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and if someone’s going to talk shit about you, they’re going to get a goddamn broken jaw.”
“That’s my boy,” Ryker mutters, but I don’t look at him.
“He’s a jealous, miserable kid,” I say, keeping my voice calm. “I’m not saying you need to feel bad for him, and I’m not going to tell you to take the high road because he’s taken all this way too far, but you do know that he behaves that way because he’s jealous, right?”
“I don’t care why he does it.” Aiden pulls his hands down his face. “I don’t give a shit about him. I don’t want to ever see him again.”
“I fucking hate bullies,” I say, shaking my head.
“I want to live at the ranch,” he continues. “All the time, not just this summer. I don’t want to go to school in Missoula. I can go in Paradise Valley, where Micah goes.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” Ryker breaks in before I can reply, “you can move in permanentlytoday. The ranch is your home. For both of you. I want you with me.”
“You do?”
I’ve gone completely quiet, but for the first time since Aiden saw that little shit in the store, he has hope in his eyes again.
This isn’t something that Ryker and I have discussed. The plan was for us to stay on the ranch for the summer and then return to Missoula. I’m a planner. I don’t do well with things being shaken up without warning.
Without a conversation.
“Of course I do,” Ry continues. “I told you, you guys are mine. I don’t want you to move back to Missoula.”
“Thank God,” Aiden says with a relieved sigh. Then he turns his attention back to me. “That’s okay, right, Aunt Wills? We can move to the ranch?”
“We’ll talk about it.”
