"I have a great support system here that I wouldn't have anywhere else. I'm not sure I could stay sober if I left. It's a battle I fight every single day as it is."
Her heart went out to him. She understood fighting battles, but she hoped with time, hers would get easier. She wasn't sure Daniel's ever would.
His parents and Jake and Emily probably feared he'd relapse if he left the ranch again. Was that why they wanted her and Daniel to get back together? Did they expect her to stay here forever?
Although she wasn't opposed to a second chance with Daniel—when she was ready—she wasn't sure she wanted to stay here on the ranch indefinitely.
Such thoughts continued to dance around inside her head as they got back to work. If she and Daniel were ever going to become friends again, Riley knew she needed to trust him with her garbage. Like he did with her.
The temperature grew warmer over the next hour as they continued to ride the fence line, stopping occasionally to make repairs. By four o'clock, however, a heavy cloud cover blew in and the wind picked up so much Riley had a hard time keeping her hat on her head. The temperature dropped rapidly, going from pleasant to downright chilly within the course of an hour.
She tugged her hat low on her head, pulled her flannel shirt from her saddle bag, and put it on as the first drops of rain began to fall.
"What do you think?" Daniel studied the sky as he buttoned his long-sleeved shirt. "Do we stick it out and try to finish the last few miles of fence line? Or do we call it a day and head home?"
Riley pointed at the darker clouds to the southwest. "That's headedour way. No matter what we do, we're going to get soaked. I don't want to ride fifteen miles in that."
The rain came faster even as she spoke, pelting and stinging despite her layered shirts and thick jeans.
Daniel grimaced as he tugged his hat low on his head. "We'd better head to the cabin then."
After Riley's parents got caught in a sudden rainstorm when they were dating and had to spend the night in a tiny cave not far from here, her dad built two small emergency cabins: one near the northeast property line and the other near the southeast border.
"That's still almost two miles away by the time we skirt around this rocky ridge."
"Then we'd better get moving." Daniel kicked his horse in the flanks.
As she gave Misty enough rein to follow Rebel and Samson, Riley couldn't help recalling in vivid detail what happened the last time she and Daniel got stuck at the north emergency cabin three years ago.
The small cabin was a far cry better than a cramped cave, but she didn't look forward to having to spend the night there with Daniel this time. What if being stuck there with him triggered her?
I haven’t learned enough coping skills from Emily yet.
CHAPTER 11
Daniel ducked his head against the onslaught of rain and checked over his shoulder to see if Riley followed him and to ensure Samson kept up with Rebel.
His midsection tightened as he recalled the last time he and Riley raced to the emergency cabin, trying to outrun a storm. That had been three years ago, but he found himself experiencing the same mixture of excitement and anxiety as he had back then.
Excitement because he'd fallen head over heels for Riley while working with her that summer, and he looked forward to spending the evening alone with her. He'd been dying for over a month to move their relationship out of the friend zone, but he feared how she might react. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin his relationship with his best friend.
Keeping tempo with Rebel’s pounding hooves, memories filled his head of that night three years ago.
Daniel slammed the door behind him and pulled his hat from his head, flinging water across the wood floor that was already splattered with droplets from Riley. "Talk about a downpour!"
"I know, I'm soaked." She took off her own hat and hung it on a hooknear the door. Her wet denim shirt quickly followed. The tank top she wore underneath was equally as wet and clung to her curves like a second skin.
A surge of desire rushed through him. He swallowed hard and pulled his mind from the gutter. It had been harder and harder this summer to think of Riley as a friend. She was like a sister to him, so keeping their relationship friendly shouldn't be that hard. But he wanted to be so much more than friends, and his thoughts lately were far from brotherly.
Her cousin Paige had conceded the title of Riley's best friend to him for the summer while she was away on the east coast, working as a nanny, and he didn't want to do anything to screw it up. But he could no longer deny how much Riley's hardworking and spunky nature had grown on him. She challenged him and made him laugh. She also made him want to be a better person.
He couldn't imagine life without her. He wanted her by his side forever.
"I'll get a fire going." Riley crouched near the large, rock fireplace. "Will you text Jake and tell him we'll most likely spend the night here?"
Daniel's heart rate kicked into overdrive. He spent practically every evening with Riley anyway, so the thought of spending the night sleeping in this small cabin with her shouldn't get him all worked up, but it did.
He looked to the left where two barely-bigger-than-a-cot twin beds sat, only a few feet apart. The cabin was so much smaller than he remembered, and with the dim light coming through the single, small window, the whole setting looked intimate and cozy.
