River cleared her throat. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. She’s never been arrested or anything. It’s mostly money stuff. Unpaid tickets. Debts she can’t get ahead of.”
The second the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. Somehow she was only making Skye sound worse.
Before she could try to fix it, her phone rang.
The horse tossed its head, clearly annoyed by the ringtone River had. She pulled out her phone and held up a finger. “One sec.”
Mathew nodded, his expression unreadable. This whole getting-to-know-you thing was blowing up in River’s face, and she was determined to turn it around as soon as she took care of this call.
“Hello?”
“River? Thank goodness. I was worried I forgot your number. They took my phone.”
“Skye?” River shot a glance at Mathew, who was watching her with curiosity. “Who took your phone? What’s going on?”
“Don’t be mad.”
“Skye...” River hissed. “What happened?”
There was a pause, then her sister lowered her voice. “They usually let me off with a warning, but they didn’t this time.”
River pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please tell me you are not in jail.”
“It’s really not a big deal.”
“Just tell me.”
“I’ve been booked in the county lockup unless I can post bail.”
“Skye!”
Mathew stiffened at her side. For the first time in River’s life that she could remember, she was embarrassed by her sister.
“It’s only fifteen hundred,” Skye rushed to explain.
“Fifteen hundred? Jeez, Skye.” River squeezed her eyes shut. “What did you do? Actually, never mind. Don’t answer that. Those phones are probably monitored.” She barely had that much in her account. Thank goodness her room and board were covered. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, River. I swear?—”
“Don’t, Skye.” She sighed. “Just don’t. I’ll be there soon.”
River ended the call and looked over at Mathew. “We’re going to have to cut this ride short.”
“Is everything okay?”
She shook her head. “No, it isn’t. But it will be.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Can I help?”
Denying his request clung to the tip of her tongue, but one look at his face and she couldn’t bring herself to do that.
Maybe she didn’t want to do this alone. Maybe he needed the distraction as much as she needed the help.
Either way, she decided not to deny herself the support she needed in this moment. “Actually... yeah.”
11
MATHEW
