“Well, since he’s close to the bar I’ll go check on him tomorrow,” Iris said. “It’s Michelle’s old house right?”
It was silent after that, and I assumed they had left the kitchen. I leaned against the wall, wondering what the hell I was going to do. Every time Sam was on his offseason he always came back to Sterling Ridge. We would take a vacation and stay together until Webber had to fly back for training.
Everything was changing this summer and all because I couldn’t handle myfeelings anymore. This was getting messier than I had wanted. I just needed to go to Sam's house and?—
“You ok?”
My brother startled me.
“Uh, yeah just had to take a call from work,” I said quickly.
“Is everything ok?” His brows furrowed.
“Yeah, we were just talking about tomorrow,” I said, hoping he didn’t ask anything else. “Just getting details squared away.”
Theo grunted his disapproval.
“I don’t like it either, but it’s part of the job,” I shrugged.
“I know. Come on, let's eat and then you can rest for tomorrow,” he said, patting my shoulder.
Dinner was a good distraction, or as much as it could be. The food was great, my brother's family was always the best and being around my siblings was healing in a way. Theo and I were always the closest. We had to be because I had to protect him from our parents and people at school who would pick on him because no one understood that Theo was different. He was neurodivergent and in our small-minded town, no one gave him the time of day, not even our parents, who really only cared about our farm.
Luke, our oldest brother, left the house as soon as he could. He got a football scholarship and made something for himself, leaving us to help our parents run the farm. That created even more division between our family and when Theo and I decided to go to college, it was like we were betraying them. My sister was the only one left with them and being the youngest, she was malleable to their nonsense and soon we were all strangers. After our parents died, my siblings and I finally reconnected. We understood the toxic life we had grown up in and we were healing together. I didn’t realize how much I had missed them until we started talking again. It would have been perfect if our older brother, Luke, lived in Sterling Ridge, but he had the taste of city life and I didn’t think he could ever come back to small-town living. I was still holding out hope that he might come back to us one day.
Nova sent me home with more food than I could probably eat over the next few days, but she sent instructions to freeze the tray she gave me to make it last. Iris and Theo made sure to tell me a hundred times to text them that I was safe tomorrow or else they would worry constantly. I made my promises, leaving before they made more requests.
I drove home, at least that's where I told myself I was going, until I took a right when I should have taken a left. My heart made a decision that my brain knew was a bad idea. I lied to myself saying I just wanted to prove Nova was wrong. Sam wasn’t here, he was in Denver getting the PT he needed.
The moment I turned onto the street to look for the house Sam was staying at, I didn’t have to look hard. I found his car instantly. My heart started beating fast as I slowed down while I passed the house. The lights were on inside, but I couldn’t really see anything. I drove to the end of the street, turning around to go home, when I stopped my car one house down from Sam’s. I started to question my sanity.
Just fucking call him.
That was just too easy. I had to do everything the hard way, like get out of my car and sneakily spy on my best friend. Thankfully, the street was quiet, and it was late enough I might not be seen. The front window had a good view of the living room and there was a bush that would hide me from the street view. The last thing I needed was to be arrested for stalking my best friend. I inched between the bush and the house, staying by the edge of the window, to see Sam sitting on the sofa, his leg propped up. He hadn’t shaved in a while, the dark circles under his eyes and his raggedy clothes were red flags.
Sam was usually so put together. He was like those Jersey Shore dudes that had a schedule: gym, tan, laundry. I had only seen him like this once and that was when he was a free agent a few years ago except, I don’t remember it being this bad.
I did this to him.
Guilt slapped me in the face. It seemed no matter what I did, one of us would be hurting. I didn’t know what the hell to do. In my haste, I lost my footing. I was slipping, and then falling on my ass, rustling the bush.
FUCK!
I stood up quickly as my ass burned from the fall and booked it to my car, hoping like hell Sam was slow in looking out the window. He opened the front door just as I rounded my truck.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
Jesus Christ, Sam needed to get his ass back in his house. We had discussed this first and we had always agreed he would be the first to die in a horror film and this just proved it. I chuckled, wishing I could tell him this and my ache for Sam grew tenfold. I needed one more day to figure out what the hell I was gonna do, then I would call him and we would talk this out.
Maybe I would tell him my dilemma, that I loved him and we could work past it, because continuing to stalk Sam in themiddle of the night was not a viable plan. I wasn’t made for stalking, for fuck’s sake I was a firefighter.
7
forest
Sterling Ridge was like most small towns. It was comforting in a way because I knew what to expect. There were hardly any surprises, and it was nice knowing almost everyone. There was a sense of kinship that I loved because it gave me a feeling of belonging without having to lay down deep roots.
Not all towns brought you into the fold, but working at the ranch, people were more trusting of me. It also helped that I knew Nova, who the town had a soft spot for, especially the older ladies at the salon she worked at. One haircut with a little bit of flirting and I was in with the granny crew, who were a hoot.
