Except for that rustling coming from the path that leads—
“Ah!” I jump up and narrowly avoid spilling my coffee when a figure rounds the house, and she squeals too. “Holy shit.”
“Sorry.” She puts a hand up to her chest and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Willow.
“It’s pretty early to be lurking around.” I swallow hard and sit back down, and butterflies erupt in my belly. I’m not mentally stable enough to have it out with her right now. I don’t want another lecture, or to have her yell at me. I haven’t even had half this coffee yet, and the nightmare is fresh in my mind. I needed this time alone out here to settle, and now it looks like I won’t get it.
“Gid’s usually up by now, and I wanted to come over and talk. I brought muffins.” She holds up the covered plate and then sighs when I don’t reply. “Is he around?”
“Haven’t seen him yet today.” I shrug a shoulder, and I see her eyes narrow when she recognizes the sweatshirt that I’m wearing.
Fuck.
One more thing for her to judge me over.
“I was cold, and I don’t have any clothes here, but I’ll put it back in the closet if it bothers you.”
“Listen, we got off on the wrong foot.”
“You think?” I stand and move to go inside. “If I see Gideon, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. Or you can call him—”
“He never answers the phone. Please don’t go.”
I pause and look over at her.
“Can I sit with you?” she asks.
“This isn’t my home. It’s yours. You can sit wherever you want.”
Willow huffs out a breath, sets the plate on the rail of the deck, and sits, gesturing for me to return to my spot and join her.
I could be a bitch and go inside.
But I’m not a bitch.
And I’m not good at telling people no.
So I sit and take a sip of coffee.
“Gideon and Ryker both think I owe you an apology,” she begins softly. “And they’re probably right. But before I do that, I need to explain where my anger is coming from.”
“You don’t have—”
“Yeah, I do.” She rubs her palms up and down her denim-covered thigh. “I met Gideon and Ryker when I was fourteen. They’re a year older than me. They came to the ranch under ... difficult circumstances. I lived here every summer because I stayed with my aunt and uncle, who owned the ranch, and I loved it here. Then Ry and Gid came, and we became the Three Amigos.”
I’m so jealous of that. That friendship, that connection to each other. I don’t think I’ve ever had that with anyone. Even with Chelsea, it feels like her love for me is conditional, and there are things I know I can’t tell her. Can’t confide in her.
“Ray and Debbie adopted Ry and Gid the following year, and for almost twenty-five years, we’ve been a family.”
“Where are Ray and Debbie now?” I ask softly.
“In a tiny graveyard about a mile from here.”
My head jerks up, and my gaze latches on to hers.
“We lost them a while ago. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever gone through. When we lost Ray two years after Debbie, Ryker retired from hockey, and Gid came home for almost a month so we could settle the estate and figure out what the next steps were.”
