Chapter 33
Hadley
Iwake to find a pretty face smiling down at me, but it’s not the one I want to see. Not even close.
Sorry, Nia.
The smile she gives me is full of sadness. “He’s awake, Mama.”
Mom shifts closer, hovering. I let my gaze drift to the ceiling. I can’t do this right now. Not when I have myself to blame for the injuries. For the mountains of ranch debt and the fact Maggie isn’t here.
Which I know will be Nia’s first question.
The door to my room opens, and Gemma and Kayley file in. “Hey, bud.” Kayley scans my body that sports a cast on my right arm. “Guess you showed him.”
She smiles, but the light is nowhere to be seen in her eyes. Her spark for life has disappeared, not even resuscitated by our sibling banter that usually fires her up.
“Okay, I’m just going to say it.” Nia sighs. “Where’s Maggie?”
I swallow around the stone doing its damn best to occlude my airways.
“Hads, what did you do?” Gemma folds her arms, frowning at me.
Huh, trust these three to take her side. While I’m stuck in a hospital bed, no less.
Hell, I’m Team Maggie, too. But the fact it took all of two minutes for them to come to the conclusion that I did something kind of stings.
“She was in the arena . . .” I start.
“Oh no! She’s hurt too?” Nia’s face is distraught.
“No, Nini, nothing like that. She was there, Brady said she was when”—I glance up at Mom—“I was being carried out of the arena. But I don’t have my phone.”
“Does she know where you are?” Mom asks.
“Guess so.” The words suck the air from the room and every gaze drops to the floor.
Fuck.
“Let’s focus on getting you better,” Mom offers, her hand patting mine on the bed.
“Yeah, and by the way. You’re quitting that bull riding shit.” Kayley moves the bed rail down and sits on the side of the bed. “There’s a part-time gig at the seed and feed. It’s all yours.”
“No, Kales. Weekdays I have to ranch.”
“Bullshit. You can ranch any day of the week. What are you not telling us?” Her eyes narrow and her lips make a thin line.
“It’s...” I fling my focus back to the ceiling. “Things are not great with the bank.”
“They never are,” Mom starts.
I hold a hand up. “Last year’s dry spell hit us harder than the one before. I took out an extension on the overdraft mortgage to cover the hay and repairs...”
“What are we talking?” Kayley asks, shifting on the bed. “Don’t sugarcoat it, either.”
“Just over a quarter of a million.”
“That’s not too bad for ranch debt,” Mom says, confused.
