“Dude, my parents took me to Deadwood this summer, and it wasso cool,” Keenan blabbed to his other friends, Jack and Andrew, as he tapped his pencil against the wood top of his desk.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I gently grabbed the end of the pencil near the eraser, stopping him from hitting it against the desk.
“Whoops, sorry, Hayden,” he apologized, but five minutes later he was tapping the pencil again.
“What did you do over the summer, Hayden?” Andrew asked.
I shrugged. “Not a whole lot, honestly. Dad was working a lot this summer, so we?—”
“We got to ride in the cop car with them that one time!” Keenan cutme off. “We didn’t get to catch any bad guys, but they let us turn on the lights and the sirens.”
I chuckled, adding to his outburst. “We did. That was really cool.”
“All right, settle down, class.” Our teacher, Mrs. Gibbs, clapped her hands at the front of the classroom to get everyone’s attention.
The chatter dwindled to just a few hushed whispers.
“We’ve got a new student joining us today!” Mrs. Gibbs exclaimed, gesturing toward the new girl, whose face was now bright red. “Why don’t you stand up and introduce yourself? Don’t be shy, honey.”
All of my classmates—myself included—turned around in our seats, which I’m sure didn’t help ease her nerves. I didn’t like getting called on in class for normal things like answering a math question, much less having to introduce myself to people I didn’t know.
The girl looked like she would have rather swallowed a mug full of nails as she reluctantly stood. Her eyes bounced around the room before they finally landed on me and stayed there. I offered her a small smile, and it seemed as though her shoulders relaxed.
“Um…” Her voice was soft but sweet, if not a bit timid. “I’m Sierra.” She swallowed, her fingers fiddling with the right-hand cuff of her long sleeve, rubbing back and forth, back and forth like a bow on the strings of a violin. “Sierra Bayley.”
Bayley. Bayley. Bayley.
I swore I’d heard that name from somewhere, but I couldn’t place it.
“Where did you move here from, Sierra?” Mrs. Gibbs prompted her to continue, even though Sierra had already started to sit.
She cleared her throat, straightening her posture again. “Ponderosa Valley. Can I sit now, please?” As she waited for a response, she pulled her lip between her teeth, shrinking her body like she wanted to disappear.
“Of course. Everyone, make Sierra feel welcome here.”
A chorus of, “Yes, Mrs. Gibbs,” rose from the classroom. Everyone else had faced forward in their seats again, but I was still looking over my shoulder at Sierra.
She must have noticed I was staring, because her lips twitched up in a tiny smile. And for the first time today, her eyes didn’t look as sad.
CHAPTER SIX
hayden
PRESENT DAY
This one’s yours.” I gestured to the guest bedroom across the hall from mine, then to the door at the end of the hall between the bedrooms. “The bathroom is there.”
Pancho happily trotted into the guest room, pouncing on the bed to curl into a ball on the fluffy, lilac-colored comforter. The corners of my lips lifted at the sight of him making himself at home.
Sierra shifted awkwardly on her feet, her gaze glued to the floor. “I—you didn’t have to…” Her voice trailed off. “Thank you, Hayden.”
I leaned against the doorframe as she carried in what few belongings she’d been able to salvage from the fire. “Let me know if you need anything, okay, Skip?”
Her eyes flicked up to mine, and she gave me a small nod. “I will.”
After Sierra agreed to come back to Silver Creek with me, we untacked her horse and got him loaded in my trailer. I’d told the guys that I would be a little longer so they could hit the road without me. Thankfully, they hadn’t arguedor asked questions, but I knew I’d have to formally introduce her soon.
