Chapter 1
Tristan
Sadie
I’m tracking your location and see you’re almost home.
Ilaugh once at the fact that she watches where I am all the freaking time. Kids.
My thumbs tap on the wheel of the truck as I focus on the road. It’s late, it’s raining, and I’m exhausted after driving six hours back from Wyoming, where I dropped off the eight horses we sold. Of course, five minutes after passing the border into Colorado, the rain started coming down. It hasn’t stopped—if anything, it’s only come down harder. Summer storms are really ruining plans as of late.
I turn off the familiar exit, winding to the left before coming to the one traffic light that sits at the edge of the boundary into my hometown of Infinity Ridge, and I finally feel some relief.
Home.
Almost.
Usually the views of the majestic Rocky Mountains that I can see with my eyes closed are like a welcome sign, but right now all I see is rain.
Lots of freaking rain.
I voice a text back to Sadie when I see it’s past ten already. I drove up to Wyoming yesterday, thinking it would be a quick drop-off, that I’d spend the night and be back on the road.
I am. You should be in bed. You have physical therapy tomorrow.
I can picture her rolling her eyes like all twelve-year-olds do when they think they’re twenty and can do what they want.
Lord knows my three sisters were always doing that whenever Mom or Dad tried to tell them what to do.
Sadie
I was waiting for you.
I’ll be home in twenty and then it’s lights out.
Sadie
Whatever you say, Daddy.
That’s a lie. I grab my coffee and toss the rest of it back, then see lights on the side of the road.
Only the vehicle is notallthe way off to the side…
It’s still partially in the road.
I’m at a tight curve, and swerving into oncoming traffic could end in disaster.
Shit.
I hit the brakes, hoping the horse trailer doesn’t swing out and cause me to slide, but thankfully I have enough time that I come to a stop about five feet before I hit the truck.
The flashers are going, but with the rain I can’t see anything. Hopefully the driver is safe. I grab my jacket and get out of my truck, pulling my hat onto my head to give me a little relief from the downpour as I go to check on the stranded motorist.
I bang on the window, and the woman inside lowers it, already talking. “I’m so sorry. I know I’m in a bad spot, but I’m stuck in the mud and my tire…”
A light inside her truck turns on, and all I see is sable hair and the greenest eyes to ever exist. For a moment my heart, that organ that hasn’t worked right in years, starts to beat again. Then, as lightning stretches across the sky and recognition dawns, I realize who it is and let my heart go back to being dormant.
If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck.
