Page 50 of Spurred On

Logan, not inclined to argue, started the truck and they zoomed away.

***

They looked for Hanna all day and into the evening. By afternoon, Cody was starting to worry. There were only so many places they could have gone, but she wasn’t at Zack’s house or her family ranch, and no one in town had seen her.

Given how furious Zack had seemed, he could only suspect the worst. But he didn’t dare mention anything to Sidney. She was panicked enough as it was.

And damn it, as much as he hated having their last morning together interrupted, in these circumstances, it was even worse.

He wanted nothing more than to pull Sidney into his arms and comfort her, tell her it would be okay, wipe the worry from her brow and the tears from her cheeks . . . but he couldn’t. For one thing, her entire body was tense as a bowstring. She sat like a statue in the backseat fixated on the countryside out the window, her eyes frantically searching for her sister. Any comment or hopeful thought he proffered was greeted with a scowl.

He’d never felt such a wall between them.

It was, no doubt, the worst day of his life.

He’d never felt so helpless before . . . on all fronts.

Finally, long after evening had fallen, Sidney got a call from her father. Hanna had arrived at home. Apparently she’d had a fight with Zack and had walked over ten miles to the ranch.

Logan was beside himself. He drove like a lunatic to Hanna’s place. Cody couldn’t blame him.

It was a tremendous relief.

He could tell that Logan would have been more relieved if Hanna had come down from her room so he could see she was all right for himself, but she refused to see anyone other than Sidney. While they waited for Sidney to come back downstairs with her report, Mr. Stevens warmed up a couple of bowls of his chili, which was awesome because—Cody suddenly realized—he was starving. He wolfed down two bowls.

When Sidney came back into the kitchen, her features were taut.

“How is Hanna?” Logan asked.

“She’s fine.”

Logan nearly collapsed in relief. Apparently he didn’t notice the gentle lie woven in her words . . . but Cody caught it. Then again, maybe he just knew her.

When Logan and Mr. Stevens embarked on a discussion about chili, and the curative aspects of the spices, Cody leaned over and murmured to Sidney, “Are you coming back to the ranch?”

She frowned at him. “No. I need to get back to Dallas.”

His stomach dropped. “I need to talk to you.”

Her frown deepened. “About what?”

“You know.” He knew she knew. It was written all over her face.

She shifted in her chair and glanced at her father and Logan. “Not here.”

“Outside then? On the porch?”

“All right.” She blew out a heavy sigh and said, “We’ll be right back.” But it was doubtful anyone noticed, given their enthusiastic discussion of meat versus vegetarian dishes.

As Cody followed Sidney down the hall toward the front door, his mind was in a whirl. How should he approach this? What should he say?

She’d promised him a one-night stand that had become two, but she’d been adamant it could never be more. How could he convince her this was something worth exploring? How could a few words whispered on a moonlit porch change her mind?

But he had to try.

When the front door closed on them he turned to her. “Sidney—”

He would have taken her in his embrace, but she crossed her arms, effectively expressing her desire to maintain this chasm between them.