Page 39 of Savage Rancher
But all I can think about is Emma leaving and how much I fucking hate it.
41
EMMA
Iunderestimated how I’d feel, coming back to the Rusty Spur alone. I’m tense as I walk in. I feel like someone’s watching me even though that’s completely ridiculous. I go directly to the bar, like it’s base. Safe.
The bar's busy, like it always is in the evening—a few locals nursing beers at the bar, a couple playing pool in the back corner, and a group of ranch hands laughing too loudly near the jukebox.
There are two empty barstools in the middle of the bar. As I hop up on one, my phone buzzes.
J
You okay?
I smile despite myself. Of course he programmed his number into my phone. And of course it’s just “J.” He doesn’t need a full name. One letter and I already feel him.
Just walked in. Harper's not here yet.
J
Be safe.
That’s it? I frown at the screen, waiting for him to tell me to text him when I leave, to ask if I locked all the doors and windows at home—to ask me to come back to his place tonight.
Nothing.
“Hey.”
I turn my phone over as Harper pulls out the stool next to me. She’s wearing jeans and a puffy jacket, her curly brown hair bouncing over her shoulders, her smile bright and genuine.
Harper's six years younger than me, so we weren't friends growing up—she was still in middle school when I graduated from high school. But that changed one night two years ago.
I came home to Iron Ridge after a particularly brutal fight with Mark, and Harper found me sitting alone at the diner at six in the morning, crying into a cup of coffee, trying to pull myself together before seeing my dad. Instead of offering platitudes or pity, she sat down across from me and said, "Men are trash. Want to talk about it, or do you want me to arrest him?"
We'd chosen the former, and somewhere between the second and third cup of coffee, we'd realized we had the same dark sense of humor, the same refusal to accept bullshit, and the same need for someone who wouldn't judge. We'd been inseparable ever since—the kind of friendship that felt like it had always existed, even though it was brand new.
"Sorry I'm late," Harper says, sitting down. "Dad had me doing paperwork until the last possible second."
"You're not late. I just got here."
Hank comes over, smiling. “If it isn’t my two favorite girls. You aren’t going to cause trouble tonight, are you?”
My smile falters, thinking of the other night.
Harper winks at Hank. “And chance you calling the sheriff? I think I can keep a lid on it. As long as you don’t let me order tequila.”
He laughs. “Whiskey, then?”
“Thanks, Hank,” I say.
After setting our glasses in front of us, Harper angles toward me, her eyes bright with curiosity.
"So.” Her grin turns wicked. "You and Jake Callahan."
My stomach flips. I take a sip of my drink before I answer. "What about us?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me, Emma Hayes.” Harper shakes her head. “I’ve never seen my dad look so pissed, not even when I told him I was going on a date with Jason Evans. Lucy Meyers saw you leaving Blackthorn Ranch this morning, and now the whole town's speculating about you guys. So spill. Are you guys together?"
