Page 7 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Her expression flickered with shock first, then something carefully locked down.“Hey, Rye.I’m Dr.Stevens now.”

Hey.Hey?

She said “hey” like we were bumping into each other at the feed store?Not like she’ddisappearedfrom my life and left a hole I’d been pretending wasn’t there ever since.She’d never tried to reach out to explain why she’d left or where she’d gone.

She didn’t get to waltz back into my life this many years later and say,“Hey.”

There were faint lines at the corners of her eyes—proof time had touched her, even if it hadn’t dared take much.She was still the same height.The top of her head would still brush under my chin like it used to, but everything else had changed.

She had curves now.Soft, impossible, distracting curves.She was so damn beautiful my already overloaded brain…quit.It couldn’t process the fact the girl who wrecked me long ago was standing here looking like that.And saying “hey.”She wore blue scrubs, a white lab coat, and had little golden cat earrings in her ears.My gaze flashed to her hand—no wedding ring.Didn’t mean much, since many people took off their rings to work.

Her gaze dropped to my arms, my shirt, and then to Buck.

A flash of something crossed her face.Focus snapped into place.

“Let’s take a look,” she said instantly, already moving.No hesitation.No softness.Just veterinary confidence.It somehow made the mess inside me worse.

Her gloved hands were steady as she palpated, checked, and assessed.Her touch was efficient, practiced.There wasn’t an outward sign to indicate she cared that she’d slammed back into the wreckage of my existence.

“He’s going to be okay,” she announced.“We’ll sedate him, clean it up, and close the wound with a few sutures.The blood makes it look worse than it is.”

“What the hell are you doing here?”The words came out sharper than I intended.

She didn’t look up right away.Just kept working to clean away blood.

“Filling in,” she said as she sorted bandaging material.“I’m better with large animals, but they needed ER coverage today.”She said it so casual and controlled.“I fill in where they need me.”

How could she be so calm and dismissive when I was actively falling apart at the edges?Then it hit me, sharp and ugly—the truth.

She was back because of the papers that had been served to my family, the Hurst family, last week.The heavy cream envelope had displayed my family’s name across the front like a target.Inside were pages and pages of legal bullshit from the McClary’s lawyer.Some ancient document had been dug up from the grave, claiming half our land had always been theirs.That we’d been “stealing” it for seventy-five years.Everything, from our dairy farm to the crop fields that we’d built from nothing, was being called theft.Everything we owned was in danger of being stolen.

My gaze narrowed onto her.That had to be why she’d returned.Not fate.Not coincidence.She was here to join the fight to take us down once and for all.She wanted her piece of the pie.

Something inside pulled me into battle mode—Buck bleeding on the table, my dad on his way here, Milly gone, and Sofia waiting for a version of me, her father, that knew how to explain any of this to a three-year-old.On top of all that, Gia was back like a ghost risen from the dead, ready to twist the knife deeper into my back.

“Is Erika here?”My words came out clipped.“No offense, but my dad is on his way, and it’ll go a lot better for all of us if you’re not the one working on his dog.”

She stilled for half a second.Barely noticeable.I noticed.

“If things go south,” I added, my voice dropping, “he’s going to be real pissed.I’m not interested in watching him sue you.Our families seem to like litigation these days, don’t they?”

Her hands didn’t stop moving to finish the bandage on Buck’s tail, but something in her shoulders tightened.

I leaned in enough that no one else could hear me.“A lot’s changed since youleft.”

I expected her to flash a guilty glare, but she didn’t.

She didn’t snap back.Didn’t flinch.She gave this light, almost dismissive huff of a breath.“This is easy peasy.”

I noticed a small crack, a strained smile she couldn’t quite hold.Beneath it rested something that made it hard to swallow…sadness.She said, “Erika is here.She’s in the office.She needs a break, though.We’re all worried if she pushes much more, she’ll?—”

“What the hell did you do to my favorite dog?”Erika’s voice cut through everything.

Relief hit me hard.

Erika came toward us fast—or as fast as she could, one hand braced under her stomach, the other already reaching out to me.Pregnancy rounded her, slowed her, but didn’t dull that sharp, take-control energy she carried into every room.

“His tail got stuck in the truck door.”My voice sounded distant to my own ears.I scrubbed at my hands, but the blood had already dried into the creases of my skin.It wouldn’t come off.None of it would.