Page 80 of A Bittersweet Summer

A phone rings in the house, and my brows furrow. “You guys have a landline?” I ask, looking at Roe, who has stopped playing. “Yes, but we hardly use it. Our parents did, thus the insane noise level. Had to hear the phone over farm equipment or something.”

“Should we…” I hesitate, my wrap hovering a few inches from my mouth. My stomach growls in protest. “Should we answer it?” I ask. “Wes is still down at the breeding barn with the vet.”

Roe shrugs. “I don’t think it’s important.” Her fingers return to their strumming pattern.

Walton appears at the bottom of the hill by the barn entrance. He waves, tapping his watch.

I tilt my head.

“I’m getting some lunch,” he says. “Good job with that little one today, Cass!”

“Oh!” I call back. “It’s nothing.”

“What happened?” Roe asks.

“Just a parent forcing her son to take riding lessons despite his very obvious and real fear of horses. He ended up doing great, though!”

“Do you think they’ll come back?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “If the mom has anything to do with it. Maybe he’ll end up liking it eventually.”

I take another bite of my wrap. A gentle wind ripples over the grass as horses graze in the distance. Despite the beauty, I think I prefer eating in the sunroom off the back of the house.

The pond field is so much prettier, though I’m partial to the willow tree next to it. I make a note to text Ellis and recommend it as my top ceremony location for her wedding at the end of this month.

A golf cart comes barreling around the house, Wes’s brow severe when he slams the brakes. “Cass,” he says, a bit breathless as if he’d been running instead of just driving over here.

The energy shifts, and I rise to my feet.

“Where’s your phone?” he asks.

My heart pounds in my ears. “I left it down at my house by accident today.” I’m panting now. “Why, what’s wrong? Did someone get out?”

Wes climbs past Roe and enters the house, a number of thumps sounding as he fumbles around. “Wes!” I call, my voice somewhat panicked.

He stomps down the stairs, handing me my wallet, his keys wrapped around a finger. When he looks at me, there’s a soft pain in his eyes. “Gus is back in the hospital,” he says, and my mind fights to keep up.

A deep pit is forming in my stomach.

I’ve heard this before—heard it more than I care to admit, but it never ceases to pull dread from the deepest parts of me. “How do you know that?” I whisper.

He runs a hand down his face. “Your mom has been calling every number the farm has listed online when she couldn’t get a hold of you. She finally landed on my cell.” Said phone sounds off, and Wes rushes to answer it. “Hello?” There’s some yelling on the other line until he thrusts the phone in my direction.

“Hello?”

“Cassidy Ann Summers, explain to me why you have been unreachable for the better part of the day.” My mom’s cold demand makes me feel like I’m ten years old again, fighting tears as I stand in the kitchen.

“Is Gus okay?” I ask, my fingers now shaking around the phone.

“He’s fine!” A rush of relief floods me, and I mouth the words to Wes and Roe. “But it was a very real possibility that he wasn’t, and you weren’t available, Cassidy.”

I shrink in on myself, flinching as if she stood right in front of me, threatening to throw a hit. “I’m sorry,” I squeak out. “Do you need me to—”

“Yes. You should visit him this evening. I just got back from the hospital, and he seemed in good spirits. Rather bored. Megan is with him.” She says her name as if it’s a curse. “I’m sure she will want a break later if you can be bothered to step away from that job of yours and go.”

I’m seventeen years old again, attending prom only to get a similar call that Gus wasn’t feeling well and they’d taken him in.

I’d left as soon as I could, but I hadn’t had a car. My date at the time, Corey, had agreed to drop the rest of our friends off first before taking me to the hospital.