Page 7 of Wild Mistake
A spark of anger lights up inside of me. I’m glad I came home though I’m kinda pissed no one demanded I come sooner. Were they going to wait until our father’s entire memory disappeared before picking up the goddamn phone? “You should have told me. Maeve. Jackson. Somebody! I would have come sooner.”
“That’s why we didn’t.” Ryan scrubs a hand through his hair. “We didn’t want to disrupt your life. It’s not like you being here changes anything. There’s nothing to be done.”
I exhale in frustration and attempt to loosen the tension in my jaw. “I’m his son, too.” I deserve to know what’s going on with our father. I hate that I’m the last to know. That after all these years my big brother is still trying to protect me. “Did you not think I could handle this? Fuck, Ryan. I’m a goddamn Army Ranger.”
“And you have responsibilities to this country. If we had called, it’s not like you could just pick up and leave. We didn’t want to burden you.”
“Family isn’t a burden.”
He barks out a laugh. “I don’t know if that’s true.” When I don’t smile, he sobers. “Look, you didn’t lay down roots in Wilder Valley like I did. You were never content working the ranch, and while I don’t understand, I have always respected your choices. I wasn’t about to force you to give up your career to come watch our father fade away. I wouldn’t ask that of you. I wouldn’t ask that of anyone.”
The sadness in his tone deflates my anger. His words sink in, and while I appreciate his candor, he's wrong about one thing. There was a time my entire world revolved around one woman and the dream of making a life together in this town.
Sarah. The girl who vowed to wait for me. The woman who crushed my heart. The person who is so deeply etched in my memory that I can’t go anywhere in this town without thinking of her. And who is apparently back.
“So, Sarah’s in town?” I can’t help asking. I will beg for details if needed. “She’s back for good?”
“I heard she left her husband. But I don’t put much accuracy in our rumor mills. She’s waiting tables at the diner. Saw her when I stopped in to pick up a few pies.”
“Yeah.” I want to ask him how she looks. If she’s still more intoxicating than sunshine on a spring day. If her smile lights up a room. I refrain out of self-preservation.
“I’m sorry.” Ryan clears his throat. “I should have called. About Sarah. About Pops.”
“You should have.” I laugh, shaking my head. “But I could’ve checked in sooner.” More often too.
“Yeah, you should have.” Ryan shoves my shoulder. “I worry.”
“Yeah.” I can’t tell him why, or where I was that left me off the grid for almost three months. It’s something I’ve always hated, but it came with my career. I won’t miss that. “Well, as you can see I’m fine. All in one piece.”
Ryan’s lips press together and the worry lines around his eyes deepen as his gaze goes to the scar on my cheek, then the one on my forehead.
“Have you told Tim about Pops?” I ask, needing a distraction. I suspect our oldest brother has no idea of our father’s condition.
“I was hoping he’d come home for a visit, or at least call for the holidays.” He shrugs sheepishly. “It’s not the kind of news you share over the phone.”
“It doesn’t feel any better in person,” I say.
Ryan sighs. “You know how he and Pops are.”
Yeah. Though I don’t know if I’ll ever understand the animosity. Yeah, Pops was a hard-ass when we were kids. He was strict, and hated when we wouldn’t fall in line. I just never felt the need to push his buttons the way our oldest brother did. “If he doesn’t call this week, we need to tell him.”
“I’ll think about it,” Ryan says.
“If you don’t, I will.”
He rolls his eyes. “I said I’ll think about it. Give me the week. There’s been a lot going on.”
“Yeah.” I nod toward the house. “You and Val, huh? How’d that happen?” I will never forget how messed up Ryan was when she left him. I hated her for what she did. For how she changed him. I was only in high school, but I was old enough to understand. I don’t think my brother smiled for an entire year after she broke his heart.
“Love has its own time.”
“Oh, God.” I pretend to gag. “She turned you into a sap.”
“What can I say?” He grins. “She breathed life back into my world.”
“I’m happy for you, even if you sound like a fucking Hallmark movie.”
Even if it might take a little longer for me to trust she won’t hurt him again.
