Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“You’re already repeating history.” There. I’d said it.
“Take that back.”
“I’m done pretending.” I met her anger with every bit of my own frustration and ire, a summer’s worth of playing ostrich. “You can’t see it, but you’re an alcoholic who has checked out of her own life. You’re miserable, and you’re intent on making everyone else around you miserable too.”
“Fuck you, Maverick.” A beep interrupted Faith’s curse, and she dug her phone out of her skirt pocket. She glanced down, cheeks pink and eyes continuing to spark. “Hannah’s going home with Colt and Willow. You can pick her up later.”
“I can?” Nice how she could delegate Hannah to me whenever she wanted, but I couldn’t force her to take the time to get well.
“I need to clear my head and talk to my new lawyer, and I can’t do either of those things with you hovering over me, only too ready to lecture.” She stalked toward her SUV.
“Don’t leave.” I hurried to keep up with her long, sharp strides. Her sandals were dusty, but Faith seemed beyond caring. “You’re in no shape to drive.”
“Fuck you, Maverick,” she said again. Her animated eyes seemed to bore into every painful part of my soul. “You don’t know me.”
“I’d like to,” I said softly. She and Mel had been the older kids, more friendly with each other than me. Being the baby had sucked for a lot of reasons. Never truly knowing my older sister was a big one.
“I’m out of here.” Faith slid into her driver’s seat and was gone in a cloud of dust.
I slowly returned to the ranch house kitchen, sinking onto the closest stool. I rested my head on the breakfast bar, letting the granite cool my heated skin.
“You okay?” Adler wandered up behind me.
“No.” There was zero point in lying to my friend, so I let the whole mess tumble out. “Faith thinks she’s found a way out of the will. The bigger issue is that she refuses to admit she’s got a drinking problem. She makes me feel like I’m the unreasonable one.”
“You’re not.” Adler pulled out his phone and started clicking around. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I stayed seated on my stool. Faith wasn’t the only stubborn Lovelorn.
“I told you on the phone. There are meetings for people who love someone who has an addiction. I’ll go with you.” He gestured at the back door. “It doesn’t matter whether Faith thinks there is a problem. You do, and that matters.”
“I don’t know how me attending a meeting is going to help Faith.”
“It won’t.” Adler kept pointing, an unusual display of sternness from my happy-go-lucky friend. “It will help you.”
I inhaled sharply, sitting with that statement for several long moments. My stomach churned like a summer storm rolling in. “I might have to fight her for Hannah.”
“You might,” Adler agreed.
I made a frustrated noise. “And the ranch.”
“Yep.” He was back to looking more like his LA self in a band T-shirt and skin-tight red pants with shiny combat boots that wouldn’t hold up to even a short hike.
“I might lose.” I held up both hands. What if I’d finally decided to stay and then couldn’t? What if I did stay but failed to prove to Faith by the end of the year that we should keep the place? All the what-ifs were a tidal wave threatening to pull me under.
“You might,” Adler agreed again.
“You’re not a lot of help.” My voice came out much too sharp, so I immediately gentled my tone. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”
“You’re hurting.” Adler clapped me on the back. “And I hate that I can’t fix it for you.”
“I might not be able to fix any of it either,” I admittedly softly. “That’s what sucks.”
“Yeah, it does.” He rubbed my shoulder, offering silent empathy until, finally, I stood. The time had come.
“Okay. Let’s try your idea.” I strode toward the door.
“Really?” For all he’d pressed the idea, Adler sounded rather shocked I’d given in.
“I’m willing to try anything right now.” Anything to take the boulder off my chest, the weight of a thousand acres and one sister bearing down on me, a helpless feeling I needed gone. “Let me message Colt that I’ll pick up Hannah afterward.”
Colt. That would help too. I needed to see him and Hannah both, remember what I was fighting for, what I was staying for.
Chapter 31
Colt
Back at my place, the girls occupied themselves in Hannah’s room while I had a lengthy phone call with my brother-in-law, planning the new room for the upcoming baby. I was a sheriff, not a contractor, but I’d done enough odd jobs for family over the years that I was at least useful. With the rodeo and county fair happening, there was also plenty of sheriff business to attend to via phone. All that wasn’t enough to distract me from thoughts of Maverick and Faith.