by Casey Hagen
It didn’t make sense. Slade was careful. He thought things through. He took care to not hurt others. Maybe he didn’t see her being his forever, but he wasn’t a man-whore either.
Her head pounded. Her stomach protested its empty state. Her dry, puffy eyes itched. She was a damned mess. Add that to Cutter’s bruises, Jesus, how would she get a place to stay overnight? One look at her and they would claim no vacancies.
She definitely needed a place. Sleeping in the truck the night before had been a big mistake. Her shoulders and back had cramped and she’d been in pain ever since. She had made it out of Texas almost to Little Rock, Arkansas, but she was just about out of energy and desperately lacked sleep. She’d been trying to avoid using her bank card, but really, it didn’t matter now.
She was going home.
She pulled off of Interstate 30 in Hope, Arkansas and found a Super 8 that had seen better days. Didn’t matter. The vacancy sign was lit, the guy at the counter didn’t ask questions, and although the eighties oak furniture had seen better days, the white linens were crisp and the room was clean.
She puttered around the room, unsure of what to do with herself. She took apart her bag and repacked it, folding her clothes this time around. They were already wrinkled, but maybe it would help some. She just needed a couple more outfits to get her home anyway.
Unable to avoid it, she finally powered on her phone. A couple minutes later she checked the screen. Fifty-four missed calls, twenty-eight texts, and sixteen voice mails. She deleted the strand of texts from Slade without reading them. Maybe that made her a coward, but it was all too raw. Especially when she looked at her guitar. What had been her guitar. Now when she saw it she saw him, and all because he had had it fixed.
Tears welled again and she wondered when the hell they would stop. She was better than this, damn it. She saw the texts from Myra and started to delete, but changed her mind. Myra hadn’t done anything wrong so maybe she would read them. Maybe Myra had something to say about Ivy.
Ryan tossed her phone onto the bed and headed for the shower. She would decide after she got cleaned up.
After forty minutes under the hot spray, she started to feel human again. She also learned an important lesson: don’t wear underwear for forty-two hours straight. Had she at least stopped to change those, she might have succeeded in moderately adjusting her temperament.
She flicked on the TV and found an old movie and settled into the bed. With her head against the stack of pillows, she picked up her phone and twirled it in her hands. Curious, she clicked on her messages and saw the six from Myra.
She should just delete them. Make a clean break. Ivy’s sweet face popped into her head. Jesus, she had left her without a good-bye. Ryan didn’t so much as turn to see if Ivy was even watching her go.
What did that make her?
She clicked on the messages and started reading…
Girl, what the hell did you take off out of here for?
You should have at least waited for an explanation, like the one I’m sitting here at the table waiting on now.
Ivy just named her horse after you. Get your butt back here.
Shit. He didn’t do anything with her. Doesn’t even remember getting into bed. Something suspicious is going on.
He’s about to confront her. You need to get back here; it’s not what you think it is.
Last message. I’m not chasing you down anymore. There’s an explanation and it’s not what you think. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I expected better from you. Never took you for one to run away.
The last text hurt. She had done just that. She had run away. She should call. At least hear the explanation. At least then, maybe she could find peace in leaving.
She dialed Myra’s number and prayed Slade wasn’t anywhere around.
“Yeah.”
“Myra?”
“Ryan.” Myra’s agitated voice sounded like she was spoiling for a fight.
Ryan couldn’t blame her, necessarily, since in a way, she had left her holding the bag to explain to Slade and Ivy. “I’m calling because you said there’s an explanation. It doesn’t necessarily change anything, but I’d like to hear it.”
“You’d like to hear it, huh? You know, I’m disappointed in you. I thought you fight for what’s important. I thought you had committed yourself to this family, and then you go taking off like your pants were on fire. Didn’t give anyone a chance to say a word.”
“I know, I’m sorry, but you didn’t see what I saw.”
Myra let out a sight. “What you saw was a man who had been drugged by his ex-wife in a pathetic attempt to drive you away. Sad part is you did just what Lisa expected you to do. That sticks in my craw more than anything else.”
A roaring sounded in Ryan’s ears. Slade didn’t want Lisa. It had all been a mistake. It also meant that Ryan had acted like an idiot, in front of the whole damn ranch to boot. “She drugged him?”
“Sure did. Went to the bar, bought some of that Rohypnol business at Lucifer’s, and made Slade a glass of whiskey under the pretense that they needed to discuss Ivy before bed. I guess you know what happened next.”
“Can I talk to Slade?”
“No can do; he’s not here.”
“Where is he?”
“I imagine he’s at his attorney’s office making sure Lisa doesn’t get anywhere near him or Ivy again.”
“Did he tell Ivy why I left?”
“He told her you had an important matter to take care of.”
“He didn’t tell her I was gone for good?” Ryan held her breath, afraid of the answer.
“Sounded more open-ended to me.”
Ryan smiled. “Tell Ivy to keep practicing that song.”
***
It had been two weeks since Ryan had left. Two weeks and the hole in his gut was still there, reminding him of what he’d lost, of what Lisa had stolen from him with her actions.
He saw her everywhere. No part of his ranch was safe from memories. She had touched it all. He had to get the hell off the land for a while or he would lose his shit.
Like he hadn’t already.
Half of his men maintained a wide berth and had stopped saying hi. Levi had flipped him the middle finger one morning over breakfast. Myra had glared at him for the past week.
Even his dog had completely abandoned the ranch house in favor of bunking with the ranch hands or the horses.
He hopped into his truck and headed for the town. He could get away for a few hours and pick up some supplies while he was at it. Maybe for a few minutes, he could put Ryan out of his mind.
Wasn’t he funny with the jokes today?
The heat crept into the eighties and they hadn’t had rain in a week. Dust billowed behind him with every mile. The dirt coated the roads and kicked up with the traffic.
He stopped at Mill’s Feed and Seed; picked up new tack he had ordered for Ivy’s horse. Ivy’s horse, that’s how he referred to the mare. He couldn’t bring himself to call her by name, and he was pretty sure everyone on the ranch knew it.
It didn’t help that Ivy had asked him daily, at least three times, when Ryan was coming back. She’d grown exasperated with his go-to answer of, “I don’t know, baby.”
The Dolan Children’s Fund Fundraiser was in less than a week, so he needed to figure out a way to stop lying to his daughter and soon. He never should have let it go on as long as he had.
The sun caught Slade in the eye at the edge of his sunglasses. He flipped down his visor and cupped his hand over the gap so he could see the road again.
Well, now he knew he was really losing it, because he swore he saw Ryan leaning against that railroad signal again. He slowed his approach, sure it couldn’t be her, but then she lifted that iced coffee to her lips and he was positive.
Ryan.
He pulled off into the dirt the same way he had six weeks ago. When the dust settled, he sat there, eyes locked with hers, his hands gripping the wheel so hard his knuckles turned white.
Then she smiled.
It was the first moment he had managed to take a pain-free breath in two weeks. He stepped out of his truck and approached her, cautiously, as he had before. “What are you doing here?”
She smirked, and his heart soared.
“Oh, I don’t know. I thought maybe I would hop a train,” Ryan said.
Slade adjusted his cowboy hat to block the sun. “Train doesn’t come through again until Monday.”
Ryan took a sip of her drink. “Bummer.”
“Where’s your truck?”
“Rusty’s. Flat tire.”
“Inconvenient.”
He walked right up to her, took her iced coffee out of her hands, set it on the ground, and wrapped his arms around her.
She’d come home.
She slid her hands up his chest, over his shoulders, and around his neck. Her bruises were gone. Her rosy cheeks, unmarred, were a sight to behold, and she was smiling right at him.
“You were gone long enough,” he said, his voice thick.
She tilted her head. “I had some loose ends to tie up.”
“Does this mean you’re back for good?”
“I don’t know. I earn my way. You have work?”
“I still have this flower garden that needs planting. Last girl, she just up and took off, didn’t even really start the job.”
Ryan shook her head. “So hard to find good help these days.”
“It really is.” He didn’t miss the way her fingers played in the ends of his hair.
“How long is the job?”
“I’d say two weeks, give or take. I’ve got another one for after that I think you might be a good fit for.”
“Hmmm…I guess that depends on what it is.”
“A mother for my daughter.”
She froze. Her eyes searched his. Her chin wobbled. Before he knew it, tears slipped down her cheeks. “Are you sure? I took off; I didn’t give you a chance—”
He cut off her words with the tip of his finger to her lips. “We were both manipulated. Clean slate now. This time, we work as a team; from here on out. You think you can fill the position?”
“I’m your girl.”
He grinned. For the first time in two weeks, he smiled a full blown smile, a smile so big his cheeks hurt. He swept her into his arms and headed for the passenger side of his truck. “Let’s go home.” He sealed his declaration with a desperate kiss, filling with longing and heat.
Now that he had her back, he was never letting her go again.
Epilogue
Ivy peeked out at the crowd that had gathered at The Dolan Children’s Fund fundraiser. “I don’t know about this, what if I mess up?” she said.
“Just like we rehearsed, you play through it. If you pretend it didn’t happen, the audience will miss it.”
Ivy scrunched up her little face and peered at Ryan. “I don’t know; have you heard some of my mess-ups? They’re hard to miss.”
Ryan gave Ivy’s shoulders a squeeze. “That’s the beauty of playing an original song. No one has ever heard it before. They don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Ryan passed Ivy’s guitar to her and as Ivy settled it over her shoulders, Ryan did the same.
The cowboy, performing a Toby Keith number, had just wrapped up as the announcer made his way onto the stage.
“Up next, help me welcome the duet, Ryan & Ivy.” The crowd applauded and Ivy’s eyes widened.
Ryan knelt down in front of her. “Remember, I’m right there with you. Always.”
Ivy hooked her pinky in the air and Ryan linked it with her own. “Always,” Ivy whispered.
Myra had made them matching plaid shirts that they wore with jean shorts and cowgirl boots. Ivy in her red ones, and a nice blue pair Slade had just gifted Ryan.
Ryan searched for him in the audience and found him, dead center, his eyes hot on her. He hadn’t stopped looking at her like that, especially since she accepted his ring.
She winked and took the taller stool next to Ivy’s shorter one. The crowd went silent. Ryan turned to Ivy, who had gone gray.
This wasn’t going to work. Ivy’s eyes darted back and forth over the crowd. Her breathing grew rapid.
“Ivy? Hey, look at me.”
Ivy turned to her, sheer terror on her face.
“Sweetheart, do me a favor and turn toward me, okay? And I’ll turn toward you. We’ll just sing it to each other. Okay?”
“Okay,” Ivy whispered.
Ryan turned the microphones toward them and, with Ivy’s eyes on hers, Ryan started their count. On four, Ivy’s fingers moved just as she had practiced. She found every note, her sound fluid. The smile on Ivy’s face…priceless.
With Ivy’s renewed confidence, they started with the lyrics Ryan had begun writing in the very ranch she called home… “I spent a lifetime protecting my heart, afraid it would break apart, you’ve had it from the start…Heartstrings.”
Available on Kindle, Amazon, and Audible…
Falling in Fiji
A Falling in Paradise Novel
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Available on Kindle and Amazon…
Sunset at Lake Crane
A Livingston Valley Novel
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Available on Kindle as part of Carly Phillips’ Dare to Love Kindle World…
Consumed by the Dare
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Also available as part of Melody Anne’s Billionaire Universe…
Roadside Assistance
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ABOUT CASEY HAGEN
Casey Hagen is a contemporary romance author with three books available, Falling in Fiji, Sunset at Lake Crane, and Consumed by the Dare, a novella, as part of Carly Phillips’ Dare to Love Kindle World. She writes her stories from the dense, green wilderness of the Delaware National Forest, Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. She’s a born and raised Vermont native with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.
Over the years, Casey has dabbled in a wide variety of professions. She worked in the States Attorney’s office, created beautiful works of art as a florist, slaved to the public in retail, taught preschool (and potty trained eleven two-year-olds at the same time), and finally, she owned and operated her own residential cleaning business for over a decade. She’s an active member of Romance Writers of America, New Jersey Romance Writers, and the Penn Jersey Women Writers Guild. She’s also the newly appointed Vice President of the Penn Jersey Women Writers Guild and the 2016 Conference Chair for New Jersey Romance Writers.
Casey is the proud mother of three girls, two of which are successful college students…yay! She resides with her youngest daughter, husband, and two cats. Her days are spent in her new office that she proudly admits they would need dynamite to blast her out of! When she’s not working she can be found chasing after her youngest with a camera (much to her youngest daughter’s embarrassment) or on the golf course with her real life hero!