Page 104 of Downpour

I waved at a group of ranch hands I recognized but didn’t know by name.

This place felt like family.

It felt safe.

It felt like home.

25

RAY

Ihad just gotten out of the shower and thrown a clean pair of shorts and a shirt on when I heard the knock at the door. It wasn’t Brooke. I knew that much.

She was out with Cass and Becks, and she didn’t knock anyway.

I had just left CJ and Nate after the horse transport came, so I figured it wasn’t them either. Christian always spent Saturdays with his daughters.

That just left my parents.

I had told my mom that Brooke and I would come up to the house for dinner tonight, so I wasn’t sure why she’d be at my door just a few hours before.

“Door’s unlocked,” I hollered as I finished toweling off my hair and tossed it into the hamper. Maybe Brooke had forgotten to grab her keys and she was back early.

The front door opened and closed, and soft footsteps echoed in the kitchen.

It definitely wasn’t the heavy boot thuds that signaled my brothers.

I turned my wheelchair and pushed out of my room and into the kitchen.

Bree, my oldest niece, stood in the kitchen with her hands clasped behind her back.

I froze.

She had completely ignored me the other day. Not that I blamed her. I was a little more than surprised to see her in my kitchen.

Bree was so grown up now. Gone was the toddler who used to only sleep if she was being held. She was a young lady and looked just like her mom. Christian’s genes had surpassed her almost completely. It was like looking at a younger version of Gretchen, Christian’s late wife.

“You said to come in, so I did,” Bree said. There was no happy-go-lucky, giggly girl left. Her jaw was set and she looked angry.

I remembered how that anger felt. Like the world was at fault for everything. But I hadn’t felt that way in a long time. I would always be angry about my accident, and I refused to feel bad about that.

But my anger towards the world had slowly dissipated ever since Brooke arrived at my house with skinned knees and a Cheshire smile.

But I had a feeling that Bree’s anger wasn’t directed toward the world. It was because of me.

And I deserved it.

“I’m glad you did,” I said.

Her eyes darted from side to side. “Dad said I could come talk to you.”

“Okay,” I said as I rolled to the fridge. “Whatcha wanna talk about?” I opened the freezer and pulled out a box of popsicles.

Bree’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why do you have those?”

“I asked Brooke to pick ‘em up. I was hoping you’d come down to see me, and I wanted to be prepared if you did.”

I pulled out two red, white, and blue layered popsicles from the box and handed them to her. “Can you take them out of the plastic for me? Kinda hard to do that these days.”

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