Page 139 of The Wayward Son

“I don’t want you to be mad at Sage for this, because she did what she felt she had to do.”

“What’d she do?”

He put his back to the fire and felt the heat on his legs. “She told me about your job offer.”

She sat down on the couch. “Oh. Sawyer.”

He held up a hand. “Just answer me one thing. Are you taking the job?”

“It’s complicated.”

He nodded, then walked to the door and opened it. “I need you to leave.”

“What? We need to talk about this.”

“No. We needed to talk about it the day you got the offer. Dammit, Jade. I thought we were on the same page here. I thought… Obviously what I thought and what you thought were two different things.”

“Sawyer please.” She got up and went to him.

“If you can tell me you’re not going, then you can stay and we can talk about this. But if you can’t, then we’re done. I’m not going to be your sex buddy until you take off for your dream job.”

She looked at him for a moment, then walked out the door. Sawyer slammed it closed after her, then turned off the lights, took off his clothes, and went to bed.

He stared up at the dark ceiling as he sat and tried to process what had just happened. He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted her to stay there with him. Even though they hadn’t really talked about it. He thought that’s what she wanted too. She hadn’t mentioned her dream job since they left Missoula the first time. She seemed happy here at the ranch.

He compared the two scenarios. Staying here in Castle Springs meant embracing ranch life and working at The Corner Bar. Theweather was extreme and there was no social life, except on the holidays. And there was nothing to do that didn’t involve horses, fishing, or hiking. He was fine with that. But it seemed she wanted more.

The new job was much more appealing to her. Great weather, sandy beaches, things to do and places to go. And the resort could probably hold the whole population of Castle Springs and then some. It was a good job. And it was a job she’d wanted since she graduated a year ago. How could he stand in the way of that?

“I can’t.” He had to let her go. He suddenly felt guilty for not hearing her out. If it was what she truly wanted, then who was he to stand in her way? But he wasn’t going to spend the next few days or weeks with her. That was too much to ask.

Chapter thirty-nine

"This is giving me a headache."

After a long and sleepless night, Sawyer got up to take a shower in hopes of it making him feel a little better. Physically, it did. Mentally, not so much. He made a pot of coffee, filled a large ceramic mug that had been around since they were kids, then left the loft.

It rained sometime during the night, and the air was moist. He went around the barn and headed down the path to the pond. The path was hard-packed dirt with a layer of gravel over it, which kept it from getting muddy. But there was an occasional puddle along the edge of it and the foliage of the trees and shrubs along the path were still wet.

When he arrived at the pond, he went to the picnic table and sat on the table with his feet on the bench. He studied his bootsas he sat and tried to process the new direction his life had taken. It’d been a bit of a whirlwind since Jade showed up at his door. But it had been an enjoyable whirlwind. He didn’t want her to leave, and he was second-guessing his late night resolve to let her go without a fight.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting there when Sage came up the path. She stopped a few feet in front of him and folded her arms across her chest.

“If you weren’t here, I was going to go see if you were in the treehouse.”

“I’d only be there if I wanted to take my life in my hands.”

“It seems you’ve been doing that for the last several years. Getting in the ring with guys called Tornado and Hurricane.”

“I never fought anyone named Hurricane.”

She went to the table and sat next to him. “Jade came home last night.”

“Yep. I asked her to leave.”

“She cried in her room for about two hours.”

Sawyer turned and looked at Sage. “Jade doesn’t cry.”

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