Page 25 of Riding Jamie

I snort out a laugh, rolling my eyes.

“You’d think after a decade of you being right, they’d start listening to you.”

“Yeah, well, you know the old heads,” she grumbles. “Bo has been driving me around and looking intimidating behind me. He’s a lot more diplomatic than you ever were.”

I flush, giggling along with the light teasing. Bo has never been particularly fond of the way most of the ranchers around talk to our mom, and I really can’t blame him.

“Maggie’s on her winter break and is mostly watching cartoons and refusing to do her homework,” she continues, both of us laughing.

“So, the usual,” I chuckle.

“Definitely. And your father’s doinghisusual, breaking his damn back trying to keep the fences in check. I keep trying to get him to hire someone to help, but he’s stubborn.”

“Always has been,” I say with a chuckle.

We chatter on about this and that throughout the drive, and I try to stay focused on our conversation. My mind keeps wandering, memories rushing through me as we pass by the places I spent my whole life in before this. I do my best not to linger on the thoughts of Jamie that keep popping up. I’ll have time to figure all that out when I’m not in the car with my mom.

I finally look up when I feel the road shift from pavement to rough dirt beneath the wheels, and my breath rushes out of me in a relieved sigh when I see our house just around the corner. I’ve never been gone long enough to properly miss the sight, butthe wraparound porch and the clumps of snow sticking to the fences behind the house make my chest go tight for a second.

My mom parks, and I hop out as soon as the truck pulls to a stop. The familiar scent of clean snow andhomefilling my lungs. I round the truck and reach for the tailgate, but Mamastops me, placing her hands on my shoulders and aiming me toward the house.

“Go inside, kiddo,” she says. “I’ll take your stuff in, just go say hi.”

I grin at her gratefully, not bothering to put up even a token argument.

I trudge through the snow, lighter on the path leading up to the house, but still a few inches deep. It looks like someone cleared it this morning, but it’s obvious the snow’s been falling slowly all day, piling back up.

Phoebe is sprawled out on the couch munching on chips as she watches some trashy reality show. She springs up as soon as she catches sight of me, only just barely saving the chips from flying everywhere. The bag is still in her hand when she damn near vaults over the coffee table to wrap me in a hug.

I grunt at the impact, but wrap her up in my arms anyway.

“Oakley!” she squeals breathlessly, rocking me back and forth in excitement.

“Pheebs!” I squeal back at her.

We break apart, giggling, and the sight of her face is so soothing. I don’t know how I managed to go so long without seeing her.

“God, I missed you,” she says. “How are you? How’s New York? You have to tell me everything.”

I laugh at her enthusiasm, but I don’t get a chance to answer her before my little sister rounds the corner. My eyes widen in surprise when they land on Maggie, and I rush over to wrap her up in a hug.

“Maggie,” I say, squeezing her until she struggles to get out of my hold. “Jeez, you’re tall!”

“Shut up,” she groans, rolling her eyes as she wiggles out of my arms. “I’m the same height I was last time you saw me.”

She’s putting on her usual grumpy act, but I can see the smile twitching at the corners of her lips. She’s just as happy to see me as I am to see her.

“No way,” I draw out playfully. “You’ve got to be at least six feet tall now!”

She snorts and levels me with an unamused look.

“Try cutting a foot off that,” she says blandly. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

I lift my hand to my chest, playing at being wounded.

“You don’t want to see your big sister for the holidays?”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder, golden ringlets bouncing as she glances at Phoebe in confusion.

---