Page 46 of Edge of Unbroken

“About an hour,” I say.

“Not too bad.” She takes off her jacket. “Your name is interesting. Where is it from?” She leans forward in her seat.

“It’s Irish,” I say. “So where are you guys from?”

“California,” Devin says. “I’m from a small beach town called Cayucos.”

“Where exactly in California is that?”

“Central California coast, about four hours north of L.A.”

“I’ve never been to California,” I admit and focus on the road.

“I bet you don’t get to travel much having to work on a ranch. Isn’t that like a year-round job?” Tensley asks.

“Oh, I don’t live on the ranch all the time,” I say. “I’m just here temporarily. I live in New York.”

“Sick,” Devin says. “I’ve always wanted to go to New York.”

“Wait, that’s interesting,” Tensley says, leaning forward even more, resting her elbow on the center console. Is she even wearing a seatbelt? “Do you work on the ranch, or what’s the arrangement? You look so young.”

“It’s my grandparents’ ranch.”

“How old are you?” Tensley asks.

“Seventeen.”

“How long are you staying at the ranch?”

“Jeez, babe, why are you interrogating this poor dude?” Devin asks with a chuckle.

“I don’t know, I’m just interested,” she says and leans back in her seat.

“What about you guys?” I divert the attention away from me. “My grandmother said you guys are outdoorsy?”

“Oh yeah,” Devin says. “Tens and I do a lot of camping and we spend as much time at the beach as we can. We actually just got married last weekend, right on the beach in Cayucos.” He turns toward Tensley.

“I’ve always wanted to go stay on a ranch in Montana,” Tensley says, and once again my heart aches as I remember Cat telling me something similar the night I met her. God, I miss her so much. I just hope John’s right with his opinion about long-distance relationships and that this heartache isn’t for naught.

Cat

“I could really go for a change in the weather,” Vada grumbles when she meets me by my locker this afternoon.

I shove my math textbook into my backpack as I look past her through the windowed doors. Rain is falling in sheets. “Me, too. It’s so depressing.”

It’s been exceptionally dreary these past few days. Wet and cold and not at all uplifting.

Tori rushes toward us through the crowd of students filling the hallway. “Hey!” She skitters to a halt in front of us, taking two huge gulps of air as she catches her breath. “I need to up my cardio, jeez,” she gasps, making me laugh.

“Oh, I’m sure Shay would be more than willing to help you with that,” Vada teases, rubbing Tori’s back while she’s bent over and resting her hands on her thighs.

“I can always count on you to make things inappropriate,” Tori laughs, then straightens up. “Okay, so, Shane just texted me. He got the evening off. We’re on for the movie!”

“Movie?” I ask, zipping my backpack shut.

Vada nods. “Yeah, remember I was telling you about that horror movie? Man, I don’t remember what it’s called. The one where the mom dies but then comes back to life, but, like, as a demon or something?”

“Oh, right. That’s tonight?”

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