Page 11 of Harvest Moon

Ridge didn’t read my mind and laugh at me, or laugh at my ridiculous “good at things” claim. He simply nodded. “You’re a good cousin, Lex. I’m sure she’ll appreciate your help like you deserve.”

It took everything I had in me not to scream that it washim—he was all I wanted to “deserve,” but that wouldn’t help anything. “Yeah, so I—I just wanted to tell you before I left, you know? I know you’re all busy, but I thought you might—”

Might what? How the hell was I supposed to end that sentence that didn’t reek of desperation? I thought you might care? Might confess you’re in love with me and beg me not to go? Good luck, Alexis.

I sighed and shrugged. “You know.”

We were quiet for a long time, me pretending to pay attention to my drink, and him staring at the table between us. Twice, I thought he was going to say something, but he kept shaking it off, shaking his head.

Finally, he gave a gusty sigh and said, “I’m sure going to miss you.”

It was nothing. It wasn’t even half what I wanted. And pitifully, it made my heart leap, made me want to change my mind and offer to stay. That, if nothing else, was why I had to do it.

If I stayed there, I was going to keep jumping every time Ridge looked my way. Keep hoping even when there was no logical reason to. It was time to stop that. Time to grow up, put away my toys, and move on.

Still.

“Me too, Ridge. I’m going to miss you a lot.”

6

Ridge

Alexis left that night. From the porch of Ma and Pa’s house, I watched the dust kicked up on the dirt road in the distance. That’d be Claudia and Birch, whisking him up and taking him away.

Forever.

Well, he hadn’t said forever. He’d said, “for good,” and I couldn’t shake those exact words. Good, that he was leaving to go stay with the Grove pack farther east. Good, that he’d be staying with Claudia and Birch.

Good, for him, that he was leaving all this—leavingme—behind. He hadn’t said it like that, but it was. He’d really dodged a bullet there. I’d been back all of three days, and already, he’d caught the stink of failure on me and was running for the hills.

He’d always been smart, Alexis.

After all, what was the fucking point of me putting everything on pause, leaving him treading water for almost five whole years, only to come back to ruin? Pa was right—it hadn’t been worth it. I’d made a bad call, and now I had less than nothing to show for it. Even Lexis, after all that time he’d spent trying to convince people I was smart, knew what I was doing, had lost faith in me.

Or I’d lost his faith. It certainly felt more my fault than his.

Ma found me out on the porch, my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. The new boards barely squeaked as she walked toward me. Then, her gentle fingers were twisting in my hair, her round nails scraping across my scalp soothingly.

I could tell she was looking out across the fields, past the tree line, seeing what I had seen. Her sigh settled in my bones like a winter’s chill, and I sank down further, till I was breathing into my knees, nursing a sharp pain in my stomach.

“He’ll be back soon,” she said quietly, stroking the back of my neck. Any other time, it would’ve helped. Right then, it seemed like nothing would.

“Don’t think so,” I mumbled against my legs. “Said he’s of a mind to stay out there.”

“His mama know that?”

I scoffed. Truth was, I had no idea, but I didn’t think Lexis was in the habit of running things past his ma.

“A man doesn’t make plans without telling his ma,” Ma said, but she just wanted to think that.

I pushed up and dropped my head back, only so I could roll my eyes at her. “Plenty of kids make plans without telling a single damn person. Apparently, parents do that too.”

She hummed, shifting down the stairs to sit next to me. But she didn’t answer, and for once, the silence weighed too heavy on me to let pass.

“Anyway, his cousin—remember Claudia? She’s pregnant. He figures they’ll need an extra set of hands around, and he’s afraid she’s—” I shook my head. There was no good way to talk about the Condition, especially as an alpha. It wasn’t a thing I had to worry about in quite the same way, and while it scared me for the people I cared about, it wasn’t right for me to play victim. Nobody even knew why it affected omegas like it did, but there it was, and best I could do was try and be supportive and not make it too much about myself.

Ma seemed to understand. Her brow furrowed and she nodded. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate his help.”

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