Page 6 of Summer Redemption

Movement out of the corner of my eye, near the door of The Range pulls my attention. My eyebrows furrow because the woman I get a glimpse of before she walks out the door looks so much like the girl I treated like trash, even when I knew she was a treasure.

There’s no way that Sunshine Holloway is in Wintervale. Not after all these years. There’s no way I just saw her walk out of The Range. Not tonight when all I could think about was her just moments ago.

It’s not possible.

“Just because it ended up working out for you, Fletch, doesn’t mean I don’t remember the man you became after you left your heart with Eden all those years ago.” The words are out of my mouth before I even realize it. When I look at my brother, his eyes are wide with shock. He opens his mouth, probably to tell me some bullshit, but I just shake my head and don’t let him speak. “I’m headed home. I have an early morning tomorrow.”

I’m gone before my brothers can stop me and I’m thankful as hell that I drove myself tonight. The last thing I want is to be stuck in a truck with my brothers after I said way more than I meant to.

When I step outside, I find myself looking around for another glimpse of caramel colored hair, but whoever that woman was is gone. Why does my heart ache because I didn’t get the chance to see her again?

“I need to get some sleep,” I mutter to myself while looking forward to forgetting all the serious stuff while surrounded by horses and wide-open sky tomorrow.

CHAPTER 3

SUNSHINE

My heart is beating a rhythm that really can’t be natural, or good, as I drive out to Limitless Ranch. If I weren’t required to head out that way since this is the week, I would put off going there as long as possible. Wilber suggested I take a little time and get acquainted with all the ranches and farms to make sure I’m not walking in blind when I’m needed. It’s a good idea, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t glare at Wilber when he made it.

I was more than willing to visit everywhere else. It was just Limitless that I wanted to avoid. But here I am, driving there like the one man I don’t want to see isn’t there.

But I know he is.

I could almost have convinced myself Huxley had moved away, and I wasn’t going to see him. Except I did see him just a few days ago.

If only I had turned Sofie down when she insisted on goingout and getting drinks and dinner at The Range. Even though I wasn’t looking forward to it, I knew getting it over with would be better than hiding away. I’m not the same girl I was when I left.

I’m a woman now. One who has followed her dreams and found herself along the way. At least, it’s what I kept telling myself in the most motivational voice I could mentally conjure up. It did work though, and I walked into The Range with my head held high.

Thankfully, there weren’t a lot of people who recognized me. The best part was catching up with Sofie. She let me in on all the drama I missed in Wintervale.

Maybe I should have been suspicious when she didn’t mention Huxley. However, she did mention Fletcher and Noel. When I left Wintervale, Fletcher was a brooding guy who walked around with a permanent scowl on his face. Noel was in the military and somewhere in the world while deployed.

I was shocked to hear about Morgan Taylor, who was a grade above us in school, and how she’s now with the newest addition to the Wintervale police force. I didn’t realize it, but her brother is now an officer on the same force. Apparently, according to Sofie, there were some fireworks and hurt feelings over the whole thing.

Sofie got this dreamy look on her face when she told me about how Walker wasn’t going to be deterred by Jared, Morgan’s brother, who wasn’t happy about his sister and coworker getting together. Now they’re in love and it’s all hearts and flowers. Well, Jared is still getting over his issues.

Was I on the edge of my seat as Sofie told me all about it? You better believe it. It was better than the soap operas that Momused to watch. And those had people coming back from the dead or suffering from amnesia left and fucking right.

It was good to get caught up.

The longer Sofie didn’t mention Huxley, the more relaxed I became. And then I noticed the three Burns brothers coming into The Range. I had to fight myself because my first instinct was to hit the floor and crawl out of there.

I tried to make myself small and turn away from where the three guys were sitting. I’m not sure what I thought was going to happen. It’s not like Huxley would be looking for me, not in Wintervale or anywhere else.

We weren’t friends. And we still aren’t.

I’m sure we never will be.

However, I will say that the boy I knew grew up into a very handsome man. It was clear with one glance that he gets plenty of exercise at the ranch. His body wasn’t cut from hours in the gym. It’s made from work and time spent in the sun.

Did I fantasize about licking him when I was alone and trying to sleep? Maybe. But I’ll never admit it out loud.

Huxley’s dark hair was shorter than it was in high school when it used to curl down around his ears. It was so short on the sides that I wanted to know how spikey it would feel against my fingers. Not that I’ll find out, but I’m aloud to wonder about such things.

Thankfully, I got out of the bar without Huxley even looking my way. I was relieved that I got out unscathed.

Who knows what he would have said to me even though it’s been eight years since the last time I saw him. Some things havechanged, but my name hasn’t. He loved making fun of my name even though I had nothing to do with it.

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