Page 57 of Ride Me Reckless
I stayed a bit longer, holding her hand and just breathing.
By the time I got back to the trailer, the afternoon light had dulled into a flat gray that made everything feel colder than it was. I kicked off my boots at the door, pulled on the oversized hoodie I kept for days like this, and curled up on the bench seat with my laptop propped open and my inbox glowing.
Helen had followed through. The email sat there, polite and clinical, with a list of care facilities and a short note:Let me know if you’d like help arranging tours.
I clicked the attachment and scrolled through the names. Some were local, some were hours away. A few had familiar logos I’d seen over the years, but none felt like a place you’d take your mother when everything else had already fallen apart.
Too clinical. Too far. Too expensive. Or maybe just… too final.
I pulled a throw blanket over my lap and opened a new browser tab, trying to search for reviews, then closed it again just as fast. Every paragraph sounded like a brochure or a warning.
I sat back, the cursor blinking like it was mocking me. My fingers froze over the keys but didn’t move. My brain was too full to sort anything else.
When my phone buzzed next to me, I nearly jumped.
Colt.
For a second, I just stared at the screen. I hadn’t heard from him since yesterday in the family room. We’d left things… gentle. Quiet. Like we both knew, there was more to say, but not yet.
I swiped to answer.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said, his voice warm and smug. “I may or may not have… staged a little hospital jailbreak.”
I sat upright. “What?”
“I’m fine. Really. Got Rhett to drive me home. Figured I’d reclaim my dignity before they tried to teach me how to crochet.”
I rolled my eyes, but the laugh still escaped. “You’re impossible.”
“True. But upright and impossible, so that’s a win. Listen, Millie’s makin’ dinner. Nothing fancy, just something hot and probably way too buttery. Thought maybe you’d come over? Eat a real meal? Sit for a spell?”
I hesitated.
My eyes drifted to Helen’s email. Then, I reached down and laid a hand on my belly—not because I felt anything, but because something in me already knew it was real.
I had a secret now. One I hadn’t told a soul. And the idea of walking into Colt’s house with it tucked in my chest felt heavier than I expected.
But then he added, softer this time, “We could both use somethin’ warm tonight.”
And I heard it—tucked beneath the invitation, nestled in that gravel-soft drawl I knew like breath.
Hope.
I didn’t let myself think too long.
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
Chapter Fifteen
Just a Whisper
Tessa
Ipulled up the long driveway just as the sun dipped behind the line of pines that rimmed the western edge of Colt’s property. The place looked like something out of a country music daydream—wide porches, deep eaves, the stone chimney spilling smoke into the late afternoon chill. I'd been here once before, weeks ago, when everything felt too raw to register. Back then, I was so busy trying to act fine and not fall apart that I hadn’t taken in a single detail. But tonight, with a little more clarity and a whole lot more to carry, I reallysawit.
The house was… beautiful.
I stepped onto the porch, where a pair of rocking chairs flanked an old whiskey barrel table and a lantern glowed low in the corner. When I knocked, I heard the sound of a boot heel and the soft click of a latch before the door swung open.
