Page 150 of Tempting Wyatt
Forcing myself to swallow the regret about words left unsaid and a goodbye I’ll never get, I meet Isaac’s bright green eyes, wishing they were much darker ones.
“Drive safe, Ivy,” he says quietly.
Standing here, knowing Wyatt doesn’t care enough to even say goodbye, I finally accept that he’s not coming. My heart deflates, and I smile for Isaac the best I can.
“Tell him goodbye for me,” I whisper. The brisk wind carries my words away.
Isaac gives me a curt nod. “I will.”
I take one last deep breath of mountain air, get in my car, and leave.
CHAPTER FIFTY
wyatt
“SHE LEFT, WYATT,” Isaac calls out as he rides Champ toward me.
I ignore him. Just like I’m ignoring the intense throbbing in my skull from the hell of a hangover I’ve got.
Keep moving cattle.
Just keep working. Keep your head down and focus on what needs to be done. Forget her face, forget her body, forget those fucking noises she made while you were inside her. It wasn’t real. Not for her.
“Wyatt! Hello? Did you hear me?”
I cut my eyes to where Isaac is losing his shit like a middle school girl having a meltdown.
“Heard you. Either help or go the fuck away.”
I gesture to the two hundred head of cattle I’ve got to rotate out of the summer pasture Summer is over.
“Seriously? Fuck the cows, dude.”
“I think some kids tried that on the Patterson ranch once. Not a good idea.”
Isaac stares hard at me. “Nowyou decide to develop a sense of humor? Really?”
“Better late than never.”
He makes a face. We both know where it came from. It’s her. She taught me to lighten up. Reminded me how to joke around, how to give myself permission to smile, to laugh occasionally.
I swallow the lump that missing her causes in my throat. Losing her. Letting her go. It’s a complicated knot of pain that doesn’t seem to be shrinking.
Maybe I’ll learn to live with it.
Isaac moves Champ over to block my path.
“She’s gone, like bags packed, taillights down the driveway, man. And we both know it’s unlikely she’ll come back here. Ever. Unless you give her a reason to. That what you want? Her gone? For good?”
I swallow again—hard—until I know my voice won’t break.
But Isaac isn’t finished.
“You know what Lucifer is doing right now?” Isaac asks, his voice a jagged blade slicing through me. “Pacing. Looking for her. Just like he looked for Dad when he died. We just gonna let him wear another fucking path in the paddock?”
He glares hard at me when I say nothing.
“Did I tell you she sent Asher a care package? Bunch of books and an electronic reading device or some shit. Like a hundred pounds of his favorite fucking beef jerky. Looked like a lifetime supply of protein bars. Fuzzy socks, she sent fucking fuzzy socks—said she wanted him to have something to make him feel cozy.”
