Page 38 of Mad About Her Cowboys

She was afraid she wouldn’t go through with it, if Madison came in with her. That was it, wasn’t it? Madison still got out of the car, and hugged River on the curb as if she’d never let go. “When is the surgery?” she asked.

“Tomorrow morning.”

Tomorrow… “I could go with you.”

“No, I need to do this myself.”

“Why? Why do you want to be alone?”

“I need you to do something for me,” River replied without answering. But Madison already knew the answer, because she knew her friend. River was afraid she wouldn’t go through with the surgery if people were crying over her. It would make her more afraid than she already was.

“What? What do you need?”

River pulled an envelope from her purse. “I need you to give this to Seth and Tai. Tomorrow—not today. Please.”

“Of course.” Her fingers closed on the envelope. “River?”

“Yes?”

“I love you. I need you to come home to us.”

River’s lips struggled into a smile but never made it. “I need that, too.”

* * * *

Madison’s eyes burned from crying so much, feeling as if she’d been rubbing sand into them. Her chest ached from sobbing. She was wrecked. Overwhelmed with sorrow for her friend.

Thank God, she had no plans to see her cowboys today. She’d told them she had to see a doc in Gillette today, and she just wanted to rest tonight.

Judging from the pounding on her front door, she should have known better.

“Madison! Open up.”

Oh, fuck. Not one of the Quists. That was River’s Tai.

“What’s going on?” she heard Connor demand. Okay, great. So there was a party out on the stairs.

“Madison,” Tai bellowed again, pounding once more. The noise reverberated in her aching head. She had to answer; they needed to know, even if she had promised River she’d wait until tomorrow.

“Hey, leave my girl alone,” Connor yelled just as she opened the door. He pushed past the two men on her doorstep and pulled her into his arms.

“Not your girl,” she muttered.

“Yeah, whatever,” he replied. “You know you are.”

“Where’s River?” Seth demanded, unmoved by the moment.

“I dropped her at the airport this morning.” Madison reached to the table next to the door and held out the envelope Madison had given her. “She didn’t want to burden you with it, and she made me promise to bring this to you in the morning. I don’t agree with her, but she’s my best friend. I promised, and it might—” A sob caught her words, and her shoulders shook. God, this was so painful and overwhelming. Tears filled her eyes again, and she leaned into Connor for support. “It might be the last thing I can do for her, so I did. She loves you. She’s just doing what she thinks is best.”

“Where is she?” Tai ground out, wrenching the letter from her grasp.

“I don’t know. All I know is she had a flight to California, and she was meeting with some doctor there this afternoon.”

Both Seth and Tai blanched, all the color leaving their faces. Seth grasped the handrail beside him.

“I think she told you everything in the letter,” Madison rushed on. “I didn’t read it, but she said everything you needed to know is in there.”

Connor’s arms tightened.

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