Page 9 of Wild Spirit

“Yeah. I do.”

“I’m here right now. Would you want to come here or should I—”

“I’m not far. I’ll come there.” Ryder hung up before Leo could ask what the hell was going on.

Ryder had been true to his word about being close. He arrived at the pub fifteen minutes later. Yvonne had been sitting with Leo at one of the booths, trying to distract him while he stressed out over what Ryder could want. The other man had married Denise two years after she’d rejected Leo’s marriage proposal, and the two of them had had a son, Clint, together. He was a decent guy, and Leo figured if his son was going to spend his weekdays with a stepdad, he was glad it was Ryder.

Yvonne started to stand up when Ryder arrived.

Ryder held up his hand to stop her. “Maybe…you should…”

His words drifted away and Leo knew some serious shit had just gone down.

Ryder was his polar opposite as far as careers went. Leo was a farmer, through and through, happiest when he was outside, soaking up the sunshine and fresh air, digging in the dirt. A lot of schools came to the farm on field trips, and teaching young kids how to grow their own vegetables made him feel like he had a real purpose in life.

Ryder, on the other hand, was the stiff-collar, expensive-suit professional businessman type. He sat behind a desk all day and the only digging he did was through spreadsheets, a fate Leo considered worse than death.

But right now, there was nothing put together about the other man. His hair was standing on end as if he’d run his hands through it a million times in the last hour. He was pale, and there was a distant look in his eyes that had Leo wondering if it had been safe for him to drive here.

“I can stay if you want,” Yvonne said, looking at Leo, who nodded once. He and Ryder had probably had five solo conversations in the past ten years. Most of Leo’s communication about Vince was done with Denise.

The three of them sat down.

“Ryder,” Leo prompted when the other man didn’t speak.

“Denise is dead.”

It took a full minute for those three words to sink into Leo’s brain. “I don’t…”

Yvonne didn’t say anything, but instead reached out to take Leo’s hand. He gripped it tightly in his as he tried to make the words make sense.

“She dropped the boys off at school, and then…” Ryder took a deep breath. “The police think she must not have seen the stop sign. She was sideswiped by a truck in an intersection. The truck hit the driver’s side. She was…” Ryder swallowed, and Leo knew he was fighting to say the words. “She was killed instantly.”

Leo wasn’t sure how long the three of them sat in that booth in silence. He couldn’t find the words, couldn’t figure out what to say. A million emotions slammed into him from every side.

Yvonne broke the silence first. “Where are the boys, Ryder?” she asked quietly.

With each passing moment, Ryder became more of a zombie. As this new reality sank in, Leo felt a kinship with the other man, understanding that pushing their emotions down deep seemed to be a shared characteristic.

“School,” Ryder said.

“Do they know yet?”

Ryder shook his head.

Yvonne glanced at the time on her phone. “School lets out in an hour. Someone needs to pick them up, right?”

Ryder nodded.

“Okay. Do you want me to help you?” Yvonne asked.

Leo was used to Yvonne’s larger-than-life personality, her boisterous laughter, her anything-goes attitude. It was a trait that ran strong through her family. But right now, she sounded like their savior, the only one at the table capable of thinking beyond the next five minutes.

“Yeah. I—” Ryder ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what to do. How am I gonna…”

“You’re going to call the school and tell them I’m picking up the boys today. Vince knows me. We’re buddies. He’ll be okay with that, and he can reassure Clint. The two of you are going back to your house, Ryder, and you need to discuss how you want to explain this to the boys. I think you should do it together.”

Leo felt the first chink in his armor. While he was sad and confused, his son would be devastated. Destroyed. He was only nine. How did Leo tell his nine-year-old son his mother was gone forever?

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