Page 3 of Untamed

“Are we gonna have a problem?” Pops asks once we’re alone, giving his newspaper a little shake before looking at me over the edge. His reading glasses slip down his nose.

I just give him a questioning look, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know what happened between you two, but I don’t want you to bother her when she’s just tryin’ to adopt that sweet pup.”

“I made a mistake that I’m trying to own up to,” I tell him.

“Pretty big mistake to keep her away for so long,” he says.

I know what he’s getting at — the fact that I fucked up so royally that she couldn’t even feel comfortable enough to come home for Addie’s funeral.

“Mhm,” I hum.

This shit hits me like a punch to the gut. River and Addie were pretty close, always hanging out when River got tired of chasin’ after us boys all day. I never reached out to her when the crap with Addie was happening because it’s a small town and her momma would’ve known and told her. If River didn’t want to come home for that, she didn’t want to come home. Me bugging her about it would’ve only had her coming home out of some weird guilt. Because who can say no to the brother of a dying girl?

I wanted her to come back because she wanted to. Not because I begged her to. It broke my heart thinking that she wasn’t coming back to say goodbye to Addie just because I was around. It made me angry that she would be so petty. But my baby sister was dying, so leaving room in my heart and mind for River to occupy wasn’t really on the top of my list.

But through all of that, I still missed my best friend. When Addie left us and we had to put her in the ground, I needed River. I needed her through that whole damn thing, and she was just off living her best life in the city. I missed her so much it was a physical ache in my bones.

I bite back the anger that threatens to rise up because I did it to myself. I pushed her away. I made her so uncomfortable to be on this damn ranch that she couldn’t even come say goodbye to Addie. I did that.

I shrug. “I dunno, Pops. That woman is stubborn.”

“Ah!” He folds the paper and tosses it on the table, pointing a finger in my direction. “Don’t discount her like that. You break her heart?”

God, this family is nosy as hell.

“None of your business.”

“It is my business when it’s happening on my ranch. What happened between you two, son?”

I’ve come to terms with the shit that happened between River and me over the last decade, and how I ruined everything when it came to our friendship, and whatever the hell else we had going for us. But hashing that all out with my pops is not something that’s on my agenda today…or anytime soon.

Admitting how childish I was to myself is one thing, but saying it out loud is a whole other ball game.

“Nothin’.” I throw back the rest of my coffee. “Better get goin’. Rhett won’t take kindly to me dawdling.”

“Look.”

“Here we go.” I lean against the counter and look at where he’s turned around in his chair. I was so close to making it out the door.

“Don’t sass me, kid. You may be grown, but I’ll still kick your ass.”

I mimic zipping my lips and throwing away the key.

“She’ll probably be popping by when she gets off this afternoon from the vet’s. And it’ll be a relatively small window of time because I heard from a good source that she’s at the bar tonight.” He clears his throat, picks up his paper, and turns back around. “You didn’t hear that from me.”

I grin like a cat that got the fuckin’ cream.

“Thanks, Pops.”

He just gives me a wave over his head.

“Don’t fuck it up this time!” he shouts as the screen door thwacks shut.

I don’t intend to.

When I saw her standing back on this ranch, her pretty, tanned skin lit up by firelight, it felt like everything just clicked back into place. Like I’ve been missin’ a part of my life that was supposed to be here the entire time.

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