Page 46 of Rip Ryder's Second Chance

“Call me every day.”

“I will.” Noelle hugged her mom. “I love you both.”

Oh God, how will I go through with this?

“Pull yourself together.” Noelle gave herself the pep talk as she made her way on the worn path to the pasture. Since the fire two days ago she’d only seen brief glances of Rip as he came and left Bluebird. Did he regret what they’d almost done? Or was he consumed with Crew and Brew burning down?

These questions weighed heavily on her, but there were bigger fish to fry. That morning she’d arrived home and found a note on the porch that read, “I warned you”. She knew, without a doubt, the note was related to the fire.

She hadn’t yet taken the newest note to Bend.

It was time to tell Rip everything first.

He and Parson were outside of the barn talking in hushed tones. Were they having a disagreement? When she approached, they fell into an awkward silence. Rip was the first to acknowledge her, offering her a complex smile. Although he looked ridiculously handsome, he also appeared very concerned and stressed.

“I’ll talk to you later, Rip,” Parson said and greeted Noelle with a touch to the brim of his frayed hat. He seemed a bit distant.

“Sorry. Did I interrupt?” she said to Rip.

“We were done.” His smile disappeared.

“Am I missing something? It’s a little cool out and I’m not talking about the temperature.” Her stomach tensed.

“Let’s go over here.” He jutted his chin toward the side of the barn where they could have privacy.

“Did the fire investigators find anything more on how the fire started?” she asked once they were alone.

He scrubbed his jaw. “They found an empty gasoline container near the woods. Someone deliberately set the fire.”

Laying her hand against her throat, she could feel the heavy beating of her pulse. Guilt rushed through her. “Who could do such a thing?”

“Good question.” He shifted from one dusty boot to the other. “How are you?”

“I wanted to speak to you about something.” She needed to get this over with before she lost all her nerve.

“I need to speak to you about something too.”

She met his gaze, seeing that something was bothering him. “Okay. You first.” Another minute or two to gain her bearings wouldn’t hurt.

He dragged something out of his pocket and handed it to her. She looked down at the picture of her from graduation night. It was a dark image but she knew exactly what it was. Her breath came out on an exhale. She was in the arms of someone wearing a hat. He was kissing her. Her fingers shook as her world came to a screeching halt. She looked up at Rip who had a wide frown. “Rip…I can explain.”

“You should read the back,” he said in an even tone, flipping the picture over.

She read the caption.

“Even lambs have secrets.”

“Where did you get this?” she asked.

“Parson found it pinned to the wall of the barn this morning. He wasn’t sure what to do with it. He thought I should handle it.” Rip swiped off his hat and tossed it onto the fence post. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Wrapping her head around the turn of events, it took her a moment to understand what he was asking. “Tell you?”

“That you wanted to see other people back then.”

“Rip…”

“Noelle, I deserved the truth.”

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