Page 77 of An Unfinished Memory

“He never did for Aggie?”

“Yup. Kinda sucks that absentee parents are our mutual experience.”

“Agreed.” She crossed her shoes on top of mine. “You know what I miss the most since the divorce?”

“My dick?”

She gave my hand a playful slap. “I’ve been seeing that a lot lately, so no—but also, yes. Which was why you got in my pants so easily.”

“You weren’t wearing any, Doc.”

She wiggled her butt on me. “And I won’t be wearing those underwear again because you still have them.”

They were tucked in my drawer where they belonged. I pressed a kiss into her hair. “What’d you miss?”

“The grill-outs Eliot would have after we worked cattle and those times we helped move horses. Mosteveryone was there. You guys would throw the best parties.”

“They weren’t really parties.” Those had been the times Barns didn’t mind that we lay back and shot the shit with each other. Huge annual accomplishments that were a normal part of ranch life but were an excuse to let go, if only for a night. I loved them, too, but I also still got to do them.

“They were the closest thing I ever got to a party. I had to work overtime in college and do volunteer work at the animal shelters so I appeared familiar with animals on my vet school application. Your family was like a built-in friend group.”

Goddamn, her college years were still as lonely, just busier. “I never thought of them like that. Some days, I feel like I only deal with the worst people. I guess without Eliot to bitch to, I’d feel like that’s all there was.”

“Maybe that’s why you help other people out?”

I thought her words over. I was used to defending my work, but she wasn’t being critical. “Maybe. I like being useful.”

“Because you were in Cody’s shadow.”

I frowned. “I wasn’t in Cody’s shadow.”

She patted my knee. “Sorry I said anything.”

Cody and I led remarkably different lives. Growing up, he’d been the oldest, and everyone assumed he was the most responsible. He acted like it, yet it wasn’t like I got a chance to help when Cody was there first. Until Ray made me see the light, I wasn’t the guy who wanted more responsibility. Afterward, proving myself didn’t happen at home. Cody was in charge, besides Barns. So, yeah, maybe I liked having a chance to show I was as good as Cody. “You really think that’s why I want to be sheriff?”

“It makes me feel better to think that.” She sat up and looked over her shoulder at me, a brow cocked. “We’re getting deep again. We should go have sex.”

My dick twitched to life, but I couldn’t abandon the conversation. We’d gotten nowhere but divorced avoiding the heavy subjects. “You’re going to drop that bomb on me and then ignore it?”

Her expression turned guarded. “Yes, Wilder, I am. I’d much rather have orgasms than talk about your job that I resented for so long.”

She’d reached her limit. I’d much rather give her orgasms than talk about my job, but the conversation was important. I was finally getting deeper insight into what went wrong between us.

Or perhaps I was finally understanding it.

Sixteen

Sutton

Returning to normal life was harder than I anticipated, and the problem stemmed from the Wilder-free part of my normal life. An entire weekend of pretending we were something had probably been worlds better than camping alone. Unfortunately, I now knew what being isolated in a camper with Wilder was like. Solo camping would be an adjustment. One I would have to make eventually. There was no way he would get two weeks off in April—if we were still doing what we were doing.

Thankfully, it was Thursday and dart night, and I didn’t have to tie myself in mental knots trying to see the future of us. Country music pounded through the speakers of the bar. Dart league was over, but I stuck around to play a few games with the girls.

Tova took aim with her dart, one hand on her belly. She took her shot and let out a breath. “Oof, this isgetting hard.” She backed up to the high-top table and wiggled into her seat.

Vienne propped her chin in her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the Purple Petal and sit at a short table?”

“They’re closing soon.” She gripped the table as she centered herself. “I like the challenge. Okay, Sutton. The camping trip. How was it?”

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