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Directing Sunshine towards the track that led to lookout point, Lila tried to clear her head, to just live in the moment. This area of the ranch was beautiful, not suitable for ranching, but for biking or riding it was ideal. Reaching the summit, she climbed off Sunshine and took in a few deep gulps of air.
Acres of land lay out before her. Below lay the deep lake. Maybe she could convince the guys to take a day off and they could all spend the day there, she’d pack a picnic, bring a blanket and maybe forget about that horrible encounter with her mother.
“I hate you,” she cried out, surprising herself. “How dare you treat me like dirt? What kind of mother gives up her child?” Tears dripped down her cheeks. “How could you? You didn’t deserve me!”
As she finished, her chest heaving, she felt lighter, more at peace. This is what she’d needed, to get all the anger out. She sat, breathing deeply for a long moment before standing.
“I have no mother,” she said without any anger. “And that’s okay with me.”
Wiping her cheeks with her hand, she turned to Sunshine. “Come on, fella. Let’s go back to my men.”
A yipping noise made her pause and listen. She shook it off as her imagination. Then it came again. Leaving Sunshine tethered to a branch, she moved towards the sound. Suddenly, down the ravine she caught a flash of movement.
“A dog,” she said with amazement. “How the hell did he get down there?”
The dog, as if hearing her, yipped again but barely moved.
“Shit. He must be stuck,” she muttered to herself. “Don’t worry, boy, I’m coming,” she called out. With no thought to her own safety, she started down the steep hill.
*****
“Hey, bro, how was your day?” Colin called out cheerfully to Gavin as he climbed from his truck.
Gavin shrugged, looking tired. “Okay, I guess.”
“You seen Lila today?” Colin asked as he stepped up beside him to walk inside.
Gavin’s face instantly dimmed, worry taking over. Colin knew how he felt. Since their confrontation with Lila’s mother a few days ago, she’d withdrawn from them. He couldn’t remember her smiling much since. She’d cleaned the house within an inch of its life, even going so far as to wash the first-story windows. Gavin had forbidden her from doing the second story as a cautionary measure.
Colin figured she would have gone on to clean them next if he hadn’t. She seemed so driven, she couldn’t sit still, couldn’t relax, could barely sleep or eat.
He couldn’t even come close to understanding how she was feeling. To have her own mother try to blackmail her then basically tell her she was never wanted. That had to be devastating, even though she hadn’t seen her mother in years.
Colin couldn’t imagine his own mother ever talking to him like that. The pain of losing his parents was still intense, even after all these years. But at least he’d experienced their love and affection and protection before losing them. Lila hadn’t received any of those things from her mother.
“Nah, I just got in and she was asleep this morning when I left,” Gavin replied. “I can tell you, though, that she better eat more than four mouthfuls of dinner or her ass is going to be mighty sore.”
Colin sighed. Gavin always got grouchy when he was worried and all of them were concerned about how listless Lila had grown. She’d lost weight and she was very stressed. Something had to give or she was going to collapse.
“Spanking her is not the answer, Gavin,” he said patiently, following him inside.
“No? Then what is? Because this cannot continue, she’s risking her health and that is unacceptable. She’s so sad, it’s killing me. Makes me wish I’d killed that bitch of a mother.”
Yeah, Colin could understand that feeling.
“I’ll talk with her after my shower,” he said.
Twenty minutes later, he raced through the house looking for her. It was his second attempt at searching her out. He’d tried her phone but it kept going straight to voicemail.
Trace walked through the front door, spotting him. “Sunshine is gone,” Trace said. “No one saw her leave. Gavin is saddling our horses. We’re going to head out to the lake.”
But when they got to her thinking spot she wasn’t there. And it was fast growing dark and cold.
*****
Lila shivered and cuddled into the dog sitting beside her. He’d gotten his paw trapped by a heavy branch which she’d managed to move. But he must be hurt, because he’d stayed by her side instead of running off.
She was pleased to have the company because she certainly wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
