Hold on. She wouldn’t let anyone give up. With the battle facing him, he needed her in his corner to keep him going.
The details of how to rebuild his life clicked into place, and Owen knew his road back began in Service, with Carly.
*
Three months andfour days. If Carly Maddux could hang onto her thread of sanity and patience until Ryder graduated, she’d be free. For the first time since she was fifteen and her mother died giving birth to her brother, Carly’s life would be her own. She could see what the world outside Service, Texas, had to offer and finally figure out who she was.
Sitting at her desk in the renovated grain shed that served as Horses for Heroes administrative offices, she stared at the framed postcard on her desk. Memories of her and her best friend Reese Cartwright’s vacation to Denver after graduation flitted through her mind. That was where she’d relocate. The area had it all—hiking, horses, first rate medical facilities, and a wonderfully progressive culture. The perfect place for her to explore what the world had to offer.
She had her plan. Over the last months, she’d subtly trained her assistant, positioning her to be Carly’s replacement candidate when she gave notice in another month. She’d started applying for jobs, hoping she’d have an offer by Ryder’s graduation.
But now she sat in her office, eating yogurt with fresh blueberries and strawberries, while she worked through lunch. Ah, the executive director perks were endless, and one reason she intended to return to the therapy.
Her cell phone dinged indicating she’d received a text. “Want to grab some lunch?”
“Already ate”she texted back to Reese.
“At ur desk again?”
When Carly failed to answer, a minute later her phone rang. “I’m guessing the no response is a big yes,” Reese said.
“You wouldn’t want to be around me. I’m in a lousy mood.”
“What’s your brother, dad, or both done now?”
“I think the men in my family have a fatal flaw in their DNA. Possessing a Y chromosome has wiped out their ability to understand simple concepts.”
Ones such as skipping school leads to detention and puts a college scholarship at risk. For her father, it was expenses exceeding income causes financial problems. Straightforward, clear basics of cause and effect, but neither could comprehend that.
“The school called me this morning because Ryder skipped again.”
“Why didn’t they call your dad?”
Carly stood and paced her office. “They don’t even try anymore, and I can’t blame them. He rarely answers, and when he does return the calls it’s usually days later.”
“Plus, he’s never been good about stepping up in the parent department. Thank goodness Ryder had you.”
She’d believed that once. Now she wasn’t sure. “Ryder’s so angry lately.”
“I doubt it has anything to do with you. It’s probably about a girl, the moon phase, or because it might rain next week. Or, he could just be mad at the world.”
That might be, but until two months ago, her brother hadn’t lumped her with the rest of the world. Before then they could talk about almost anything. But lately, on agoodday, Ryder was distant and ignored her. On a bad day, he blasted her with anger when she said good morning and screamed she couldn’t tell him what to do. His attitude had to have something to do with her, and yet, no matter how many times she replayed the last months in her head, she couldn’t pinpoint any cause for his attitude change.
“What’s worse is he missed a calculus test. An unexcused absence means his teacher could give him a zero. Just what he needs when he’s already failing. I don’t know what’s going on with him. He’d never been in trouble until two months ago, just before he met Dylan Danvers. I’m glad Ryder befriended the new kid in town, but—”
“That’s who your brother’s hanging with? That kid’s trouble. Store owners around town think he’s got sticky fingers. Not only that, but he showed up here drunk after the football game last Friday night. I had to ask him to leave.”
“Great. Now I have to worry about Ryder drinking in addition to failing calculus.”
“Tell Ryder the truth about his friend. Tell him to stay away from the kid.”
“All he’d do is toss the fact that I’m not his mother and he doesn’t have to listen to me in my face, and then he’d storm off.”
Dark haired with their mother’s bright turquoise eyes, looking at her younger brother reminded Carly her mother would never be completely gone. When he was little, she and Ryder cuddled on the couch every night before bed, and she’d read to him. Then when he started school, he’d read to her. She’d been the one he ran to when he scraped his knee or needed reassurance. But not anymore.
“You may not be his biological mother, but you’ve been one in every other way.”
A vision of her mother, before her difficult over-forty pregnancy had drained her physically and emotionally, appeared in Carly’s mind. Strong, organized, and intelligent, her mother held the family together while running Horses for Heroes and managing the ranch finances. No one, not even a loving sister, could replace a lost mother.
