Page 136 of Branded Betrayal

Nash and my brothers want the best for me, but lately they’ve really been pushing me toward figuring out my own future. Seems like it happened right after Nash told me about the boyfriend. I guess they want to prepare me for bigger news, like Savanah getting engaged, which turns my fucking stomach.

But if it makes her happy, then I have to be happy for her. Right? I mean, isn’t that how it goes? If you love someone, let them go, and if they love you, they’ll always come back?

I loved her and let her go. She doesn’t feel the same way, and that’s more karma for me, I guess.

“The ranch is done. Everything she wanted. We’ve got all these renters now, new equipment, solar panels, a grazing system, improved water systems to handle all the livestock from the money we’ve been making.” A sneaky twinge assaults my heart. “And she has no idea. Because she doesn’t care to find out. She’s moved on. I need to do the same thing.”

Starlight lets out a soft neigh.

Footsteps crunch on the ground behind me as they approach the barn. I guess therapy’s over.

It’s probably Nash. He’s been watching pretty closely since he unloaded the boyfriend news on me. I know he’s worried. But it’s not like I’m gonna do something stupid. Dealing with the pain is the worst punishment I can imagine, and that’s my penance.

“I’m okay, Nash. Just hanging out with Starlight. You don’t have to keep checking on me.”

I turn around, the apple still in my outstretched hand.

But it’s not Nash standing in the barn doorway.

It’s Savannah. The late-afternoon sun catches the top of her head, making her hair glow like a halo. My mouth falls open, and I forget how to breathe.

“Hi,” she says quietly.

So much time spent waiting and questioning, convincing myself she was never coming back.

And the only words I can manage to speak are “You’re here.”

“I probably should have called,” she says, taking a few tentative steps toward me. Starlight nickers, and a smile stretches across Savannah’s lips as she reaches under her chin.

“Hey, girl. Remember me?”

Starlight nudges Savannah’s hand like no time has passed, and I just stare because my mind is working overtime, trying to process the frenzy of thoughts looping through it.

Her focus is on the horse, not me. That realization makes my heart sink, but . . . she’s here. That’s something. I’m not sure what, exactly, but it has to mean something that she’s not in Denver.

“When did you get here?” I finally say when my mouth decides to work.

“Just now,” she says. “I wandered back here to look around and heard your voice.” She turns to look at me. “So I followed it.”

“I-I’m glad,” I choke out.

“Nash doesn’t know I’m here. I didn’t tell him I was coming. I . . . I didn’t want it to be a big deal, but I needed to see for myself what you’d done.” She turns fully, squaring her shoulders. “And I needed to see you.”

So many questions bounce around my brain, but I’m afraid to ask any of them. I don’t want to give myself anything to grasp onto if it’s going to be yanked away again.

“I got a letter from Aunt Marg about a week ago,” she says. “Kent forwarded it according to her instructions.”

“Is that why you’re back?”

“Partly. She had some hopes for how I’d live my life. Hopes I’m not sure I’ve been living up to . . .” She fixes a cool gaze on me, and a shudder ripples through me. “I’ve been too caught up with trying to escape pain.”

“Savvie, I’m so sorry for all of it. I fucking hate that I drove you away again, and I—”

“I know you are,” she says, interrupting me. “I’ve known how sorry you are since the day at the warehouse. But that’s not why I stayed away.”

“Then why did you?”

“Honestly?” she says, walking past the other horse stalls. “Because I didn’t know if sorry was enough. If love was enough. If any of it was enough to rebuild what had been broken.”