Page 82 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

I parked and flew off the four-wheeler, racing over to my uncle. “Briggs, what the hell?”

He had a shovel in one hand. A hose in the other. “Harrison? What are you doing here? Didn’t even hear you pull up.”

Harrison? Fuck. I yanked the shovel from his hand, slammed the end into the dirt, stepped out a scoop and tossed it on the flames.

“Hey! I’m—”

“Trying to burn down the whole fucking mountain.”

“It’s a slash pile burn. It’s under control.”

I ignored him, shoveling as quickly as I could. Then I snatched the hose from his hand, dousing the fire. Steam hissed and popped as it broke through the pile.

A small cough made me turn to see Winn behind me. “What can I do?”

I handed her the hose.

“Who are you?” Briggs asked her. “Harrison, who is this? What the hell do you think you’re doing with another woman? Does Anne know?”

“I’m Griffin, Briggs. Griffin,” I barked. “This is Winslow, and you’re in her way. Move.”

He flinched at the volume in my voice and shied away.

Damn it. At my age, Dad and I would have looked nearly identical. I should be patient. I should take it easy. But a fire in July? We waited until the dead of winter when there were two feet of snow on the ground before we burned slash piles.

The rumble of a truck’s engine came from the road, and Dad’s pickup skidded to a stop beside the four-wheeler. He flew out the driver’s side, running our way. “What’s going on? I saw smoke.”

I waited until he was close enough to throw him the shovel, so pissed off I could barely see straight. “Talk to your brother. He thinks I’m you.”

Without another word, I grabbed Winn’s free hand and pulled her away from the hose. She followed, silently climbing on the back of the four-wheeler and holding on as I sped down the road and away from the cabin.

“Goddamn it.” I shook my head, my heart racing.

Winn’s hold tightened. She’d heard me.

We rode straight for home. I parked in the barn, letting the quiet settle after I killed the engine. Then I hung my head. “It’s getting worse. I didn’t want t

o believe it. Yesterday, he was so . . . normal. At the parade. At the rodeo.”

Briggs had seemed exactly like the man I’d known my entire life. He’d gone around town with Dad to help for a while. He’d been at the rodeo arena, talking to his buddies and drinking a beer.

“He was so normal that I thought maybe I was blowing this thing out of proportion. Maybe I’ve been taking it too far. But . . .”

“You weren’t.”

I shook my head. “Something has to change.”

And either my father would push for that change, or I’d have to do it myself.

“I’m sorry,” Winn whispered, dropping a kiss to my shoulder.

I twisted, taking her face in my hands. Those indigo eyes seared into mine. They saw the fears. The doubts. The frustration. They gave me a place to put it all. A place to just . . . be real.

She’d told me this morning that I carried burdens. I did. But right here, in this moment, she was there to help share the load.

I dropped a kiss to her lips, then helped her to her feet. “We smell like smoke.”

With her hand clasped in mine, I led her to the house and straight to the bathroom, where I turned on the shower. We stripped out of our dirty clothes and stepped under the spray like two people who’d showered together a hundred times. Easy. Comfortable. And as the soap cascaded over our bodies, the smell of the fire and the stress of my family disappeared down the drain.