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She wasn’t.
“What are you going to do about it?” She doesn’t know how to answer that either.
“You told him to call,” she said. “He should have to call.” Otherwise, wasn’t she as desperate as him? She was pursuing him hard—she’d taken a summer job on his ranch, for crying out loud—the same way he was trying for a career in country music.
She didn’t want to be desperate, not the way he was. She would not become obsessed by this.
Just as soon as she thought that, her brain would cycle through what fun they’d had that year. The dates they’d been on. The connections they’d made. She obviously felt something and had thought there’d been something that could grow into long-lasting love, or she wouldn’t have moved north for the summer.
Round and round her mind went, and Maddy didn’t know how to stop it. Before she knew it, her tires bumped over the dirt road that led to the ranch, and the hour-long drive had passed almost without her knowing if she’d driven the speed limit, on the right side of the road, or through any red lights.
She glanced left as she passed the private road that led to the family cabins. Kyle would likely be down there, but she didn’t make the turn. She had no classes and no shifts today. Once she pulled up to her cabin and went inside, she wouldn’t have to leave it again. No one would even know she’d returned.
Brewster panted and jumped from the front seat to the back, his energy and excitement bleeding into the car. Someone would know she’d returned, because Brews would run off and find Todd the moment Maddy opened the door. He clearly knew where they were, and he wanted out now.
Maddy made him wait as she drove past the lodge. “I’m not rolling the window down,” she told him when he whined. “It’s too hot.” She went past the barns and the guest cabins. Down another private road, she came to her cabin, noting that Hadley’s luxury sedan was not there. She was most likely on a lunch date or had been flown to Paris by some rich Texas oil baron.
Maddy smiled at the thought, parked her car so Hadley would have room in the driveway too, and got out. Brewster flew from the car, barking as he went streaking between cabins and out onto the ranch. She never worried about him here; he belonged here.
“He belongs here,” she whispered, watching the black and white disappear into the tall alfalfa behind her cabin. The air whispered to her, the wind barely rustling through the trees. The heat pressed down on her, and the scent of dirt hung in the air.
Maddy loved it; she loved everything about this quiet piece of land—even the summer heat. Did she belong here too?
Just another question she didn’t know the answer to. She retrieved her bag from the back seat, took Brewster’s big bag of dog food with her, and headed for the cooler interior of the cabin. Now, she just had to decide if she was going to text Kyle and tell him she’d returned, or if he would crawl out of his cave long enough to realize she should’ve done so.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Kyle woke, his neck aching and something heavy laying across his body. Not that heavy, and his first instinct was to push it off. He did, then sat straight up when the dischordant thunk of his guitar hitting the hardwood floor in the cabin met his ears.
He’d fallen asleep while composing. The idea was ludicrous; Kyle loved writing and playing more than anything. He wouldn’t fall asleep doing it.
Yet, he had.
He bent, his back protesting, and picked up his guitar. He didn’t settle it across his lap the way he normally did but stood and put it in the stand to rest. He needed a rest too—a proper rest, not one where his legs dangled off the side of the bed and his guitar pressed oddly against his ribs.
There wasn’t much light coming through the window, and Kyle strode toward the doorway to flip on the light. He had no idea where his phone was, and he’d given up an alarm clock a long time ago. He relied on his phone for almost everything, and he didn’t see it on the music stand. Nor the floor. Nor his bed.
Frustration built with irritation as he pulled the blanket off his bed. It was rumpled and needed to be fixed anyway.
No phone.
No one had called or texted since he’d fallen asleep; he was sure the ringer was on and he would’ve been awakened. Todd hadn’t come to get him for dinner.
“The band,” he gasped. If it was almost dark, the concert was surely about to start. He gave up the quest to find his phone and dashed out of his bedroom. The door banged against the wall, but he didn’t live with his mother anymore and didn’t have to listen to her yell about being careful and that he’d have to fix every hole in this house if he put another one in his bedroom wall.
Mama didn’t issue idle threats either, and Kyle had done his fair share of repairs around the house after he’d broken something growing up. All the boys had, and now they joked with Mama that she shouldn’t have had so many sons.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d teased Mama. He’d missed the Fourth of July family picnic. Pictures and texts weren’t good enough, and Kyle’s regrets lashed at him as he arrived in the kitchen he normally shared with Todd.
There was no sign of his brother, nor dinner. As Kyle’s stomach growled, he turned his back on the kitchen and headed for the front door. “Where is everyone?” he asked. He honestly felt like he’d been left behind after a major exodus.
It did not feel good. His stomach writhed. His chest pinched. His anger swirled and choked him. He wished he could be angry at someone else, but this fury was all directed inward, at himself. Self-loathing came from it, and he couldn’t swallow right.
He managed to get behind the wheel of his truck, but he didn’t have his keys. He yelled as he leapt from the vehicle and dashed back to the cabin. Outside, it was still twilight, which meant Kyle had probably a half-hour before the concert. His blunder hadn’t become too apparent yet—he hoped.
He found his keys on the counter, right beside his phone, and he grabbed them both. He didn’t have time to look at his phone, but he did anyway. Nine-twenty. Horror struck him right behind his tongue. The concert started in ten minutes, and that meant someone else had likely taken over.
He wondered if someone had come into his room, seen him passed out, and left him to rest. Todd would’ve done that, because Todd was a very good brother. “He’s also tired of fighting with you,” Kyle muttered to himself.
