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Doesn’t matter right now.Shematters.
Winnie sniffs loudly, working on a tiny buckle with trembling fingers. With a frustrated sob, she drops it to the floor and rushes toward me. I meet her in the middle of the aisle and catch her with anoof, wrapping her tightly within my arms. Silent sobs rack her tiny form and, fuckingalarmed, I hold her even closer.
“Shhhhh,” I say. “It’s okay. You’re okay. What’s wrong? What can I do?”
She cries even harder.
I’m trying not to freak out, because she sounds like she’s being torn apart. I mean, hell, her little sister was nearly gored by a longhorn and she was the one calmingmedown.
“Winnie, please. Did I do something? Are you hurt?”
She pulls back, swiping at her face with the sleeves of her sweatshirt.
“My dad got promoted,” she says, looking down at her tear-stained sleeves. “He’s taking a day shift.”
I blink and swallow. “That’s… good, right? Long overdue, even?”
She nods, taking a shaky breath and hiccupping. “He’s telling me I canleavenow. He’s letting me go so I can race on the circuit.”
I let that sink in for a beat before a grunt clears the back of my throat.Christ.I think I know where this is headed.
“Ten years, I’ve been holding them together. I finished school early and got a job the minute I could. I’ve practicallyraisedGarrett, and he has thefucking nerveto tell me, ‘I’m the dad. I’m the parent and you aren’t. It’s time for you to be the big sister and live your life.’ He made it out like I’ve been some self-sacrificing martyr all these years!”
I cup her face, stroking her cheek with my fingertip. “On the one hand, youdodeserve to be able to focus on your own career. You never should’ve had to be the parent.”
“I know that!” she insists.
“But—” I step closer, looking deep into her eyes, still welling with tears. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an entire lifetime of tears pouring from them. Saved up from years and years of toughing it out for the sake of her family. “He never should have said it like that. He never should have made you feel that way. He should be thanking you on his knees and kissing the groundyou walk on. He should be offering you the world on a platter. And above all else, he should have done this ten years ago.”
Her head tips forward onto my collarbone, and she breaks into another round of silent sobs. I stroke her back over and over. I’m relieved she’s not feeling regret over us, but I’m pissed her dad is such a complete idiot.
“What am I supposed to do? He’s practically kicking me out.”
“Move in with me?” I offer, only half joking. “Free muffins anytime you want?”
She sighs, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing once before stepping back. “You’re moving away in like a month, college boy.”
“True. I’ve heard dorm twin beds are even smaller than regular ones. If you have to, you can sleep directly on top of me. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
She snickers, and I’m triumphant at the change.
“I could move into the Cook Shack,” Winnie says, deep in thought.
The Cook Shack is anything but a shack. It’s a modest, newly renovated two-bedroom cabin on the other side of the farthest pasture. Camilla and my dad talked about using it as an Airbnb, but it’s sat empty because running an Airbnb requires someone to keep track of it. “Camilla brought it up months ago, but there was no way I could afford it at the time.”
“You could probably work something out now.”
“IfI’m not paying for two kids, I could make it work.”
“Would you be okay with that? I mean, it’s a short drive home, but it’s also space. And you’d be close to train and ride the horses whenever you want.”
“I’d also have my own place right on the other side of that hill,” she says suggestively, but sobers almost immediately andsighs. “I don’t know. I’ve wanted my own space for a while. The chance to only think and worry about myself. But I don’t know if I can turn it off—the worrying over Garrett, especially. What if she feels like I’ve abandoned her? Like our mom? I promised them I would never leave them like that.” Her voice falters at the end.
“Then you have her over,” I say. “She can come spend the night whenever you’re in town. You can still do your movies or whatever. And I’ll still be around, too. If you’re gone, and I sincerely hope you are, because that means you’re killing it on the circuit, and one of us is going to need to be the breadwinner at some point,” I tease in a rush, and her eyes light up with a ghost of humor again. “I can come home that weekend if she needs. Or if Jesse needs. Or if you need. You’re not alone, remember?”
Winnie brightens slightly. “Maybe I could get her one of those prepaid phones so she can reach me whenever she needs to while I’m on the road.”
“There you go.”
