Starlight Mountain (The Carter Brothers #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Willow Carter did not want to be in Autumn Falls.

She did not want to be watching the sun rise from behind Starlight Mountain like a plump ripe peach, or see the light flicker between the pine trees.

All she wanted was to be in New York where the skyscrapers blocked out the spring sunshine and cast the sidewalks in shadow.

But New York had failed her, or rather, she had failed it.

Signed off from the Cordelia Street Ballet Company, she had been sent home for rest and recuperation.

Every time she thought about it, her eyes welled up and she had to squeeze them shut.

Yet in the darkness, all she saw was the moment on stage when her knee gave way and buckled beneath her.

She could picture the stage floor as she thwacked down like a rag doll, time suspended, the stab of pain in her wrist as she tried to save herself, the side of her head hitting hard against the wooden floor, the gasps of the audience, the sudden silence of the orchestra.

Willow shuddered where she sat in the back seat of the cab. Trying her best not to relive the moment again and again, torturing herself. It was the frustration that got to her the most, more than any of the pain.

Now as the cab pulled up outside the Silver Sky ranch house—her family home—Willow felt in her bag and touched the plastic sleeve that contained such things as her active-recovery training program and the address of the local physiotherapist, the documents that reassured her this was very much temporary, that with hard work and determination she would soon be right back to normality.

“Honey, why didn’t you tell me your flight times? I would have picked you up from the airport.” Martha Carter, Willow’s mom, was out the front door of the ranch house and walking toward her daughter before Willow had barely opened the car door.

“I was fine getting a cab,” Willow replied, taking a moment to steady herself before going around to where the driver was heaving her bag out of the trunk.

Martha immediately hurried past her to take it herself. “You’re not meant to be doing anything too strenuous.”

Willow wondered if it was too late to get back in the car. “I can carry my bag, Mom,” she insisted, but Martha made no move to hand it over. With a sigh, Willow gave up and went to pay the driver, aware of Martha’s hand hovering ready to steady her, just in case.

Inside, the kitchen smelled of fresh coffee. There was a selection of homemade jellies and bread on the table. “There’s breakfast if you want it.”

“I ate something on the plane,” Willow replied, the home comforts—which when it was a few days’ vacation had her flopping delightedly into a chair and spreading thick salty butter onto warm bread—made her feel suffocated, like a bird with a broken wing who would never be released back into the wild.

Martha said, “A coffee, then? We can sit outside, it’s a beautiful day.”

“I’m fine in here.” Her tone was petulantly teenager, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She would have liked to have gone up to her room and shut the door.

Her mom pulled out a chair for her to sit down and reached out a hand to guide her.

“I’m not an invalid, Mom!” she snapped, unable to help herself but hating the fact.

Martha stepped away, palms raised. “Sorry.”

A voice from the doorway said, “Here she is—a little ray of sunshine.”

Willow swung around to see her brother Noah standing, arms crossed, brow raised as he watched her interact with their mom. She felt immediately guilty and turned back to Martha to say, “Sorry, Mom. I guess I’m just?—”

“It’s all right, honey.” Martha was pouring coffee. “It’s always tricky when you’re not feeling yourself.”

“I am feeling myself, I’m fine,” Willow replied with a hint of desperation.

Why would no one listen to her? It was the same as when she’d tried to assure the ballet company medical director that she just needed a few days off, that she’d be fine with another cortisone injection, she was more than capable of pushing through the pain.

Martha didn’t respond, just held the coffee pot up and said, “Noah?”

“Please,” Noah replied as he dragged out the chair opposite Willow. Lounging down, he narrowed his eyes at her and said, “So what happened?”

“Nothing.” She retied her hair, feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny. “I’ve just got a slight issue with my knee.”

Behind her she heard Martha scoff. The time immediately after the fall was a little bit hazy, the medication they gave her made her drowsy and vulnerable.

So when she’d heard the gentle concern in her mom’s voice, she had vague memories of sobbing down the phone about how hard it had been trying to push through the pain for so long.

Noah considered for a moment. “So, you’re gonna take some time to get better?”

Willow shrugged. “Apparently so.”

The glance between Noah and her mom as Martha came over with the coffees prickled over Willow’s skin.

Martha had lots of questions, she wanted to know exactly what the doctors had said and the name of the physio who had been recommended.

There was talk about how Willow should get her brother Brodie’s girlfriend, Maeve—who was a doctor in the ER—to come and take a look at her knee.

Willow was getting hot, she felt Noah watching.

“So, what’s been happening here?” she asked to change the subject.

Noah stretched, rolling his shoulders back.

He wore a tatty old T-shirt and clearly hadn’t shaved for a week or so; his hair was shaggy and long, tucked behind his ears.

He looked kinda feral which was when he was happiest. “Same old.” Then he paused and said, “Actually, I bought a horse the other day, reminds me a bit of you.”

Willow frowned. “Why?”

“’Cause she’s a massive pain in the ass.” Noah grinned.

Willow shot him a withering look.

Martha tipped her head and said, “Behave, Noah.”

Noah didn’t even pretend to hide his smile. “She’s out in the yard, she’ll probably like you. Won’t go near any of us.”

“Even you?” Willow raised a brow at her brother. “I thought you could tame anything.”

“Even me, Willow,” he replied, refusing to rise to the bait. “She’s got me stumped.”

Willow lifted her cup, blew on the steaming coffee. “Why’d you buy her?”

“Because—” Noah took a sip of his, he liked his coffee scalding “—she was the most beautiful horse I’d ever seen, and Ralph Stigwood was going to have her put down because no one can get within three feet of her.”

Willow put her cup down, immediately intrigued. She pushed her chair back and started to stand, trying her best to mask a wince of pain. “Let’s see her.”

Noah stood up and put his hat back on. Taking his coffee, he walked casually over to the back door, holding it open for her to follow, no hand held out to help her up.

It suddenly occurred to Willow that this was a ploy to get her outside, away from the questions and out of herself. It made her glance back at her mom to see her watching them fondly. As she walked past Noah she said, “Did you do this on purpose?”

“What? Buy a nightmare horse because I figured my stubborn, single-minded sister would do something as stupid as dance through an injury? No, Willow, I did not have that foresight.”

She rolled her eyes like he was deliberately being obtuse. “I meant, use the existence of the horse to get me to go outside.”

“Oh, that,” he said. “Yeah, I might have done.” He laughed, letting the screen door swing shut behind them.

Willow made a show of sighing as they walked to the paddock, but she could feel her lips twitch with a suppressed smile. She wondered if it was the first time she’d smiled since her leg gave way beneath her on stage.