Wildfire Omens (Wildwood #1)

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Rhett

I could feel it the minute Cheyenne walked into the bar. Didn’t know how I always knew. But I did, even all these years later. Everything in me tightened in anticipation—and dread.

I’d always known the day would come when I’d have to face her. I’d managed to avoid it all the other times I’d been home, except the times I’d tried to see her and realized it wasn’t welcome. Since then, I’d been a total coward, doing whatever it took to stop from running into her.

But if I was going to hang around for a few weeks this time, I knew I’d run into her eventually. Wildwood was too small to avoid her forever. I just hadn’t expected it to be on my first day back.

I gripped my beer and turned, facing her.

It was like a punch to the gut. Or worse, being electrocuted. Didn’t know if I’d died or come back to life.

Time had treated her well. Hell, that was the understatement of the year. She was beautiful. Always had been. Always would be.

That shiny dark hair was longer than it had been, cascading in waves down her shoulders. She was as tall as a supermodel, and that body I’d once known every inch of was as lean and toned as an athlete’s. She was wearing dark jeans tucked into leather boots—boots that, by the look on her face, she’d like to kick my ass with.

Her face was thinner than it had been when we were kids. It was all angles and shadows now. Not a typical beauty, but it took my breath away just the same. And those dusky pink lips, currently pursed up in a scowl, took me back to memories I’d tried damn hard to forget.

“Hey, Cheyenne,” I said casual-like, though I gripped my beer even harder.

She gave me a regal nod. “Rhett.” Only one word. Like she couldn’t spare even another one for me. Cheyenne Snow was an ice queen. But once, to me at least, she’d been like a warm glass of brandy.

She walked toward a booth in the back, motioning to Pete to let him know where she was heading. I turned back to the bar and saw him give her a little smile before throwing me an apologetic look.

Wasn’t his fault the tension between me and her was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I forced a smile and drained my beer, then threw some cash down onto the bar to cover it.

I meant to leave, give her some space. But my feet had a mind of their own, and I walked to her table instead.

She looked up, her face unreadable. She wasn’t scowling anymore, but there wasn’t an ounce of friendliness in her eyes. It was like she was looking at a stranger. And that stabbed deep.

I missed the way she used to look at me.

I cleared my throat. “I, uh, I’ll be hanging around for a while.”

“Okay.” Not even a flicker of emotion.

“Dad’s in rough shape. Broke his hip after a fall. So I’ll be helping out for a couple weeks. Maybe more.”

“I’m aware of your father’s condition,” she said quietly.

“Oh.” Of course she’d know. She and Claire were probably still thick as thieves, even though Claire never mentioned her to me.

“Is there a point to this conversation?” she asked, raising her chin and staring me in the eye.

“Just wanted you to hear it from me.”

Something crossed her face—surprise or annoyance. I wasn’t even sure. But I was glad to see at least some sort of emotional reaction. Didn’t know what I’d been expecting. Cheyenne wasn’t the type for tears, wasn’t the kind of woman to beg me to stay. Wasn’t the kind of woman who’d try to get my attention.

Kind of wished she was.

She cleared her throat. “I’m not sure why you thought I’d be interested in your movements, Rhett. I’ve lived the past ten years without knowing where you are or what you’re doing.” There was another flicker of emotion. Anger this time.

“Right.” I clamped my lips. This wasn’t going well at all. “I just didn’t want it to be awkward when we ran into each other. It’s a small town.”

Pete chose that moment to place her beer down on the table. She smiled at him and nodded her thanks. Jealousy twisted inside me. It had been a long time since I’d seen Cheyenne smile, but I remembered when the sight of me would make her face light up.

She turned back to me and shrugged. “Why should I feel awkward? I’m not the one who has anything to feel awkward about.” She put her lips on the mouth of her cold beer bottle and tipped it up, taking a long swallow.

My mouth went dry.

I was so distracted I didn’t even notice the man who’d come in and slid in across the booth from her.

“Thought you’d be here,” he said, grinning.

“It’s tradition.” She smiled again, then looked at me. “Rhett, you remember Sam, I’m sure.”

I glanced over at the man, seeing him for the first time. Of course I remembered him. Sam Barton. He’d been friends with Cole and Travis in high school. A couple years older than me—Cole’s class, if I remembered right. But even if we’d been the same age, we’d have run in different circles.

He’d always seemed like some kind of goody-two-shoes to me. Clean cut, killer smile. Quarterback on the football team, homecoming king, and somehow also a straight-A student. He’d been popular and well liked, even by the teachers at our school. About as different from me as you could get.

Despite that, I’d watched Cheyenne turn to him for comfort when her grandmother died. It had been the final nail in the coffin on any hope of getting back together with her. I couldn’t compete with someone like Sam Barton. Not then, and not now.

His eyes betrayed surprise. “Rhett. Didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Well, I am,” I said, my voice coming out like gravel. “Here to help out while Dad’s down.”

“That’s great,” he said, glancing at Cheyenne. “I know they could use the help out at the ranch.”

“Yep.”

Cheyenne said nothing. She looked at me with an expression of mild impatience, like I was interrupting her evening.

Which, I supposed I was.

“Well. Have a good night,” I said, tipping my hat to her.

Sam stuck out a hand for me to shake. “Good to see you, Rhett.”

“Yeah. It’s good to be back.” My voice felt hollow. Because if Cheyenne looked at me like that—like I was an interruption in her life—then it didn’t feel good to be back at all.

When I got back to the ranch, Claire was in the kitchen, scarfing down a small mountain of food. She squealed when I walked in, jumping up to grab me in a tight bear hug. I relaxed a little, glad at least one of my siblings was genuinely happy to see me.

Growing up, I had always gotten along best with Claire and Cole. We three were the wild souls of the family, the ones who always seemed to get ourselves into trouble. The big difference between us was that Claire stayed here, while Cole and I left Wyoming, marking us as the two family deserters. Cole had earned his forgiveness though. Hard to stay mad at a man who put his life on the line serving his country. Plus, he’d eventually settled down. Got married and had a kid. Adding a grandchild to the family was an automatic slate-wiper, it seemed.

Even though Claire had stayed, she was still a wild one at heart, which made us two peas in a pod.

“Nobody told me you were coming,” she said, slapping me on the shoulder, her face all lit up in delight.

“They didn’t know. Surprised them when I pulled in this morning.” I leaned against the kitchen counter as she went back to her plate, popping a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. “Hungry much?”

She laughed. “Sorry,” she said around the food in her mouth. “Just got back from a long search. I’m half starved.”

“Good outcome?”

She nodded, grinning. “Yeah. Took us over thirty hours, but we found him.”

“Good deal.” I cleared my throat. “I, uh, saw Cheyenne at the bar. I guess she’s still on the team?”

Claire’s face changed. “Yeah,” she said, her tone suddenly measured. “She’s one of our most active volunteers and the head of our local horse team. She’s actually the reason we found the guy today. If she hadn’t insisted we search the caves, we’d probably still be out there looking.”

“Wow.” Pride bloomed in my chest. Even though we’d been broken up for ages, I was still proud of what she did.

Claire looked at me with curiosity. “How’d she react to seeing you?”

I gripped the counter behind me. “She looked pissed for half a second. Then just bored. I told her I was staying awhile and she acted like she didn’t even know why I would bother telling her. Like it didn’t affect her at all. I might as well have told her I’d had a muffin for breakfast.”

Claire smirked. “Well, what did you expect? ”

I blinked a couple of times. I wasn’t even sure. “I don’t know. Just thought she’d have something to say about it,” I said lamely. “I’m normally only here a couple days. Didn’t want things to be awkward for her if we ran into each other.”

“Uh huh.” Claire gave me a knowing look, then hopped off her chair and headed to the fridge. “Beer?”

“Yeah.”

She tossed me one and opened hers, taking a big swig before sighing. “Man, it’s good to relax after a search.”

“I bet.” I fiddled with the tab on the beer. “Hey, um, what’s the deal with Cheyenne and Sam Barton?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are they married? Dating?”

Claire gave me a sly grin. “Why does it matter?”

I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “It doesn’t. Was just wondering.”

She shook her head. “They’re not together. Not married, not dating. Not anything. Just friends.”

“Sure didn’t look that way to me.”

Not that he’d even touched her tonight. But I’d never forget coming back to Wyoming when I heard Cheyenne’s grandma had died and the way it had crushed me to watch her fall apart in his arms. He’d held her while she cried by the casket, and his gaze had caught mine where I stood at the back, away from everyone else. He’d glared at me, a warning to stay away. I’d known I wasn’t wanted there, so I’d turned around and left without even speaking to Cheyenne.

Claire gave me a long look, her eyes narrowing like she could read my mind. “Sam’s a longtime member of the search-and-rescue team. They’re close.”

“Close, huh?” It was better than married or dating, but I still couldn’t help the frown that slipped out.

“We’re all close. We have to be. We train together, spend countless hours in the wilderness as a group. It’s a family.” She paused, then sighed. “I still don’t know why you care so much. You’ve never even made an effort to see Cheyenne again. But Sam’s got a girlfriend. Emily something or another. She came for the summer last year, they had a fling, and she never left.”

Something in my chest loosened. Claire was wrong. I had made an effort to see Cheyenne after I left. It hadn’t been welcomed, and I’d finally taken the hint. Didn’t know why her being with Sam now would bother me so much, but I couldn’t picture her with someone like him. Not that he was a bad guy, clearly.

He just wasn’t me.

But we were entering dangerous territory and I needed to lighten the conversation, so I decided to poke fun at Claire.

“So, what about you, little sis?” I grinned. “You got a boyfriend?”

She smirked. “Like any man could tie me down.”

“Don’t know what I was thinking,” I said, laughing. I finally popped the tab on my beer and chugged it down. “Mom said something about one of the cabins maybe being empty or being able to use the barn loft apartment. Wanna hook a guy up with a place to crash?”

“What, you don’t want to share with Jonathan?”

I grinned. “He basically let me know I’m not welcome to. Thought that kid liked me.”

Her face softened. “He loves you. But you remember what it’s like to be eighteen.”

Yeah, I did. That was the problem.

After I got settled into the loft apartment, I walked down to the office. I’d need a horse while I was here, and I knew I’d have to go through Travis to get one.

Sure enough, he was hunched over the desk, frowning as he looked over charts and schedules. Travis worked sunup to sundown, even when Dad wasn’t out of commission. He was responsible like that. Made the rest of us look bad.

I rapped on the open door. When he didn’t look up, I spoke to get his attention. “Hey, Travis.”

He glanced up, nodding in acknowledgement, before flipping over the charts he was looking at like he didn’t want me to see them. Cool as a cucumber, he didn’t say a word. Reminded me of Cheyenne’s greeting. But at least she’d said my name.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.

“Give me a minute. Let me finish up here. You can wait on the bench outside.”

I frowned, annoyed at his dismissal. I might not have worked here at the ranch, but I was still family. Didn’t know why he had to be so secretive. But there was no use arguing with him.

I sure as hell wasn’t going to sit and wait on a bench though. Instead, I took a stroll through the stables, checking out the horses who’d been brought into their stalls for dinner. We had a few new ones since I’d last been home, including a couple of pretty mares and two Shetland ponies. I’d almost made my way down the line when I heard Travis come out and clear his throat.

I walked back down to him and leaned on the stable gate, propping my boot up on the lowest rung. “I’ll be needing a horse while I’m here. Figured I needed to talk to you about that.”

He gave me a look, then walked by me, heading toward the end of the barn from where I’d just come. I followed, catching up.

“I said I’ll be needing a horse.”

“How long are you really staying?” He didn’t even look at me.

“As long as you need me to.”

He stopped and turned toward me, crossing his arms. “I needed you this morning. Hell, I needed you ten years ago.”

“Hey, man—”

“Don’t ‘hey, man’ me. We needed you. You left. Didn’t even give us any warning. We counted on you, and you blew off your responsibilities and left us in a lurch. You haven’t stayed more than three nights in a row ever since, and you sure haven’t cared about how thin we’ve been stretched before. So why on earth should I believe you’re going to hang around this time?”

My chest tightened. “Look, we’re never going to agree about the past. But I’m here now, and I want to help.”

He snorted. “Yeah, until you get a hankering to leave again. Then you’ll just disappear, not caring about the fallout.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and gritted my teeth. “You going to give me a horse or what?”

He stared at me, his eyes narrowing. “You want one, you’ve got to earn it.”

“Earn it how?”

He nodded toward the very back of the stables, where I hadn’t made it yet. “Got a new one in. We named him Diablo.”

“Diablo?” My eyebrows shot to the roof.

Travis snickered. “He suits you. He lets you, you can ride him. But you don’t touch any of my other horses, you hear? I’ve already got a riding schedule made up for this week, and I better not come out here and find one of my horses missing.”

With that, he sauntered off, chuckling under his breath.

I groaned. I had known Travis wouldn’t make it easy on me. But this?

“Alright,” I muttered under my breath. “I’m already in hell. Might as well go meet this Diablo and see what I have to deal with.”