Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
A small gust of wind brings in a flurry of snow as the door swings back open. Sawyer stomps back in.
“What are you doing? Take those clothes off. We need to get you into something dry before you start losing toes. If you haven’t already. I can’t believe you’d do something so stupid.”
Anger shoots up my spine. “I’m not stupid.”
He pauses in the middle of ripping off his outer layers, and his voice softens a tiny bit. “I didn’t call you stupid, Everly. I said what you did was stupid, and you know it.”
My shoulders start to shudder, and a painful knot forms in my throat. He’s right. It was stupid. I know better than to go out in this kind of weather on my own. It was reckless. To be fair, I had no idea how quickly this storm would come on.
“River was missing, and everybody else is away this weekend. Hank had to go home to his family. I didn’t have a choice. I needed to save my boy.”
The shudders are now accompanied by sobs that I can’t keep in. The fear, the relief. Everything is too much.
The big man covers the space in a couple of strides, wrapping his arms around me. “Everly. What if you’d died? I couldn’t handle it. You should have called someone else. Me, my aunt, anyone. We could have helped.”
“What do you care? I’ve hardly seen you for the last four years?”
I can feel his sigh through all my layers. “Of course I care. Now I have to get a fire started. Please, for the love of all that’s good, take off your coat and snow pants. I’ll start a fire and find you some dry clothes to put on.”
“Hang on. I should call...” I unzip my coat and reach inside my inner pocket to scoop out my cell. Of course. No bars. What was I expecting? Service around here isn’t great at the best of times. It’s bound to be zero in the middle of a storm.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call on the radio as soon as I get this going. And you get out of your wet things.”
“Why, Sawyer Hartman, are you trying to get me out of my clothes?”
He answers with a grumble, and a log clatters to the floor of the fireplace when he gives it a vicious stab with the poker.
Fine. He’s right. I strip off the coat and pants, tossing it into the heap with his. My clothes underneath are damp, but I think it’s mostly sweat from the exertion of pushing myself to slog through the snow. Except my socks. Those are soaked through. I sit back down beside River, peeling them off my feet, wincing at the sight of my toes. They’re red and shiny, slightly swollen from the chill. My fingers aren’t too bad, protected by the thick waterproof gloves I wore.
I’m rubbing at the painful tingles in my toes to the sounds of the crackles and pops of a fledgling fire.
A shadow falls over me, and I glance up to see Sawyer towering over me. He looks more imposing out of his snow gear. His dark hair is a tangled damp mess, and his arms are crossed over his chest, but when he catches sight of my feet, he drops to one knee beside me.
“Shit. We need to get those looked after.” The hand he drops over mine is warm, but I wince as he runs his palm over my aching toes. “Come on. Let’s get you over by the fire.”
He slides one arm under my knees, and the other under my back, hefting me up as if I weigh nothing. I smack at him.
“I can walk.”
“Too late.” He places me back beside the young horse and heads off to the little kitchen area.
I swivel my head to take in the place. It’s surprisingly spacious, with a couple of worn-looking green armchairs, the small kitchen taking up half the space, and even a desk and chair. There are two doors at the back that could lead to a bedroom and bathroom. This is way nicer than the last time I visited. Before it was nothing but a shelter from a storm with a roof and walls, but no furniture.
The sound of running water catches my attention and I glance over to check him out. He’s really grown up since I last spent any significant time alone with him. He stripped off his plaid flannel shirt, so now I can see the muscles sliding under a tight black compression shirt as he moves about the place in a familiar way.
I dip my finger in the bowl full of water when he brings it back to find it warm.
“Put your feet in there.”
“You got a foot fetish too? First, you want me to take off my clothes, now you want to check out my feet?
He sighs. “No, Everly. I just don’t want to clean your toes off the floor after you lose them in my cabin.”
“Your cabin?”
“Yes.”
“Did you move out of your parents' place?” I wince as I slide my feet into the bowl, the tingles are turning into pins and needles, but I don’t think there’s going to be any permanent damage.
“Aunt Rose needed some extra help managing the property so here I am.”
“What about school? Weren’t you going to go away to get your business degree?” We used to be inseparable but after I started dating Brent, he disappeared out of my life. He stopped answering my texts. He stopped coming by to help with my horses. He ghosted me. As much as you can ghost someone who still goes to the same high school as you. And he never came back. Even after we graduated and Brent broke up with me a few months ago.
“I’m doing it online now.” He throws a chin at the desk and I notice the familiar signs of student life. A laptop sitting on the desk beside a couple of textbooks and a binder.
“That’s good.”
“Where did you find River?” I turn back to the horse he brought inside his house, stroking his soft coat that hasn’t fully smoothed out into adult hair.
“He got caught up in some old wire fencing on the east perimeter that was hiding in some bush.”
My eyes widen, and I start running my hands over his coat, searching for wounds.
Sawyer settles down beside me, placing his hand over mine to still my searching. “He’s got some minor cuts on his legs, but he should be fine. We can clean them up. I brought him in here to warm up and because I was worried he’d try to escape if he was alone in the shelter. We can get him cleaned up and put him out there now that Kingsley is there to look after him.”
I reach for his still spindly legs, but as soon as I make contact, he kicks at me and lurches to his feet. That gives me a better view, but I’m a little close to those dangerous little hooves. Water sloshes over the edge of the bowl as I pull my feet out and stand up. I bend down to check his legs, but Sawyer was right. The long wounds all appear superficial.
He still gives me a small warning kick when I press on the sore spots.
“Do you have something to clean this up?”
“If I do, will you let me look after you next?
“Fine.”
After cleaning River’s wounds, Sawyer walks over to the door, slipping his coat back on and grabbing a blue rope lead line. He clips it under the weanling’s halter. “Good? Can I take him out?”
I run my hands over his black coat again, paying extra attention to his legs. Then I cup his horsey cheeks between my palms. His deep brown eyes are set around a white star that looks a little like a snowflake. “You sir are trouble. Can you manage to keep out of any more mischief for the night?”
The colt tosses his head, nearly smacking me in the nose, and I shake my head at him. “That’s pretty much what I thought.” I pat his velvety nose, and he snuffles at my hand.
I nod to Sawyer. “You can take him out. Please make sure he can’t escape. I don’t know what I’d do if...” I trail off, not wanting to think about even the possibility of losing him.
He gives River a pat and pulls the horse away from me. “Can you grab that and pass it to me?”
He’s gesturing at the gray sheet he laid out on the floor under the horse. Smart. I pass it to him, then watch my boy carefully as he walks away, but there’s no sign of limp. He’s wiggling side to side and snorting at Sawyer, but his gait is smooth.
Each step is painful, but I make my way over to the window so I can track their progress to the barn. The snow is still heavy, so all I can see are their dark forms, but I stay where I am until he walks back through the door.
“Please go sit by the fire now, Everly. He’s fine. Now we need to make sure you are, too.” He shrugs off his coat and grabs my hand. The gesture is a familiar one. We’ve held hands many times over the years, but for some reason, it feels different. The warm pressure is sending tingles up my arm for a very different reason than the cold.
I follow him back to the fire and he tugs me to the ground between his spread legs. I’m too tired and numb to protest, and the weight of him pressed against my back is pleasant, so I lean against him to soak in his warmth. He pulls a fuzzy red plaid blanket up over us, then his fingers find the bottom of my uncomfortable shirt. It’s clinging to me from the dried-on sweat, and now that I’m thinking about it I feel gross. Maybe he does too, because he pulls away from me.
“I grabbed you a fresh shirt to wear. Can I...” He clears his throat.
“Go ahead.” I lift my arms over my head, letting him drag the unpleasant fabric up and over my head. The still cool air is refreshing, but the heat from the fire keeps the chill away.
Sawyer slips my hands through the sleeves of a long-sleeved cotton shirt, and lets it fall, covering up my bare skin. He’s sitting so close I can hear him swallow. Maybe I should feel embarrassed or awkward letting him dress me, but I don’t. We may not have spent time together recently, but we were inseparable as kids.
He pulls me back against his chest, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. The rapid thump of his racing heartbeat pounds against my cheek.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. You have no idea how worried I was when Hank called to tell me you’d gone off on your own.”
Hank, of course. He’s been a ranch hand at our place since he was my age. Now he’s basically part of the Rhodes family. But he also has his own family, and I know he needed to get home to look after his baby granddaughter. Otherwise, he would have at least tried to join me on my poorly executed plan.
“Right. I know I shouldn’t have done it. I knew how dangerous it was but, to be fair, the snowfall was light when I left. It was still sunny. I knew a storm was coming, but I thought I had time. And when I checked on the horses and couldn’t find River, I panicked.”
“I get it. I know how much the horses mean to you, but I also know you’re too smart to go rushing off like that. You know how quickly the weather can turn. Why’d you do it? What is it about this one?”
I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to brace myself to say the words. “He’s Holly’s baby. Her last baby.” the tears let loose again, leaving a hot trail down my cheeks and I reach up to swipe them away.
His sharp inhale is telling. He knows how much she means to me.
“No. Not Holly. She’s gone? What happened?”
“Colic. It hit her hard and fast. Just after we weaned him. Doc Keaton came out, but there was nothing he could do. I was up with her all night. I walked her. I begged. I prayed. It was her time. But she was my last connection to my dad, and it hurt.”