Crossed Lines (Moonlight Ranch #2)

1. Willow

Willow

MAY

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me!” My best friend Macy flops down on my bed.

I pull the shirt that she laid on top of out from under her and fold it before putting it in my suitcase.

“It’s only for the summer,” I remind her. “And when I get back, we get to go to…”

“Italy!” we say in unison. We’re both enrolled to study abroad next semester.

It’ll be our last year in college before we graduate and are thrown into the real world.

We decided that we might as well go out with a bang.

When one of our professors told us about the study abroad program in Italy for Education majors, we knew we had to do it.

The only problem is… I don’t quite have all the money for my share yet.

Macy is lucky. Her parents have covered the cost for her, no questions asked.

While I have a few grants to cover most of my school costs, my older brother, Sawyer, makes up the difference.

The study abroad program has additional costs beyond what my typical semester fees are, but there’s no way I could ask him to cover that on top of everything else he’s done for me.

I drained what little savings I had for the deposit, and now I’m working on getting the other half.

However, it’s proving to be extra difficult since I don’t have a steady income.

I babysit occasionally for a few families near the university, but it’s not consistent.

My schoolwork is too much for me to get a part-time job.

I haven’t told Macy yet, though. I don’t want her to stress about my finances.

I’ll figure it out. Step one of my plan is to spend the summer back home in Blue Haven, Georgia: the one place I dread going.

I’m hopeful I’ll be able to find a summer job there, but it’s a small town, so fingers crossed someone will take pity on me and offer me a seasonal job.

I just have to make sure I get the other half of the study abroad paid by August 1st, or I’ll lose my spot.

It would kill me to see Macy go without me.

“It’s only three months,” I tell her. “And you can come visit any time. Sawyer would love to have you. He’d probably be happy to not have to entertain me for a little bit.”

“I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Sawyer.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me, and I toss a pillow in her direction.

“Gross. That’s my brother.”

“It’s not my fault he’s hot!”

“Gag. He’s too old for you anyway.”

Sawyer is technically my legal guardian.

Our parents died in a car accident when I was ten, and since Sawyer was already an adult, he didn’t think twice before signing every document saying he would take care of me.

It was a lot for him to take on at twenty-two, though.

I think I was a bit more than he bargained for.

On the cusp of puberty and grieving both parents, I made life difficult for awhile.

But we got through it, and now I don’t know what I would do without him.

“I’ll definitely come visit, though,” Macy says. “It’s going to be so boring in South Carolina. My parents are both working, and my sister just moved even further away. I’ll be sitting around all summer doing nothing.”

“Well, good. Blue Haven isn’t that far from South Carolina. I’ll show you around town. We’ll have a good time.”

“We always do!”

“Now get out of here. I’ve got to finish packing. Sawyer will be here soon.”

She pouts but hops off my bed. We’ve been sharing a dorm room for the last three years at college. We started off in a one-room with two beds but have since been upgraded to a room with separate bedrooms. It’s been nice to have my privacy, and I’m going to miss this place.

I finish packing all of my clothes and tape up the last of my boxes.

Next semester we won’t be in this same dorm, and if all goes as planned, we’ll be in Italy for most of the semester anyway.

Because of this, I have to pack it all up.

Sawyer is coming to help me take everything back to Blue Haven since it won’t all fit in my car.

I’m zipping up my last suitcase when there’s a knock on our dorm room door.

“I’ll get it!” Macy shouts from her room. I chuckle as I roll my suitcase out of my room. Her crush on my brother is ridiculous.

Sawyer stands in the doorway, his brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

I don’t know when he decided to start growing it long, but now I can’t picture him without his man-bun.

He and I both have our mother’s green eyes and our dad’s tan complexion, although Sawyer is in the sun way more than I am, so he’s a shade darker than me.

“Hi, Sawyer,” Macy says. I can’t see her face, but I imagine she’s batting her eyelashes at him.

“Macy. How are you?” my brother politely asks.

“A little sad that you’re taking my best friend away.”

Sawyer chuckles. “Willow hasn’t been home in almost three years. We all miss her.” His eyes move from Macy’s face to find me. “Hey, Wills.”

I rush into his arms, and he wraps me in a big bear hug. We’ve had our tough times, but nothing and no one feels like home quite like my big brother.

“It’s so good to see you,” I tell him as he releases me. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until this moment.

“You too. You’ve grown like a foot or something, haven’t you?” he asks.

I laugh. “I’m pretty sure I stopped growing like three years ago.”

“Well, something about you is different. You look… older. Where did my little sister go?”

“She’s still here. Don’t worry.”

He messes up the top of my hair, and I shove him away playfully. Goofing off just like old times.

“You ready to load up?” he asks.

I look around the dorm. “Yep. Let me do one last walk-through, but I think I’m all ready.”

Sawyer starts taking my boxes downstairs to his truck while I check for any missed items. When I walk out of my room, Macy is standing there with her arms outstretched, waiting for a hug. “Don’t forget your best friend,” she says as she wraps me in a hug.

“I could never.”

“Good!”

She releases me, and I smile at her. “I’ll see you soon, ok? And I’ll call or text every day.”

“You better!”

I grab my last suitcase and make my way down to my car. Sawyer has everything loaded into either my small car or his truck. He tosses me my keys once I’ve shoved my last suitcase in.

“See you at home, Wills.”

“See you at home.”

Home.

I hate this place. I can’t really identify where my hatred stems from, though. The people of Blue Haven have always been friendly, but maybe it’s the pity in their eyes when they look at me that I can’t stand. The memories of the family I once had.

Blue Haven, Georgia, is one of those towns that you see in the movies and think it couldn’t possibly exist anywhere for real.

But it does exist, and this is where I grew up.

There’s only one way into town, so you have to drive through Main Street to get to my brother’s house.

Nothing has changed in the entire twenty-one years that I’ve called this place home.

Sure, a few shops have come and gone, but the original brick buildings and overall vibes have remained the same.

It’s comforting and depressing all at once.

For someone who went through so much grief at such a young age, I have a hard time associating happiness with this town.

This is the same town my parents fell in love in.

These are the same people who knew them.

The same people who grieved their death alongside Sawyer and me.

The same people who watched me grow up. The town is exactly how my parents would remember it, which makes it a little easier to swallow down my hatred of it.

There was a time when I felt like I couldn’t wait to get away from here.

When I graduated from high school, I knew I would be leaving.

Sawyer knew it too. He never tried to stop me, and he’s never asked me to come back.

He was the only reason I was here anyway.

On holidays, he’s always come to me, and during the summers, I usually kept myself busy with a class or two so that I could stay in the dorms.

Sawyer was surprised when I told him I wanted to come back home this summer and already asked me at least twenty times if I was sure.

I’ve been away for three years. To me, this trip home has the potential to be a fresh start for me.

And worst case, I end up still hating it and leave at the end of the summer with no return date.

Once I’m officially graduated, the world is my oyster.

I can live wherever I want. I’m pretty sure Sawyer wants that for me as well, and his opinion is the only one I really care about anyway.

It’s late by the time I follow my brother’s truck through Main Street, but with summer quickly approaching, the sun leaves just enough light for me to take in the town.

I roll my windows down and let the small town air cleanse me.

I immediately smell vanilla and sugar coming from the ice cream shop.

They’ve got their door open, and a family is walking out with huge waffle cones stacked with scoops of ice cream.

Blue’s Diner gives me a whiff of French fries and coffee.

I could definitely use one of their burgers right about now.

By the time we get to the end of downtown Blue Haven, we’re passing by the hole-in-the-wall bar that’s been here for longer than most of the people have.

Roadside is packed as usual, and the neon lights in the windows and the loud music will attract even more people before the night is over.

I haven’t spent much time inside there. One of Sawyer’s rules.

He only took me in there a few times when we met up with his best friend, Beck.

But I wasn’t allowed to go without him. Now that I’m twenty-one, I might have to make a trip there this summer. Maybe a few trips.

We pass a few more streets before Sawyer makes the familiar left turn onto the street where we’ve lived since I was ten.

Sawyer was living with Beck when my parents died, but as soon as he got custody of me, he used all of his savings to buy a small two-bedroom house. It wasn’t in the best shape when we moved in, but over the years, he’s really put a lot of work into it. It looks so good now.

When we pull into the driveway, I see he’s finally put some effort into the landscaping. He’s even planted a garden out front.

“Are those… dahlias?” I ask, stepping out of my car.

He shrugs. “Uh, yeah, I think so. The lady at the plant store recommended them to me.”

“The plant store? You mean the nursery?”

“Yeah, whatever. I thought it was time to make the outside look nice.”

“It looks really good, Sawyer,” I tell him. He’s never been one to accept compliments very well, so he simply nods and grabs one of the boxes from his truck bed.

“Do you want all of these in your room or should I put them in the garage?”

“You can put the boxes in the garage. I really just need the suitcases with my clothes in them.”

Sawyer kept my bedroom exactly how I left it. The bedding is still yellow, which was my favorite color as a kid because it reminded me of summertime. Summer was always my favorite. Being outside, going to the pool, and staying out late riding bikes? What’s not to love?

The walls in my room are pretty bare. I didn’t spend a whole lot of energy or money on decorating. I have a canvas painting I did for fun one time hanging over my bed, but that’s about it. No pictures. No awards. Just walls.

I drag one of my suitcases to the corner before I go out and grab another from my car. By the time we’re done unloading both vehicles, a pizza guy is stopping at the foot of the driveway.

Sawyer pays the man and nods for me to follow him inside. “Your welcome home dinner.”

“Just what I wanted.”

We had pizza delivered that first night it was just the two of us in this house.

I think we were both holding back tears as we ate, but Sawyer tried his best to make me happy.

That night, we ate pizza on the floor as we watched my favorite movie.

Then he made us Coke floats for dessert, and we slept in sleeping bags on the living room floor.

It was a terrible night full of emotions but also a good one. It started our new life together. It also started our tradition of delivery pizza and Coke floats on special occasions.

Apparently, my coming back to Blue Haven is a special occasion now, according to Sawyer.

“Extra pepperoni,” I say, surveying the goods. We have a table to eat off of this time, but it’s still just as meaningful as the first time.

Sawyer makes us each a float in one of the big mugs we eventually bought at a thrift store. I think I was twelve at the time and thought they were the best thing ever.

When he finally sits down next to me on the couch, we cheers with our big mugs. “It’s good to have you home for a few months, Wills.”

“It’s good to be here.” I’m not sure if either of us believes that, but he doesn’t call me out on it. Instead, he lets me pick the movie as we dig into our dinner.