Chapter 7 Scarlett #2
She smiles as our hands drop. The man releases her hand and slings his arm around her, her arm raising without second thought, lacing her fingers into his as they hang at her shoulder.
I envy the way she leans into him so effortlessly.
I can’t remember the last time I trusted someone enough to catch me when I fall.
“I’m Hannah Wilder, this is my husband, Greyson. We run part of the Wilder Foundation.”
Ahh, I feel like I should have known that. “It’s nice to meet you both,” I say, lacing my hands together in front of me. “Miller didn’t tell me you were coming until like ten minutes ago. So, if you could let me know what you need, I’ll get it set up.”
Greyson chuckles as he leans his head down on top of Hannah’s. “He sets everything up before we get here. Most of the kids just hang out with the ponies,” he says, eyes never leaving Hannah.
“Okay,” I nod, rocking back on my heels. Before anyone can say anything else, Lucas’s laugh carries on the wind, overloading my senses when he steps up beside me with a peppy, blonde little girl on his shoulders.
My body leans instinctively toward his before my mind can catch up. I immediately know this is Lily, the little girl Miller was talking about. She’s wearing the same dopey smile I’ve seen a hundred times over in pictures of me from when I was a kid. It makes me smile, almost.
“Hey, Lettie,” he says, voice hesitant, but still as smooth as bourbon.
Hannah’s eyes widen as they bounce between the two of us. “Like Lettie, Lettie?” She forcefully whispers. Lucas completely ignores her question. His eyes don’t stray from mine until the little girl tilts her head to the side.
Bending herself over the top of his head, her hands meet his cheeks, and his eyes slide up to meet hers, and a goofy smile takes over his face. “Uncle Lucas, she’s really pretty. Don’t you think she’s pretty?”
He chuckles, placing a hand on her shoulder blades and pulling her all the way over until he’s carrying her like a baby. “She’s beautiful, but no one’s prettier than my Lily Pad,” he says as he sets her feet on the ground and ruffles her hair, much like I used to do to him when we were that age.
“I’m Lily, what's your name?” She peers up at me, curiosity flickering behind her icy blue eyes.
“Scarlett.” I hold out my hand to her, but she ignores it completely.
She runs straight into me, wrapping her arms around my legs before looking up at me.
“That’s a pretty name. Do you like animals?
Do you want to help me ride Princess? I’m too little for my feet to reach the stirrups yet, but I graduated from Nutter and Butter,” she says with so much confidence that I feel my smile grow into a real one, not the practiced one I’ve gotten so good at.
“Not today.” I watch the disappointment form as she looks over her shoulder at Lucas, who is trying his hardest to stay where he is.
I see his hands balling into fists from here.
He’s a caretaker through and through. He’s always been all in or not at all.
Maybe that’s what I miss about him the most. The certainty that if he’s around it's because he one hundred percent wants to be. “I’ll watch this time, make sure I know what to do, then maybe next time. Would that be okay?”
Her smile returns as she beams up at me.
Arms still wrapped around my legs, her rapid nod is all I get before she grabs Lucas’s hand and pulls him down the hill.
He gives me one last parting glance before he scoops her up and runs with her held at his hip, chest parallel to the ground, with her arms out to the side like an airplane.
Greyson walks after them, leaving me with Hannah. She angles her body slightly in front of mine, blocking my view of Lucas’ back. “Are you the Lettie I’ve been hearing about for the last two years?”
I shove my hands in my back pocket, “Couldn’t tell ya.” My teeth meet my bottom lip with a little too much force, and I smother a hiss.
She hums, turning to look at the three of them who just reached the bottom of the hill. “My husband found a picture of you, well, I’m assuming, and a very little Lucas with a cow in his wallet.” A flicker of hope burns to life in my chest. He kept those?
Brushing a piece of fallen hair behind my ear, I fight to keep my face neutral. “Probably me then.” I mean, who else would he be hanging out with the cows with? Especially at that age. He hasn’t brought any other women here, right? Damn it, why does the very thought make my blood boil?
She laughs, “He never gave up on you. Don’t give up on yourself, alright?”
The words stick like burrs, gentle, annoying, yet impossible to ignore.
My throat tightens. Being accepted certainly wasn’t on the scenarios list I ran through earlier, and somehow, it might be worse than anything else.
I hike my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m gonna head in.
” Her kindness feels like sunshine, warming the coldest parts of me.
I learned at a young age, courtesy of my two younger siblings, that kindness usually comes with strings.
They’d never want to hang out with me unless they needed something.
I was always the one they came to when they knew our parents would say no.
Well, my mother probably would have said yes to anything.
The woman was lost in a bottle of happy pills and the pool boy of the week most of the time.
But she never would have said no to Damien. The golden child of the Arias clan. The youngest, the only boy. I fight an eyeroll as I think back to how she fawned over him his entire life.
Regardless, I was the best sister in the world when they needed something.
And they weren’t dumb about it, either. Sometimes they clung to me for months so that when they finally got to the point they needed to ask, I was so happy we had some semblance of a relationship that I agreed, only for them to immediately go back to pretending I didn’t exist until the next time they needed something.
I can’t get tangled up in a web that Lucas is a part of. I’d never survive the fallout. But damn, if I don’t wish things were different. Wish I were different.
I’m halfway to the door when the same model of white truck from the other day drives past the front of the ranch. This isn’t random. Whoever this is has come back.
A cold prickle races up my arms, lifting every hair one by one. There are kids here. Kids first, always. I repeat like a command, like it’s enough to hold back the fear tightening its hold around my throat.
My breathing turns shallow, like my ribs can’t expand fast enough.
I spin in their direction, heart pounding so hard my vision shakes.
Where’s my gun? The question useless as it rattles around my skull.
My hands reach for my belt, my pockets, my chest, fumbling for where I could have put it, and I come up with nothing.
It’s in the kitchen. I remember, as the heel of my boot snags on a root. I lurch forward, arms windmilling, trying to regain balance that isn’t there. For a second, the world falls in slow motion, split into two parts: sky and dirt. Then my head slams into the ground, a cry tearing from my chest.
The sounds of the ranch fold in around me, narrowing to Lucas’s frantic yelling. Panicked, distant, warping like I’m slipping under water. I try to answer, to move, give him a thumbs up, but everything closes in, and my world goes black.