Chapter 3
WYATT
It’s late afternoon on a weekday and I’m sitting on the couch in Chapters and Crumbs watching Autumn as she chats with a customer.
They aren’t from around here, but despite this, she still has an easy smile on her face as she tells them about the pastry selection she has on offer.
Protectiveness surges through me as I keep a watchful eye on her. Just in case the guy oversteps.
She narrows her eyes at me as the small, mousy man bends to survey the display cabinet.
I shrug a shoulder, lift a brow, and silently tell her that I’m not going anywhere.
If it were up to me, she’d have round-the-clock security, just so she didn’t have to deal with the tourists that come and go by herself.
Twenty years ago, we both saw the damage they were capable of.
Hell, we see it now in how she isn’t quite like the woman she used to be.
Damaging a bit of land, which in most cases is fixable, is completely different to the destruction that kid did to Autumn’s life.
That shit was irreparable, no matter how much I tried to fix her.
Seventeen-year-old Autumn is nothing but a distant memory.
One that I miss like I’d miss my next breath.
She used to be vibrant and full of sunshine and happiness.
Some—anyone that doesn’t really know her—would say she still is, but if you knew the Autumn then and the Autumn now, you’d see how different she is.
It’s in the way she keeps a part of herself closed off from those around her, or how her smile never really reaches her eyes.
“What’s got that scowl on your face, Wy?” Autumn asks, rounding the counter as the mousy man exits the building.
I watch after him until he’s out of sight and then I turn my attention to Autumn. She’s standing beside the couch, one hand on her lower back and a groove between her brows.
“Are you okay?” I ask, sitting forward and taking hold of her arm as I guide her to sit down.
She brushes me away and wriggles into the cushions until she’s comfortable. “I will be until it’s time to get up, and then I’m going to need your help.”
I chuckle, sitting back as I watch the people in town go about their business through the large bay windows.
“I can’t wait for tonight,” Autumn mutters, rolling her neck on a heavy sigh.
“Yeah?” I ask, half listening and half watching as a group of people amble down the sidewalk. “What’s happening tonight?”
“It’s a girls’ pamper night. Maddie, Gracie and Chloe are coming over. Although I think that’s only because Olivia is out of town and wants them to babysit me.” Autumn pouts.
I feel a muscle in my face twitch and my top lip curl before Autumn smacks me on the arm.
“Stop it,” she snaps.
I rub the spot she whacked. “First, ouch, you’re lucky you’re pregnant or you’d pay for that with my famous noogie. Second, stop what?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “You know what, Wy. Maddie is my friend. Stop being such an ass to her.”
I look around the space, noting the customers at two of the tables before dropping my voice low and saying, “How can you be friends with her after everything that’s happened?”
Autumn watches me for a minute, tilting her head before she asks, “Wy—you don’t seriously think she’s to blame, do you?”
“Is she not? Her family is the reason he was here in the first place. And back then, she was helping her dad with things around the ranch. That makes her culpable in my book.”
She shakes her head as she runs a hand over her growing baby bump.
“Maddie isn’t to blame for someone else’s actions, Wyatt.
Besides, it was a long time ago. Twenty years or so.
That’s more than half my life. Nothing we do is going to change what happened.
You need to get over it. I sure as hell am. ”
I open my mouth to speak, to remind her of everything she’s been through, but the chime above the door rings out as another customer comes in.
Autumn scoots toward the edge of the couch, and I stand, offering her a hand up.
This isn’t the time or place to be talking to her about the past. Even if I know that I’m justified in hating everything that Maddie Hart and her ranch symbolize.
The fact is, my family is expanding with Autumn being pregnant, which means I need to do everything in my power to protect them.
Including stopping Maddie from getting that last lot of Evergreen land.
With my mind made up, I mouth a silent goodbye to Autumn and head on home. I need to firm up my proposal for the meeting I’ve called with Grayson and Kade in a couple of days.