“I didn’t realize you two knew each other that well,” Peggy said.
“I’m Ryder Simms’ sister,” I said. I didn’t know if Wyatt still wanted our summer together to be a secret, but at this point, I wasn’t sure I wanted it out in the world.
“Sinclair here was always stirring up trouble.” He laughed.
“I was not,” I huffed out, but secretly I was pleased that he felt I was a strong independent woman.
“When she wanted something, she went after it. And she got it.” His smoldering green eyes bore into mine and I knew we weren’t talking about farming or prisons, but instead the summer I went after him and won his heart.
“Yes, well, this will take a community effort.” Feeling hot, too hot, I stood. “Thank you for the iced tea, Mrs. Jones.”
“Please call me Peggy. Ryder was like family. That makes you like family.”
My gut burned at her words. They were truer than she knew. “Thank you.”
Wyatt rose from his chair. “I’ll walk you out.”
No. God, please no. I had to get away. All of a sudden, the magnitude of my situation here bore down on me. Again, I couldn’t breathe.
“Are you okay, dear? It’s frightfully hot out there. Maybe you need to sit a little longer,” Peggy said.
“I’m fine. Really.” I started for the door in a haze. I made it to the car, vaguely aware of Wyatt behind me.
Why is he here?
“It was good to see you again, Sinclair,” he said, holding the car door open for me. I stared into his eyes, wondering if he knew my secret. I didn’t know how he could, unless Ryder had told him. But he promised me he wouldn’t, and I knew I could trust Ryder. He’d been a rock. My parents too, although they didn’t know everything. Not like Ryder did.
“You too, Wyatt.” I got in the car and tried to smile.
“Once again, I think I owe you an apology.” He stood with one hand on the door, preventing me from closing it.
I swallowed and shook my head. “We were kids. Ten years is a long time.”
His expression fell and he looked down.
“I’ve got more families to visit,” I added, hoping he’d get a clue and let me go.
“Right. Sorry.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but I was about to come apart.
“Bye, Wyatt.” I pulled the door closed, started the car, and pulled away.
I didn’t let out a breath until I reached the highway. Then everything inside me let loose. I had to pull over as tears threatened my vision and overwhelming emotion threatened to undo me.
For ten years, I lived with a secret about him. A secret he didn’t know. A secret I only shared with Ryder when I was desperate and scared and looking for Wyatt. But Ryder hadn’t known where Wyatt had gone to or where to find him. Ryder had even gone to Mrs. Jones, but at the time, she didn’t know what had happened to Wyatt either. So, I went on. I managed to get through college. Found a job in the mayor’s office and worked my way up the ladder. Built my life.
Now Wyatt was back. He seemed to be planning to stay, but he’d planned to stay before, and instead, he left in a huff when life got too hard. Yes, he asked me to go with him, but when I wasn’t willing to give up my goals and dreams, he abandoned me and the future we’d planned. So, I didn’t have any guilt.
But now that he’s here, and intending to stay, what should I do?
How did I tell the man who disappeared and abandoned me that he was a father?
5
Wyatt
I really needed to buy my mother a new coffee pot, I told myself as once again I had to fiddle with the ancient contraption to get it on. It had been a long morning mending fences, and after lunch, dealing with paperwork. I needed a pick-me-up before I headed out to deal with the horses.
Coming home had been a bigger culture shock than I’d anticipated, just as leaving it had once been. It was strange because nothing had really changed except that my asshole father wasn’t around. Life back on the farm, in the house I grew up in, shouldn’t have felt alien. The work came back to me easily, so it wasn’t that.