Page 11 of The Risk

He would never forget how helpless he’d felt seeing her like that.

The ranch was only seven minutes from the hospital. The stars had aligned.

Greer had ended up with a shattered left leg and a concussion. Swelling on her spine that had taken months to heal. She’d been in a coma for three days, and transferred to the larger hospital in Finley Creek.

He’d never prayed so hard in his life as he had during those four days. It had taken him a long time to accept that he hadn’t been the one to cause what had happened. He’d not been the one on the wrong side of the driveway or high as a kite or the one kidnapping a nine-year-old.

But the trauma had stayed with him a long, long time.

He still had nightmares about that day. He’d accepted that he probably always would.

He’d pulled away from the family for a while after that, though. He hadn’t really realized that until he’d had Calvin.

He’d always regret that. He’d tried damned hard not to let trauma keep him from the family that loved him again. He was still trying to rebuild relationships with his brothers—and especially with his sisters now. He’d pushed the girls away a bit after Greer had been hurt. To protect himself or something. He hadn’t realized that until recently. He was still trying to figure it out.

Finding a dead woman was damned traumatic. For him... and it was probably more so for Chantal. He was worried about her, no denying that.

He was going to find her and make sure she was okay. He’d been thinking about her, and what he had let happen between him and her through the years, and not exactly liking what he had done.

He should have talked to her after Mandy. Apologized. Tried to fix things. He’d known Chantal her entire life. Cared about her just as much as he had his sisters, once.

He didn’t like the distance between them now at all.

But he didn’t know how to fix it.

8

Chantal wasn’t goingto let what had happened keep her from loving the ranch that had been in her family for generations. She wasn’t going to give the woman’s killer that satisfaction.

It still took three days before she was ready to venture out of her family home.

She was going to go see Genny. She was worried about her friend, for one thing. Someone at the hospital had been causing trouble for Genny and their friend Aubrey. Aubrey and Genny were trying to figure out how to deal with her.

It was Mandy, of course. Nurse practitioner Amanda Kirby.

Gene’s ex-girlfriend, who had hated Chantal forever.

Chantal had been two years behind Mandy in high school. Chantal had never really understood the other woman’s animosity. She’d never even interacted with Mandy that much back then. But Mandy had enjoyed bullying her.

Bullying Chantal, Genny, Giavonna... until Giavonna had clocked her one, anyway. That had been fun to watch. Giavonna had grown up with five older brothers—she’d known how to throw a punch. Giavonna had made it count, too.

When Mandy had been dating Gene, she’d turned all sweetness and light with Gene’s sisters.

Giavonna, Greer, and Genny hadn’t bought it for a single moment.

After everything with Gene, Mandy had been even more horrible to Genny. Now Mandy was turning her putrid self in Aubrey’s direction. It burned Chantal to even think about it. Aubrey was very reserved and was one of the kindest women Chantal had ever known. She didn’t deserve this at all.

Nasty bullies like Mandy mattered very little in the grander scheme of things. But if the woman kept up her ugliness, she could make it hard for Aubrey at the hospital. Chantal was going to have to talk to Charlie, see what the stalking laws at work actually were. Maybe her older brother could help. If nothing else, he might have some ideas on how they could deal with her.

She had no idea what Gene had seen in a woman like that. Mandy was a pit viper, spreading poison everywhere.

Why did people have to be like that? Cruel?

She crested the hill. She’d deliberately taken the longer path to Genny’s. She wasn’t going to the dead woman’s hill ever again.

At least not any time soon.

Sometimes she was convinced ghosts lived in the small hills around Value, Texas.