Page 27 of Wyatt
Sometimes, I wonder if we’re cursed, like every parental figure in our lives is going to be taken away.
Like everyone we love really is going to leave.
When Cash and Mollie became co-owners of the newly created Lucky River Ranch, they made me foreman. My older brother—bless his black heart—left big shoes to fill. He’s a hard-ass, but he’s always been fair, and he pushes us to do our best. He had no problem getting people to take him seriously.
Me, on the other hand? I couldn’t get my brothers to take me seriously if I paid them. And I mean that literally because as their boss, I really do pay them now.
Case in point: Duke snickers at my threat. Ryder climbs back in the saddle, but pulls his phone out of his pocket. Sawyer is onhisphone, thumbs flying over the screen. But that’s allowed because he’s got a three-year-old daughter, Ella, at home.
Still, if Cash told the guys to get a move on, they’d get a move on.
“Y’all.”
No one so much as glances my way.
“Y’all.”
Only Sawyer looks up at my bark. “Sorry, Wy, just checking in with Ella’s teacher. We’re all good. Back to the barn?”
“Back to the barn. Sawyer, you and I are gonna meet with the farrier. Those clowns”—I motion to the twins—“can muck stalls.”
Ryder finally looks up from his phone. “Aw, man?—”
“Shoulda listened. I won’t ask again.”
Giving orders is weird. I still haven’t decided if I like being in charge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the opportunity. And the pay raise. I don’t mind the extra work. But things have changed so much so quickly around here. I wonder if I have what it takes to do Lucky River Ranch justice. I’m a good cowboy. Good brother. Decent poker player too.
But a leader? A boss? I don’t know if I can take myself that seriously. No one else does.
We’ve brought in the herd now that winter’s approaching, so we’re able to ride back to the horse barn since we’re close enough. I don’t mind it one bit. I suck in lungfuls of crisp, cool air as the boys and I cover the distance in a trot. The breeze is refreshing in the best way, drying my sweat. The sun feels good on my shoulders, my back, my thighs.
The land around us is a kaleidoscope of colors. The changing leaves; the flawless, wide-open sky; the pale rise of canyons in the distance—it all makes my heart beat a little faster.
Glancing at Sawyer, I take in his narrowed eyes, the way he chews on his bottom lip. I know he’s thinking about Ella. I also know he’s tired as all get-out, but he’ll never complain because he loves being her dad.
I look at Duke and Ryder, who finally fucking listened and are following us to the barn. Despite the chill in the air, their shirts are soaked with sweat. They mouth off a lot, but they do work hard.
We make a good team. And maybe that’s enough.
It should be enough, being surrounded by people who know and love me. Working my dream job in a place this beautiful. Continuing to build my family’s legacy.
But there’s still this ache in me, this longing for more. I know that’s ultimately because I’m too chickenshit to letpeople in—to let them truly know me. BeingtheWyatt Rivers is a mask I wear. The guy who’s the life of the party, the one who gambles and fucks and jokes—it’s a caricature I created, a way to keep people at arm’s length.
I’ve got too many responsibilities now to risk falling into the darkness—to risk falling down on my family when they need me most.
My brothers and I crest a hill, the horse barn and its corral coming into view in the little valley below. Everything about the Luck side of the ranch is beautiful, including the barn. It’s enormous, a circular crow’s nest dotted with windows rising from the center of its gabled roof. The barn is painted a rich chocolate brown, and Mollie had Lucky River Ranch’s new horseshoe-shaped logo painted in yellow above the huge doors that mark the main entrance.
But it’s not the barn that makes my heart beat faster.
Nah, that flutter’s on account of the familiar figure I see hanging out by the corral, her chestnut hair gleaming in the sun.
I put my gum back in its wrapper. Then I’m urging Joker into a sprint again before I even know what I’m doing, the two of us thundering down the hill.
“I see you,Daddy,” Ryder calls from behind me, his voice laced with laughter.
I raise my arm and flip him the bird.
I should probably play it cool. Try to at least make itlooklike I’m not nursing a raging case of unrequited love and/or blue balls. Sally is probably the most dangerous person of all to be around right now. If anyone can see behind my mask, it’s her. I let her see me, the real me—the heartbroken, devastated boy who’d just lost his mother—that day we kinda, sorta skinny-dipped in the river, and look how that turned out. When she left the day after the funeral, I felt so destroyed that I was sure I’d die from it.