Page 53 of Forbidden Cowboy
* * *
I waited outside the hospital for what felt like hours, but was probably only forty minutes or so.
I refused to even set foot in the building until I had seen Wyatt leave, and had seen his shiny truck back out of the parking lot. Like he knew he was being watched, he turned, and looked directly at me, but in the shadows cast over my hiding place by the setting sun, he must have missed me. I felt a little disappointed at that, but knew it was for the best. As soon as he was gone, I ran up to Beau’s room.
“I never thought you’d come back,” Beau said, a dry note of humor underneath. “It's almost like you’re avoiding Wyatt.”
I blushed, but just shoved my brother lightly. He was sitting up in bed, and actually eating his own yogurt. Sure, his spoon had a very large, thick handle to make gripping it easier, and a napkin had been tucked into his front by the speech and language therapist at his bedside, but he was doing it himself.
“Shut up, I’m doing no such thing,” I argued. “Look at you, though, feeding yourself like a big boy and everything.”
“You’re a dick,” he replied.
“Yeah, well, I’m your only sibling, someone’s gotta do it.”
I stayed with Beau until he finished his dinner and was falling asleep, but when I finally stepped out of the hospital, my mind wasn’t on the improvements my brother had made. Instead, it was fixated on everything I was missing in Gunnison—even if it was never truly mine to begin with.
* * *
My car had been sold off after my failure to claim it, and while I wasn’t surprised, I was a little disappointed. I had taken to riding a bicycle to and from my new waitressing job, but I was finding that it was growing more exhausting by the day, rather than easier. This concerned me, but I really didn’t have the money in my bank account to cover doctor’s bills, so I knew I would just have to push through whatever kind of winter cold I had contracted. The days were rapidly growing colder, given we were almost in December, and I was using the heat in my apartment sparingly, keeping the place at a chilly fifty-five degrees.
I thought nothing of it, but I also started drinking water like there was no tomorrow. My co-workers, who were wary of my sullen attitude and quiet demeanor (both newly developed since returning from Gunnison), shot me looks that suggested they knew something I didn’t, but never said anything.
Frustrated at my lack of social life after having lived with Anna and Wyatt for so long, I became even more depressed than I had been when I first returned to Denver. Most days, I only spoke to customers in the diner, and on my days off, I could avoid speaking the entire time. It was almost painful, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk to thin air yet, even if there were an innumerable number of conversations I had left unsaid between me and the man I would never be with again.
So, I got on my bike one chilly morning, bundled up in the warmest clothes I could find (my winter coat wasn’t fitting me so well anymore, and I blamed all the good food I’d eaten in Gunnison), and headed towards the gym I had once worked at.
Of course, the Larks were practicing. It was a Thursday morning, and the WNBA season was about to start. The girls were stretching, and the first person to notice me was a short woman with dark hair pulled into a high ponytail and sharp eyes.
“I’m sorry, this is a closed practice,” she said.
Another of the girls looked up as the woman began to cross the floor, and then looked towards me—Nadia.
“Sierra!” Nadia cried, immediately pulling out of her stretch and striding over to me with those long legs of hers.
“Nadia—” the woman began sternly.
“This is Sierra Carter, Faith! She was our rock before you came along!”
The woman—Faith—had clearly heard about me. Her face softened, and she smiled in a way that made her sharp face light up into something entirely different.
“Nice to meet you, Sierra Carter,” Faith said, extending a hand. “The girls always compare my own abilities to yours—and you usually win.”
She chuckled a little, and I relaxed. This woman didn’t hate me for the place I held in their hearts, and I couldn’t hate her for taking the job I had clawed my way into.
“It’s good to hear you haven’t forgotten about me,” I laughed, and began unraveling my scarf and removing sweaters so I didn’t swelter in the heated gym.
“Well, we almost did,” Erin, another player, said. “It’s been six months! I would have thought you’d come to at least one practice game or something.”
Erin was a bit of a princess, and her mouth turned down into a disappointed moue.
“Yeah, we missed having you cheering us on wherever we went,” Georgia added.
A gasp rippled around the girl as I took off my last sweater, leaving me in one of my only t-shirts to still fit really comfortably.
“What?” I asked, looking at the wide eyes suddenly surrounding me.
“Well, no wonder we haven’t seen you!” Nadia said. “Tell us everything! Who is he? When are you due?”