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My father joins me in the kitchen at the large island a few moments later, where I’m buttering myself a roll.
“Ethan and I have some business to attend to. We’ll be back later. Girls’ night?”
I smile. “Yep. Real Housewives isn’t going to watch itself.”
He chuckles, leaning in to press a cold kiss on my forehead. My skin feels tight.
“I’m so glad you’re home, sweetheart. You’re safe now.”
I kiss him on the cheek, patting his shoulder before taking a bite of the roll. As soon as he and Ethan leave, I run up the stairs two at a time. June and my mom stop talking as soon as I enter the room.
“They’re gone,” I say.
My mother reaches a trembling hand up to her temple. “You need to come with us, Rosie. You’re not safe here either.”
“She’s right. Who knows what he’ll do after your mother and I leave? You can’t be here. He’s clearly a sick, twisted man. We’re going straight to the sheriff to share everything your mother remembers.”
I shake my head. “You need to go farther away. He has too many connections here. You also need to talk to the Redfords’ lawyer, Warner. He’ll know what the next move should be.”
“I’m not worried about any of that until we’re safe!” My mother raises her voice.
Aunt June shushes her as she throws clothes in a suitcase. “This is a discussion to be had later. We don’t have time now.”
I steady my breathing before reaching for my mom’s hand. “I want to go to the Redford Ranch. Dolly offered me my old job back and for me to live there. I love it and …”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I’m also in love with Holden, but in light of the situation, I hold it back.
She cups my face. “You’re probably safer there than you are anywhere else—at least until your father is behind bars.”
My aunt comes up behind me and wraps us both in a hug. “We’re getting out of this mess, ladies, and we’re not looking back.”
40
HOLDEN
The bull throws Jensen so high that he yelps as he comes down. He limps off out of the pens, a grimace on his face. They load another man onto the next bull. The sun is descending on the horizon, a stretch of pink spreading across the blue sky.
“We need an on-site nurse around here,” Cash muses.
I spit in the dirt near my boot. “Well, don’t ask me to find one.”
“Trust me, I won’t.”
My chest aches when I think about Rosie, so I try not to. I’ve been drowning myself in ranch work, putting in twelve-hour days, doing whatever I can busy my hands with so I don’t drive my truck into town and right up to the Dixon mansion. It’s the only way I get any sleep, but I still wake up in a cold sweat most nights. It’s mercifully not as bad as it used to be, but Rosie’s sweet scent is beginning to fade from my pillows.
My phone buzzes with a text. I look down to see that it’s in the family group chat.
Dolly
Dinnertime! I have a surprise. :)
Cash hollers to the men that this is the last ride of the night while I make my way up to the house. The ranch hands don’t live on-site, and most of them will head home soon. Warner’s name flashes on my phone as I walk through the door.
“Yep.” I answer it, adjusting the cowboy hat on my head. I probably smell like cow shit and sweat.
“Guess who just walked out of my office.”
I close my eyes, pausing in the hallway as he continues.
