Page 74 of Josephine and Clay

I press my lips together and shake my head. Been off the grid. Sorry. Had a bit of drama but all good… how about you? That gave nothing away.

I set the mug down carefully, because my hands are no longer still.

He’s here, in Buckhorn, and finally reaching out to me again at the worst possible time because I have no idea what I’m about to do with the bombshell I just got dropped on me. The last thing I want to do is throw it in his lap, not when he’s already dealing with… well, a lot by the sound of it.

I press my palm flat against my stomach without thinking.

“Josie,” Penny says gently.

“I’m fine,” I say, because it’s automatic, because I don’t have another answer yet.

“You’re not.”

“I will be.”

“How?”

I look at her. “I don’t know.”

All I do know is that now nothing about this is going to stay simple, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do next.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Clay

JUNE 22ND

Somebody pounds on my door as if the house is on fire.

I jerk awake, mean and disoriented, heart kicking hard against my ribs before my brain catches up enough to realize I’m not in a motel, not at an arena, not late for a ride.

I’m in Buckhorn, back in my old room with a broken leg, and that pretty much sums up the misery.

“Go away,” I mutter, dragging my forearm over my eyes.

The pounding comes again.

“Rise and shine,” Boone calls through the wood, way too damn cheerful for this hour. “Need your help.”

I crack one eye open and squint at the thin stripe of daylight cutting through the curtains. “You got three other brothers.”

“Not the ones I need.”

“That sounds made up.”

“Get up, Clay.”

I let my head fall back against the pillow and consider pretending I died in my sleep just to get some peace, but the door swings open a second later because apparently privacy no longer exists when you’re injured and trapped under your mother’s roof.

Boone steps in already dressed for the day, hat on, boots dusty, with his broad shoulders blocking half the light from the hall.

I glare at him. “You ever hear of politeness?”

“I did knock.”

“You also entered when I told you to go away.”

He shrugs. “You weren’t moving.”