Page 121 of Heartland

Half listening, I scrape frosting off my empty plate until I hear her say: “We’re all relocating to Laramie in the fall.”

Relocatingto Laramie. Laramie…Wyoming?

My head snaps up and I meet Chastity’s hollow eyes. And they tell me everything I need to know.

Holy shit. She’s moving? That makes no sense.

“You’releaving?” May gasps. “Don’t do that.”

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Leah admits, her eyes shining. “But this is important to me. And there are other benefits. Chastity can take classes at the University of Wyoming, at a pace that feels more comfortable for her. And, of course, I’m going to need her help.”

I’m just trying to take this in when my evil twin chirps, “But who’s going to tutor her in…algebra?”

“That’s what Skype is for,” my brother says, causing Rickie to choke on his wine.

“But that won’t be assatisfying,” Daphne says with a completely straight face.

And I want to murder her. Or anybody, really. I’m suddenly so angry. I push my chair back from the table and carry my plate into the kitchen, flinging on the tap and rinsing it under the spray.

I don’t know how long I stand there in front of the sink, just seething. Chastity hates Wyoming.Hatesit. Why would she agree to go there? Was she even going to tell me?

“Hey,” someone says, and I whirl around. It’s only Rickie, holding out his plate. “You okay?”

“Sure,” I snap, grabbing it and rinsing it off with a firehose of water. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I can feel his eyes on me. “You know, a dedicated bachelor would view this as a natural breaking-off point.”

“Natural?” An angry noise erupts from my chest. “No, it’s…stupid.”

“Kidding.” I hear Rickie laughing softly behind me. “Calm down. Stop trying to wash the pattern off those dishes, and go find her. I just saw Chastity put on her coat and leave the house.”

“Oh.” I shut the water off. I need to talk to her so badly. But I’m full of rage. It might be a bad idea.

Rickie puts his hands on me and gently steers me toward the mud room, where the boots are. “Go on. Go outside and cool down. Then find her.”

I stomp toward the coats, grabbing mine off the hook and shoving my arms inside.

Unfortunately, Griffin picks that moment to show up, too. “Can I have your help with one thing? It will only take ten minutes.”

“Rightnow?”

“Well, yeah. Since you have a guest, I was trying to give you Christmas day off. No milking in the morning, no chores until late afternoon. But I just need ten minutes more of your help.”

“I’m not available,” I grumble as my head continues exploding. Chastity can’t move to Wyoming. It’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. Leah and Isaac can’t either, goddamn it. Thursday dinner won’t be the same.

“You made that very clear earlier,” my brother says stiffly. “And I’m sure you’re trying to teach me a lesson. So have at it. Go light up with your friend or whatever you were going to do. It will only take me four times as long to get the tractor tire off by myself. But you have a good time.” Griffin pushes past me and stomps outside.

I’m still tugging on my boots when his words sink in. And then I can actually feel the blood leaving my extremities. That’s what shock does to a body. Is he seriously going to try to lift that tire? I’ll kill him myself, first.

My fingers are stupid with rage, but I manage to jerk the door open and launch myself outside, jumping off the stoop and lurching across the newly fallen snow. “Griff!”

He’s already striding across the grassy circle toward the tractor shed, and doesn’t bother turning around.

“Griffin! Youasshole.” I take off after him. It occurs to me to wonder where Chastity went. I don’t see her anywhere. Anger propels me across the snowy yard. Even though Griffin has a head start and a long stride, I have no trouble catching up to him.

It’s just that I don’t slow down. I tackle him from behind, because I’ve forgotten how to do anything rational.

We go down hard and shockingly fast, corkscrewing a quarter turn to the side, so that my ear bounces off the snowy ground.