Page 9 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge (Rescue Ridge #5)

C all Owen confused, but the mixed signals he was getting from Evie didn’t make a bit of sense. They’d established the fact she needed security. Not much could be done tonight to bolster the home or property. So, why was she about to kick him out? Again.

She studied him long and hard for a long time.

He couldn’t drum up another argument. At least, not one he hadn’t already said.

The ball was in her court. He’d said it a few minutes ago and still meant it.

She could kick him out of the house, but he would sit in his vehicle to ensure her safety.

The vulnerable side of Evie came out. She’d opened up to him and given him a reason to think she might want him to stick around.

He needed to hear the words from her. Owen didn’t force his presence on anyone.

He certainly wouldn’t overstay his welcome.

If Evie wasn’t sending him mixed signals, he wouldn’t even be having this conversation in his head.

There was also just a practical matter that she needed his help.

She had already indicated that she had no one else to call.

There was no way he was leaving while there were fresh footprints outside.

A thought occurred to him. “I can call Travis again or leave another message requesting he leave a deputy outside your home.”

Evie was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence. “What if you stayed?”

“I’d sleep on the couch.”

Evie’s gaze unfocused, as if she could gain some clarity if she didn’t take in all the practical details around her.

“Hey, it’s me. Owen. I’d like to help you, and staying one night when I’m already supposed to be gone for three doesn’t throw a loop in any of my plans.

Once we get the place secured tomorrow, I can go finish my fishing trip, and we can be done.

” Those words, we can be done, were the equivalent of knife stabs to his chest.

“Okay.” Her response and quick agreement shocked the hell out of him.

“I can put a blanket and pillow out on the couch and…” She zeroed back in on him. “Where did you plan to stay at the lake?”

“Tent. I have all the supplies I need out in my vehicle.”

“Sounds like we have a plan then,” she said. “I know the children would rest easier if someone else were here.”

Those words weren’t exactly her admitting she wanted him around, but they were the closest she would probably come.

Why?

He tabled the question as he finished cooking.

After the food was plated, she brought out another pair of beers. The last two were lukewarm by now.

The kids fell asleep on the couch to the singing Dino show. The concept might be hokey, but it did the trick.

“I’ll just put them to bed and then be right back to help clean up,” Evie said after thanking him for the delicious meal, as she’d put it.

He noted that she’d barely touched her beer but had cleaned her plate.

There was a lot of satisfaction in successfully feeding someone.

There was something satisfying about fulfilling a primal need for someone you cared about.

He’d overheard some of the ladies talking about love languages at the café. Cooking was a love language.

“Take care of the kiddos and then yourself,” he said. “I’ll do the dishes and grab a shower once you’re out of the bathroom all set.”

“I could kiss you,” Evie said, her cheeks turning two shades of red as she said it.

“Obviously, not really.” She added the last part faster than a highway driver doing twenty over the speed limit.

She immediately turned her back on him. “Anyway, I’ll just take these guys to bed and grab that shower now. ”

The fact she’d become flustered shouldn’t make him want to smile.

It did invite questions because the two had always been at ease around each other—until that one night, he remembered as he cleared the table and moved to the kitchen sink.

Washing the dishes, he thought back to a night that had left him scratching his head for days.

Soon after, they’d graduated, and Evie had taken off for Dallas.

They’d snuck out, like usual, and were sitting on a blanket at Watcher’s Lake.

He’d five-fingered a couple of beers from Beaumont’s stock.

The man counted his beers every night, and there would be hell to pay but, that night, Owen didn’t care.

It was close to graduation, and his days on the horse ranch were numbered.

What would one more beating matter when he was staring down freedom? Real freedom.

At least, that had been the sentiment back then. And he didn’t regret the butt-whooping. Not even now.

A velvet blanket had covered the sky that night with the brightest stars peeking through.

The moon had been a full, bright orb with fingers of light that stretched all the way to the earth’s surface but was most beautiful reflected off Evie’s features.

Her eyes had never been greener that night, like emeralds.

Having been best friends for years, he’d never allowed his thoughts to go there with Evie.

The territory of attraction had been off limits, and he’d erected impenetrable walls in order to keep the friendship… well, friendly.

That night, the scent of jasmine had filled his senses as he’d sat beside her.

The urge to lean over and touch her, kiss her, had been almost too strong to fight.

The primal urge had caught him off guard and freaked out the then eighteen-year-old because for a few seconds, he’d known deep down that she’d felt the same.

And the force between them wouldn’t be ignored for long, not if they sat there.

Case in point, when Evie had leaned her head on his shoulder, he’d become intoxicated with everything about her.

Breathing in her spring flower and citrus scent had overtaken his senses.

And then her face had tilted toward his.

Their lips had been mere inches apart. Until they weren’t.

The second their lips had touched, a wildfire ignited in his soul.

She’d brushed hers against his like a feather, but the effect had been near-devastation of his control.

The kiss had been light and tender enough for him to try to file it away as friendship, even though his heart argued it would’ve been a new bar for anyone else.

The way it felt like he’d marked her as his had scared him back then.

And then she’d asked, “Will I ever see you again?”

His response had come quickly, “Of course, you will. Even I know how to make a face-to-face call.”

Evie hadn’t moved at all when he’d gotten up to take a walk.

He denied any possibility the feelings they’d shared were anything more than nostalgia.

He would be leaving Saddle Junction soon, and they would have to maintain their friendship over infrequent trips home and his awful tech skills.

In his teenage-addled brain, he’d believed they could stay close despite the reality that he couldn’t stand technology and had no plans to visit the ranch anytime soon after he left.

He’d naively believed his actions wouldn’t damage their friendship.

They would make time for each other. He’d been certain of the fact.

Boy, hadn’t he had a wake-up call coming?

Not only had they lost touch almost immediately, Evie had skipped graduation and disappeared from town, from his contacts, and from his life. The events had left him wondering if he’d said or done something wrong that night at the lake.

And if it was too late to find out why.

Evie tried to focus on the warm water sluicing over her sore body.

Carrying around a one-year-old activated muscles she had yet to fully develop.

No wonder Simone had looked like she’d worked out after having the kids.

She’d bounced back from her pregnancy body within months and had often joked she hadn’t sat down once Luca started walking when Evie had asked what app her sister had been using to get into shape. Her sister had laughed at the question.

The thought of never hearing Simone’s voice again struck like a physical blow. Tears welled and then fell, mingling with the warm running water.

Standing there for what felt like half an hour but was probably not more than a couple of minutes, she let the tears flow.

She hadn’t really cried since hearing the news.

Instead, she’d gone into “fixer” mode. She’d packed a suitcase and headed toward Saddle Junction.

On the road, she’d called her boss to provide an update and then had taken a call from HR to activate short-term leave.

Even then, she’d realized how impossible it was going to be to return to Dallas, to her apartment, and to her job.

But she’d been in too much shock to make any real decisions.

Hell, part of her had expected to receive a call saying there’d been a mistake.

She’d even called her sister’s cell just to see if Simone would pick up.

It might have been delusional, but she’d been given a pamphlet at the hospital that explained the stages of grief.

Denial was the first stage. The information she’d received on the topic checked out with her experience so far, so she’d held onto the leaflet.

For the first time since Simone’s death, Evie allowed herself to feel the loss.

Keeping busy had built a hard shell around her heart.

One that could easily crack with the slightest touch.

Denial had immediately been followed by shock.

She was still there, having only moments of anger because she couldn’t let herself fall apart in front of the children, and she was too exhausted to cry when the lights turned out and she face-planted on top of her sister’s bed.

There’d been moments, of course, that were more like flashes where anger threatened to consume her. No amount of fist pumps toward the sky would bring her sister back.