Page 37 of When It Reins (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #5)

juniper

“Oh shit.” A muffled voice pulls me out of the blanket cocoon I am in, and I pull it down, not surprised in the least to see Thea and Annmarie staring me down.

“Honey.” Thea’s soft and soothing voice comforts me, and I lay my head back down as she sits on the edge of my bed, her concerned gaze looking me over. “What happened? Are you sick?”

I moan and shrug my shoulders, not wanting to dive into all the horrid details of my life. I am depressed and sad and regretful. I hurt all over. My heart aches in my chest, and my brain tells me I screwed everything up.

“I think she and Mitch broke up.”

This has my attention snapping to Annmarie, who smirks a little at me when I do.

“So I’m right.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Well…” Annmarie cracks her fingers, then says, “You call in sick, then he calls in sick. Then, when we come to check on you, he’s not here.”

“Ann, stop.” Thea looks from Annmarie to me, and somewhere in Annmarie’s little talk, tears started filling my eyes. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Just tell us what happened.”

Thea scoots until she can pull me into her arms, and my eyes close when I lie against her shoulder. My whole body starts to shake and tense as tears start to escape, and I see Annmarie come to sit on the edge, her hand resting on my ankle.

Thea is the mother hen of us all, and having her here is comforting, even if I do wish I could have my mom with me when I am going through stuff like this.

It feels like ages ago that our parents left this earth, and some days, it feels fresh every minute.

Thea is the only reason we got through everything as seamlessly as we did.

“I think I messed everything up.” The words spill from my mouth, triggering another assault of tears as they do, and I can feel my sisters staring at each other in worry.

“What happened, Junie?” Thea asks, waiting until I’ve calmed down enough for me to actually say the words.

“I was at Rosemary’s, and her son showed up.”

“I didn’t know she had a son,” Annmarie says, frowning at the new information. “How come he hasn’t been helping her with the community issues?”

I wipe my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, giving up on being polite and smiling sarcastically. “Oh, well, he has, actually.”

“Who’s her son?” Thea asks with a tone that tells me she knows we all know who he is.

“Loki, from the club.”

“That big blondie?” Annmarie asks. “The one who wouldn’t leave Sienna alone that night?”

I had clocked that as well. He and Sienna must have been friends or something, because he had a heck of an opinion about her being there that night. “Yeah. Well, turns out his name is actually Ben. He showed up at Rosemary’s and told me that the club had asked Mitch to ‘keep an eye on me.’”

Thea gasps. “Oh no.”

Annmarie frowns and looks between the two of us. “What?”

“When did that happen?”

“Right around the time that he took me to his cabin for dinner and then started to actually hang out with me again.”

“Oh, honey,” Thea says knowingly, patting my hand.

Annmarie’s eyes widen, and she’s staring at me like I need to spell it out. “What’s the problem?”

I glare, unsure why I’m angry at her, but know there must be a reason. “The problem is, he only started to hang out with me because he was told to, not because he wanted to.”

“Oh, please.” Annmarie scoffs, letting out a laugh. “You can’t be serious. That man has been obsessed with you since the day he walked into our tiny office.”

“Maybe he was interested, but he never tried anything until he was told. He turned me down when I asked him out!” I feel my indignation rising inside of me, and I frown at the way Annmarie is defending him.

“Maybe he needed time to get his bearings. You know his past and why he ended up back here. He has had a lot going on. Plus, he’s a guy. They never really know what to do, always floundering.”

“It doesn’t excuse the fact that he had to have someone else tell him to be with me.”

Annmarie cocks her head. “Is that what they told him to do? Or was being with you , with you, his choice?”

Thea hums and looks down at me, squeezing me tighter. “She has a point.”

“No one forced him to fall in love with you. Hell, can anyone force Mitch to do anything? He’s built like a brick house and has the exterior of bulletproof steel.” Annmarie shrugs and looks between us sisters.

“Juniper, you have every right to be upset that he wasn’t honest with you. I get that. I’ve…been on the other end and deserved the anger I received.”

I sit up and look at her, frowning when she continues.

“But I was forgiven because Logan loves me, and I love him, and you guys all forgave me for the same reason.” She pats my hand.

“Don’t let this new information override everything you guys have built.

If I’m honest…” She shrugs her shoulders a little.

“You guys are perfect for each other. Don’t let that go because of a little fib.

I’ve seen Mitch around you, even before you started dating, and that man is so head over heels for you. ”

“It’s true, almost to the point where it’s pathetic.”

“Annmarie!” Thea scolds, frowning at our sister.

“What?” She shakes her head, waving her hand around and then lying sideways on the bed. “Pathetic in a cute way.”

I let out a small chuckle and shake my head. “You’re ridiculous, but”—I rub a hand over my forehead—“helpful.”

“Where did he go?” Thea asks, rubbing my shoulder.

“I don’t know. I assume home.”

“Do you want to go there and talk with him? I can drive you,” Annmarie uncharacteristically offers, and I give her a small smile.

“No. I need to get my head on straight. I’ll go when I get myself cleaned up.”

“Okay. Just know we’re here for you whenever you need us, okay?” Thea’s comment has new, fresh tears resurfacing, and I realize that I’m probably one of the luckiest people in the world.

Not a lot of people have a tribe behind them when they’re going through hard things, but my sisters will always be there for me, no matter what.

Now, I just have to figure out how I’m going to face Mitch again after kicking him out.