His foot settled firmly back on the dirt. Apparently, he was no longer coming up those front steps. “You getting the place ready to go on the market?”
“No. I’m moving in.”
Those eyes lit with something entirely different now. Hot anger. It felt as if flames were swirling in their depths. Ones that could lash out and burn me without a second’s notice. “Hasn’t your family put mine through enough? Why the hell do you need to come back here and stir everything up again?”
Each word was a carefully placed blow. It wasn’t that I hadn’t expected some blowback. I guessed I’d simply thought I would have more time to prepare. And it wasn’t as if my family had disappeared from the area. My uncle’s ranch was just a few miles down the road in the flats. I was sure Hayes and his family saw them now and again.
“My mother left this to me in her will.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. I didn’t owe Hayes an explanation. Yet, somehow, I felt I did. I’d be paying for the sins of my father for the rest of my life—especially i
f I lived here.
“Sell it.”
“Excuse me?”
Hayes’ fingers wrapped around the railing, his knuckles bleaching white. “Sell the damn property. Maybe someone will buy it and finally tear everything down. Build something fresh here that doesn’t remind my sister and the rest of us of the hell we all went through.”
My knees began to quiver, but I locked them to keep steady. “I’m trying to build something fresh here.”
“You’re a Kemper. Whatever you build here will still be laced with the pain your father wrought. Do everyone a favor and go back to wherever you’ve been for the past fifteen years.”
I stiffened my spine. “I’d like you to leave now. Unless you have a warrant, that is.”
A muscle along Hayes’ jaw ticked. “Think about what I said. You won’t receive a warm welcome here.”
I watched as he retraced his steps and climbed into his SUV. I had known I wouldn’t receive any warmth from this town. Yet, somehow, I’d hoped. That I could atone for something that wasn’t even mine. That I could make things right. Find a home again in the mountains that had always soothed me when life was roughest. Maybe even find peace after all of these years. But I’d been naïve in my hope. And Hayes Easton wasn’t going to let me forget it.
4
Hayes
I brought my SUV to a stop outside my parents’ ranch house. Turning off the engine, I simply sat there, staring at the place that had always been home. The immaculately painted white siding, and rough, exposed wood beams. It had been in my mother’s family for generations. And you could feel the history as you walked from room to room.
It held so many of my happiest memories. Christmas mornings. Looking out my window to the first snow of each season. Epic games of hide and seek with my siblings. The time my dad had brought home a new puppy.
But it held pain, too. My mother in hysterics as the sheriff promised to do everything in his power to find Shiloh. Seeing my dad breaking down on his way to the barn, unable to hold it together and feeling the need to hide that from my family. Shiloh’s screams as she woke from a nightmare.
Koda stuck his head between the two front seats, pressing into my arm as if he could sense the progression of my thoughts. I scratched between his ears. The German shepherd had failed out of the K-9 program for being too friendly, but he was the perfect companion to come home to every night.
“What do you say we go in and find ourselves some dinner?”
Koda gave a half-whine, half-bark. I chuckled and gave him another rub. “Okay.”
Climbing out of the truck, I opened the door to the cab, and Koda took a flying leap. He went straight for the front door and then looked back at me as if to say, “Hurry up, would you?” I shook my head and trudged up the porch steps.
My feet might as well have been dragging. All afternoon, I’d thought about how to tell my parents and Shiloh what I’d learned. I still hadn’t found the right words.
Just as my foot hit the top step, the front door opened. Koda did a happy leap as my mom appeared. She grinned at the dog and bent to give him a good rubdown. “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise? I didn’t think I would lay eyes on you until this weekend.”
I crossed the space and pulled her in for a hug. My mom’s small form was deceiving. She was petite but could rope cattle with the best of them. She could run a fence line and soothe a skittish colt. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I hope you don’t mind me showing up without warning.”
“You know I don’t. I’m happiest when all my chicks are home.” She pulled back and surveyed my face. “Come inside and tell me what’s got those worry lines popping up on your forehead.”
I should’ve known I couldn’t hide anything from her for long. “Are Dad and Shy here?”
Mom held open the door for Koda and me. “They’re on the back deck grilling the chicken. This serious?”
I nodded and wove through the open ranch house. A large living and dining area spilled into a kitchen that would make any chef jealous. And the entire back wall was dotted with massive windows, making it feel as if the house were open to the fields behind it. Cows and horses grazed on land that went on for miles. Property that ran right up to the mountains.