Marry Me for Real, Cowboy - Valerie Comer Page 0,57

her and see what’s going on.” He held up the curry comb. “Who wants to earn ten bucks to finish up with Jupiter?”

The twins looked at each other. Emma slid off the gate. “Ten for each of us, and you have a deal.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Riley settled into the narrow airplane seat beside her sister. If she’d thought things couldn’t get more uncomfortable than the chilly drive to Missoula refusing to answer Nathaniel’s accusations, she hadn’t counted on her weepy sister.

Jodie pressed a sodden tissue to her blotchy face. “I can’t believe Dad might d-die.”

“I know.” Riley clamped down on her emotions. One of them out of control was enough.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

The report had sounded cautiously optimistic, but Riley knew nothing Jodie didn’t. Dad’s car had been T-boned by an SUV with a front-mounted winch that had crashed through the driver-side window, causing a spinal injury that might spell permanent paralysis... if he didn’t die from his multitude of other injuries.

“I hope so.” Riley couldn’t think of much else to say. Regardless of her frustration at her parents’ lifestyle and the way he’d stuck up for Raul in October, he was her dad.

The attendant began the pre-flight instructions, giving Riley a reprieve. Too bad this wasn’t a direct flight. She wouldn’t be able to feign sleep for the entire journey, but she’d do her best to turn Jodie’s attention elsewhere.

“When’s your wedding again?”

Elsewhere, but not there. Riley took a deep breath. She hadn’t left any of her personal goods in her cabin. Would she return to Rockstead? It depended on Adam, but how much did she need to explain to Jodie?

She’d always tried to be a good role model for her sister. Mostly it had backfired. If Jodie found out what Riley had agreed to, she’d never look up to her again. Maybe that would be a relief.

Still, the confession stuck in Riley’s throat. “I don’t know. Adam and I had kind of a... a fight yesterday.” Following the one the day before and the week before that. She rubbed her engagement ring. Should she have left it on his dresser when she’d entered to leave a note? He knew she’d planned to pawn it, so he wouldn’t expect it back. But how could she part with it?

Jodie grabbed Riley’s left hand as the plane began to pick up speed for takeoff. “That’s quite a rock. He must love you a lot. A guy like that isn’t going to let a little tiff get in the way.”

“It wasn’t that little. I don’t see how we can get past it.” How about if she took both his hands in hers and told him she actually truly loved him? He wouldn’t believe her. He’d probably think she was just after security. After her share of Running Creek. Her heart sank. There was too much at stake.

“Want to talk about it?”

Did she? Holding it all in was twisting her guts tight, but no. “I have to process it first.” And pray. She’d been ignoring God far too much, not really wanting His input.

Things were even more messed up, though. She and Adam started off on entirely the wrong foot, she’d fallen in love with him. She wasn’t sure how it had happened or when, but it had.

He cared deeply. For his mom, for his brothers, for his family’s legacy. He offered his stepfather the respect due to his position, even though he didn’t actually like him.

He was a man of integrity. Yes, even with this major deviance, Riley knew she could trust him completely.

She turned to Jodie. “Tell me, how are things with Mick?”

“Why are we flying to Seattle before heading southeast?”

Riley raised her eyebrows. “Are you avoiding my question?”

“You dodged mine.”

Fair enough. “If he’s being a jerk, let me know, and I’ll take him on. No one messes with people I love.”

Jodie snorted. “Right. What’re you going to do, kick his kneecaps?”

“I’ll aim a little higher.”

“If you’re so tough, solve your own problems first.”

Full circle, then. Out the tiny window, Riley watched the mountains below disappear amid gray clouds as the aircraft rose.

Returning to Santa Fe was the last thing she’d ever planned to do. Was Raul still in good standing with her dad? Would she be forced to see him? She’d only stay as long as it took to make sure Dad would survive, but where she’d go then, she had no idea.

Oh, Adam. Why hadn’t they met in a different way?

Adam reread Riley’s note for the fourth time. It