Page 53 of Willow Vale

Today, River woke up at five in the morning and decided to pose as my personal alarm clock by leaping on top of me to really make sure I was awake. After I realized I wasn’t being attacked by an intruder, it was safe to say I wasn’t going to fall asleep again.

When I suggested River try to get some sleep, he said, “I can’t! Desmond said every cowboy wakes up early to get started on the ranch and I want to be a cowboy.”

As much as I loved the man, I swore I was going to kill Desmond for interrupting my sleep. The more time River spent on the ranch, the more he told me how badly he wanted to become a ranch hand like Finn and the guys working on Silver Hill. After trying to convince him to sleep a little longer and failing miserably, I finally gave up and got out of bed.

Together we had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and chocolate chip pancakes—because it wouldn’t be breakfast without chocolate chip pancakes. After eating and takingsome ibuprofen to try and help with my headache, we left the apartment.

Today was my day off and that meant I was dedicating all my time to River. I’d been feeling bad about not spending more than a couple of hours with him at a time since I started working, but once I saved up enough money again, maybe I’d try to cut back on my hours.

I drove us downtown so that we could check out the bookstore—which was open for once—and the coffee shop so that I could secure a hot cup of coffee. Since Willow Vale started to grow and people from the city decided to move to our small town, the shop was one of those places that catered solely to the tourists who wanted a “cowboy” feel to their morning coffee. Not that I was complaining since they made great coffee.

I sipped from my to-go cup as we drove around town to the nearest park overlooking the creek that ran across the empty expanse of land. Rolling the windows down to enjoy the warmer than usual weather at eight in the morning, River sang along to Dolly Parton when she cameon the radio.

Spending the day with River like this, the way we used to when our grandfather was still alive, always felt right. It put my worries to the wayside while I prioritized being with him. Making sure he was having fun as all kids his age should.

Only today, I couldn’t find it in me to match River’s energy when he begged me to chase him around the park when my head kept hurting.

After a bit I suggested we go meet up with Desi for an early lunch. It wasn’t cold out this far into June but for some reason I felt chilled to the bone. My oversized green hoodie was doing very little to keep me warm.

I was on to my third cup of coffee at Sally’s Diner when Desi started interrogating me. The moment we walked intothe diner, my best friend was sitting in a pink booth with her arms crossed and a pointed look.

“I’m waiting,” she said.

I sighed. “What do you know?”

“Enough that Finn and Wren saw you getting mauled by Travis in the break room. Which by the way, I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about until today.”

“Desi!” I looked to River who was too concentrated coloring to pay attention to us. That didn’t mean he doesn’t have ears.

“If it makes you feel any better, Iwasgoing to tell you about it today.”

Given Desi’s narrowed green eyes, I knew her questioning was only happening because she was peeved that I hadn’t told her first. It’s not like I could have kept this all to myself when I could barely get any sleep without thinking about Travis. The kiss we shared that I could still feel searing my lips hours later.

There wasn’t much I kept from Desi, which is why I knew she could pick up on anything going on in my life from a mile away.

Desi nodded, satisfied. “Noted. I’ll consider forgiving you. Now tell me about the good stuff.”

“Okay, it was pretty...great.”

“I would assume so, given the way you’re blushing right now.”

She laughed when I shifted my attention to River as I helped him color in one of the letters of the alphabet in the coloring book Desi brought for him. He smiled up at me briefly before asking innocently. “What doesmauledmean?”

I would have found him carefully pronouncing the word adorable, were I not shooting Desi a look.

“It’s what’s going to happen to Aunt Desi if she doesn’tstop giving me a hard time. Tell her to leave me alone, please?”

“Don’t bully Lila, Aunt Desi. That’s not nice.” River puffed up his chest and gave Desi a mini scowl that gave Travis a run for his money. I was starting to wonder how much time they were spending together on the ranch for my little brother to develop his own scowl.

The mere mention of Travis made my heart clench in my chest. After we had left the break room last night, we went to help behind the bar when a large group of people came in. We were so busy for the rest of the night, there hadn’t been a chance to talk. We didn’t say much to each other with his siblings and Desi’s watchful eyes, but he did tell me to text him when I got home, which made me happy. Ever since then, he’d constantly been on my mind. Not that he’d ever left it in the first place.

Desi gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, kid. I won’t do it again.”

“You promise?” River arched a questioning brow this time. He was adorable.

“I cross my heart and hope to die, that’s how much I promise never to bully your sister. Is that good enough for you?” she asked sincerely.

River nodded, satisfied with her promise, then he went back to coloring.

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