Page 7 of Mountain Rancher

“We heard someone fell off a cliff.” Brody scans the room until his eyes land on Abigail. His shoulders visibly relax. “Oh good, you’re not dead.”

Luke moves past him. His expression is more controlled, but concern is evident in his eyes. “What happened?”

Abigail attempts to lighten the mood with humor.

“Hunter saved me from certain death. Very heroic. He’ll probably expect a parade.”

Brody’s face splits into a grin.

“Oh yeah? Hunter Thomas to the rescue, huh?” He punches my shoulder. “Nice work, man. Though saving baby sister usually earns you a beer, not a parade.”

“She wasn’t exactly in a swimming pool with water wings,” I growl, irritated that she’s downplaying the danger she was in. “The trail collapsed. She was hanging off the edge of a twenty-foot drop.”

Luke’s eyebrows shoot up. “The ridge trail? Jesus, Abby, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I wanted to see the view from the lookout point. I grew up on this ranch, same as all of you. I know these trails.”

“Knew,” Wyatt corrects. “Past tense. Things change in seven years, Abigail.”

Melody returns with the first aid kit and a bowl of warm water.

“Instead of standing around giving her grief, maybe you boys could help?”

She hands towels to Brody and directs Luke to get ice packs from the freezer.

Wyatt continues his examination of Abigail’s ankle, his touch gentle despite his stern expression.

“This needs X-rays, Abby. We’ll take you to the clinic in town.”

“It’s not that bad,” she protests, but when he touches a particular spot, she jerks and goes pale.

“Yeah, we’re getting it X-rayed.” Wyatt’s expression is firm and leaves no room for argument.

I take a step back, suddenly feeling out of place in this family scene. I’m the ranch manager now, not the kid who practically lived here. There’s a line between us that wasn’t there before. A professional boundary.

A boundary I thoroughly obliterated when I kissed her on that ridge.

“I should get back to work.” I rub the back of my neck. “Got a new irrigation system going in the south pasture today.”

Wyatt glances up, and it looks like he forgot I was here. “Right. Thanks for bringing her in, Hunter.”

“No problem.” I try for casual, but my voice sounds strained even to my own ears.

Abigail’s eyes find mine again, a question in them that I’m not ready to answer. What did that kiss mean? Where do we go from here? How do I tell her I’ve been waiting years to hold her like that?

I don’t know. All I know is that everything’s changed, and I have no idea what happens next.

The next threedays are absolute torture.

After Wyatt texted me that the X-rays showed just a bad sprain, I expected to hear from Abigail. Some kind of acknowledgment of what happened between us on that ridge. A thank-you. A “let’s talk.”

Hell, even a “that was a mistake” would be better than this silence.

But nothing. Radio silence. And it’s driving me fucking crazy.

I check my phone for the hundredth time today and scroll through our nonexistent text thread like somehow I missed something. Nothing’s there except the last message from months ago when she asked about the ranch’s quarterly numbers. All business.

I toss another hay bale onto the truck bed with more force than necessary. The new ranch hand—Kevin or Kyle or whatever his name is—gives me a wary look and steps back.

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