Page 33 of Sunshine

Liam’s returning smile is small and shy, and he wiggles until Wells plants him back on the ground.

“Sorry about that!” the woman calls out as she approaches from the drive.

“No worries,” Wells replies. “Catch anything good?”

The woman laughs, shaking her head. “You know how these boys are . . .waytoo loud for us to have any real chance of coming back with a fish.” She turns to look at me, her expression curious. “Hi,” she says over the distance, though Champ has naturally moved us closer to them, his interest piqued at the new arrivals. “I’m Melody, Brooks’s wife.” Though she seems outgoing and friendly, there’s a shadow in her expression.

I wave a hand up awkwardly. “I’m Layla, Jason’s girlfriend.”

“Ah.” Melody nods as all three of us look in Jason’s direction. Liam’s made his way over to him and has somehow stolen the football. Jason chases him, no humor on his face. “Everything okay with him?” she asks, unfazed by Jason’s frustration.

Wells shrugs. “We had a bad game last night.”

Liam pretends like he’s going to bolt to the left toward a tree, and just as Jason’s body moves that way he shifts to the right and squeals with joy. Jason’s anger looks more forced now, like he’s trying to hold on to it with everything he has. But it’s clear he’s fighting a smile. He recovers the fake-out and sprints to Liam, finally catching him and throwing him over his shoulder with a wide grin.

“Well,” Melody says, “looks like the Liam Effect is working.” She turns her attention back toward me. “I’m going to go save Jason, but it was nice to meet you!”

“I like your boots!” I say before it’s too late.

She looks down at them, at the embroidered flowers stitched right into the leather. “Thanks, I made them myself.”

“Wow,” I let out. “They’re beautiful.”

She gives me a shining smile, then turns and heads for the main house. Wells shifts backward in his boots before shaking his head and climbing back over the fence and into the corral.

I almost forgot I was still on a horse.

“Ready?” he asks, looking up at me earnestly. He seems looser, like his nephew unraveled some of the tension in his shoulders. I sense Jason approaching, knowing he’s also just had some of his anger unraveled, but I don’t look in his direction. Instead, I focus on Wells, nodding. “Okay, I want you to stand up in the stirrups and swing your right leg over here, and I’ll help you down.”

“Okay,” I say as I shift my weight to my feet, careful not to squeeze against Champ’s belly. He shifts his weight and for a moment I’m scared he’s going to bolt, but he doesn’t. I do as Wells instructed and swing my leg over, immediately feeling Wells’s hands fasten to my waist, warm fingers splayed against my lower ribs.

He lets go of me as soon as my shoes hit the earth and shifts his focus to retrieving the reins back off the pommel. I look at Jason, whodefinitelyseems lighter. “How was it?” he asks.

I give him a small smile. “It was . . . really good, actually.” I turn back to Wells. “Thank you. I already can’t wait to do it again.”

The look he shoots back is pure delight, and for the second time today, I’m surprised by his easy joy.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

NOW

It’s about a four-hour drive to Fort Worth from Saddlebrook Falls, and I’m squeezed in the middle of Kasey’s two-door bench seat between him and Wells for the whole thing. Not that I mind—at least I get to spend the next thirty-or-so hours out of the confines of my bedroom.

Mom wasbeyondpissed when I returned home with her dusty Mercedes the other day, demanding to know where I’d gone and who I was with. It was almost as if she’d forgotten everything I’d been through in the last week and a half, thrusting us both through space and time until I was fourteen all over again and my life was hers to commandeer.

Needless to say, she didn’t take kindly to my blatant disregard for her questions as I disappeared into my room, shutting the door hard behind me. I couldn't help the tears that rolled down my cheeks as I tucked myself back into bed, wondering how my life had turned into such a nightmare. But then thoughts of Stardust grazing in the pastureflitted to the forefront and I let myself become immersed in the frenzy of thoughts surrounding Wells and all that he’d done for her—all that he’d done because ofme.

It was never a secret that Wells and I didn’t have the easiest friendship. Our dynamic consisted of quiet negotiation and semi-forced compromises as it related to Jason and the space I took up in his life after we started dating. I, of course, always wanted more of it—more ofhim—and Wells didn’t want to lose his best friend to me. We shared an eagerness to find a way that we could both be the Most Important Person in his life, especially after learning that working against each other only made things worse for everyone.

The only ultimatum Jason ever gave me was after a particularly petty spout of my whining about Wells in the early days of our relationship, when I felt like the too-cool and reckless best friend of the boy I liked was out to get me. Jason was undoubtedly the glue that held us all together, and without him I’m not sure any of it would have stuck.

But somewhere inside of all that, Wells was quietly working to protect something important to me. Not that horses weren’t important tohim—his family’s entire livelihood revolved around their dedication to them. But something tells me Wells wouldn’t have been so eager to give Stardust the freedom he did if not for that evening so long ago.

Now, as I sit so close to him, I can smell the wintergreen gum he’s chewing, and I sink into the moment. It was a sheer stroke of luck that Mom had just left for the grocery store when Kasey pulled his truck up to the house, a silver horse trailer in tow. I hadn’t told her about the rodeo—I knew she’d raise hell about it. So I wrote her a quick note on the back of an envelope and left it for her to find on the kitchen island beforethrowing my old cheer duffle over my shoulder and beelining it out the door.

For the stretch of road between Fairfield and Richland, I find myself imagining that I’m in some sort of alternate universe, one where Jason didn’t die. One where he never existed in the first place. I know I’m dissociating, but for nearly thirty minutes I feel . . . content. Andmanif it isn’t a relief.

We get into Fort Worth around ten, and Kasey finds a strip mall with a big enough parking lot to safely park his rig. “You guys hungry?” he asks as he expertly backs the trailer alongside the far edge of the lot.

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