Page 35 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

“I can’t believe you didn’t sue the landlord for ignoring all those maintenance tickets you put in.”Willow dried her eyes. Mama bear was coming up to bat. Her protective spark returned.

I’d take that over crying any day.

“Your neighbor could’ve died in there.” Willow’s gaze went to the burn scars on my arm.

I hid them behind my back, redirecting, “You showed up with bags of clothes and pots and pans.”

“You lost everything.” Her bottom lip trembled. “The least I could do was donate some old, leftover—”

“How long did it take you to remove all the tags and scuff the pans up a bit?” It was something I’d never talked about, but I wasn’t above playing the card now if it made Willow stop feeling like she owed me something.

Her face flushed as she looked around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” I burst out laughing.

“Fine.” She stomped her foot on the ground. “But you wouldn’t have accepted the help unless you thought you weren’t bothering anyone, which is exactly what you’re doing now.”

“I don’t do that,” I said.

Riley leaned her head out the open front window. “Yes, you do.”

“Okay then. If you want to help, you can both stay here and make sure the jerk doesn’t mess up anything else on my land while I’m gone.” That seemed like a reasonable enough compromise.

“What do we do if you don’t come back?” Willow and her very valid fears would be the death of me. I crossed my fingers, trying to ward off bad luck.

“I’ll be back in time for dinner,” I reassured her. “And if the trespasser tries anything, feel free to shoot him.”

I winked at Riley, knowing that despite everything she’d been through, she was great in a crisis. My dad’s rifle was cleaned and ready, hanging above the sofa on its old rack.

“Will do.” Riley smiled as if she very much liked the idea of murdering someone today.

I didn’t blame her.

∞

The inside of my cheek was sore from where I’d been biting it. I drove the Bronco over the rough terrain, leaving a cloud of dust on the dirt road behind me. Every mile away from the cabin tightened the knot in my stomach.

I really didn’t want to do this.

Twelve years wasn’t much time at all—especially for a town as small as Christmas.

With a population of less than two hundred, it wasn’t more than a blip on a desert map. Everyone knew everyone and they sure knew how to pick their favorites.

I may have been the rodeo darling, but Tony Roberts was quarterback and prom king. Despite the divorce being his fault, he’d ended up with the town as his.

Tony had more family here and he’d chosen to move back into their loving embrace.

That made me the villain.

The hero always comes home and gets to tell the story their way.

It didn’t help that I’d purposefully stayed away to finish college and try to work off the debt he’d left me with. Then my dad died. With the guilt I felt at his passing, it hurt too much to visit.

I’d lost my husband, my only blood family, and my optimistic outlook on life all within two years.

The people I’d called friends didn’t even bother reaching out to check on me. It was like leaving had erased me from their minds.

Riley and Willow were my family now. But they didn’t understand how awful it was to watch the people who once swore they loved you, laugh at you behind your back.

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