Page 37 of Long Hard Fall

“Well, it’s kind of like that, but you have a throttle.”

He ran through the explanation, and after a few jerks and lurches, she was cruising along with Cash standing on the side.

“This is so fun!” She wasn’t going very fast, but she doubted she’d have more fun driving a race car. Once they crossed the pasture, she stopped the tractor. “Gate.”

His eyes sparkling with humor, he jumped down and opened the gate. When he clambered back on, she grinned and rolled through.

“Now what?” she asked.

“I could introduce you to the world of fixing fences, but Sissy has her meeting with the recruiter and I need a shower first.” He paused for a moment. “I can take you back to town or you can hang out at the house.”

She mentally beamed at his offer, but she’d be alone at his place with nothing to do but miss him and feel like a freeloader. “I can grab a fresh pair of clothes in town, and I’d love to check on Frankie and her place.”

A glow of surprise lit his eyes. “Sure. I planned to stop by after the recruiter.”

“Pick me up from the hotel before you go? I owe you lunch this time and I never got to try that omelet.”

“It’s a date, honey.”

Abbi brushed through her hair, smiling to herself about her sort-of date with Cash. She looked forward to it more than a legit date. Going with Cash to check on Frankie and her cats meant more than any are we going to hook up or not date.

What a vacation. It was meant to be for soul-searching, getting answers about her brother’s last moments on earth, and she’d done both, in a way.

Mental peace spread through her as she reconciled how she felt with the circumstances of Perry’s death. Maybe she’d been bothered because she hadn’t known anyone he was with, but Cash didn’t seem like the type of guy that’d let the army lie about her brother getting killed. She was thinking too Hollywood; this was reality.

As for soul-searching, just coming here without Ellis was a huge step to finding herself. She hadn’t been Abbi Daniels for the last three years. After their first year together, when her world had crashed, she’d been Ellis’s girlfriend—behaving how he and her parents wanted. Around Cash, and even Hannah, she’d been fully accepted as reckless Abbi.

Go fishing in cold water? Sure. Fish fry at midnight? Let’s do it. Gotta get up early? Who cares! One night without eight hours of sleep didn’t make her impetuous.

There was a knock on the door. She dropped her brush and raced out of the bathroom.

Cash was early. She flung open the door without checking the peephole.

His tired smile warmed her as much as his charming grin. He was wearing his navy blue Walker Five ball cap and a tan jacket that looked like it had come out of a cowboy catalog, which made sense. As a farmer and rancher, Cash was part cowboy.

“The recruiter didn’t take as long as I had hoped.”

She stepped back to let him in. From the subtle strain hidden in his expression, the meeting must not have gone well. “You wanted it to take longer?”

He stepped inside and bypassed the horribly uncomfortable desk chair to drop onto the edge of the bed. “Much longer. Ask some questions, find out what kind of benefits she can get depending on what job she chooses. Find out length of training, what it entails, where she could get stationed…” He blew out a breath. “Damn, just find out more. Instead, we walk in and she asks about being a nurse and learns she’d have to finish nursing school, so she says, ‘What about a medic?’ He gives her his spiel and she smiles and nods, sets up a time to go to the processing center to join. I tried asking some basic questions and she kicked me out.”

“She’s joining the navy, huh?”

“‘Going to see the world.’” He glared at the floor between his boots.

Worry for his sister radiated off him. He needed comfort. She sank down next to him and curled her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I’m not against her joining, just with being so impulsive.”

Abbi bristled. Was impulsiveness only bad in sisters? Hadn’t Cash ever made sudden decisions based on little information? Perry had—and he’d always gotten away with it. “You don’t like that trait in her?”

“Not when it’s her future.” His forehead creased, but he wrapped an arm around her. “I don’t want her to have a ton of regrets, thinking she should’ve stayed in school, then joined as an officer and made more money. Or realizing she hates anything medical and wishing she’d joined as a…a… I don’t fucking know.”

“Or she might find out it was the perfect decision and be really happy.”

“I hope so.” He didn’t sound convinced.

Abbi tipped her chin up to meet his gaze. “You aren’t responsible for her happiness. She’s an adult and she’s in charge. Sometimes the best thing a brother can do is accept his sister just the way she is.”

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