Page 15 of Unbroken

NINE

FIONA

“What did Dr. Lett say?” I asked Shannon as she hung up the phone. I was still feeling shaky after what had gone down between Belle and Diesel and paced along the porch, trying to burn off some of my nervous tension. It wasn’t working.

Shannon stared at her phone cradled in her hand, pointedly avoiding looking at me. “If she winds up pregnant, it’s going to be tough for her. She’s strong, and she’s had two successful pregnancies, but she’s also twenty. She’s supposed to be enjoying retirement.” Shannon let out a long sigh and stared out at the horizon. “I hope you understand how pissed I am at you and Eli.”

Shannon’s voice was quiet, which meant that her anger had transcended yelling and achieved something scarier.

Disappointment wrapped in worry for Belle.

Thankfully, the whole copulation process was over in minutes, and we’d managed to get them separated and Diesel moved over to the paddock before he could attempt a remount.

“I know, and I’m so sorry. We both are.” The words came out in a strained tumble. “We should’ve been paying attention to the guests and making sure Diesel never got out in the first place. I understand that. It won’t happen again; you have my word.”

Why did it seem like I couldn’t stop screwing up?

“Itcan’thappen again, Fi,” Shannon replied, finally resting weary eyes on me. “This isn’t high school. You two can’t screw around anymore, especially not when you’re on the clock. I know you and Eli have this fun love-hate thing going on, but this ranch is our livelihood.”

“It’s not love—” I stopped myself. There was no sense trying to argue about my relationship with Eli when Shannon was lecturing me.

“You have to understand how important the trail riding program is to the future of the ranch. What if there’d been kids around? What if one of the riders got injured by the stallion instead of Diesel going after Belle? Do you have any idea what kind of liability you created because you were too distracted to pay attention to the guests? We could have been sued. That wouldn’t just be the end of the riding program—we could have lost Lost Valley Ranch. It’s time to grow up, Fi.”

I nodded silently. I could tell by the way Shannon was settling into her chair that the sisterly beatdown wasn’t over, but I wasn’t about to say anything. After all, I deserved it. All of it. I needed to understand what was at stake. While screwing up at work led to my termination, what happened with Belle was unforgiveable. We’d not only risked Belle’s life, but I hurt my sister deeply and that made my heart ache.

“Think about how Mom and Dad used to work together. Even when things were tough, and they were stressed about finances, they were a united front because they knew that was what the ranch needed—and what our family needed, as well. Perfect partners in marriage, family,and business. And Josh and I have been working together pretty darn seamlessly too. Now, I’m not saying you being back at the ranch is a bad thing, because we’re thrilled you’re here.”

Shannon paused to search my face as if trying to gauge how everything was landing. “But I will say that since you’ve been home, the …drama… has increased by a lot. The way you acted at that meeting with Josh the other morning, all the bickering with Eli, and now this catastrophe with Belle. You’re an adult, Fi. You need to learn how to settle down and focus. More importantly, you need to think before you speak or act and ask yourself if what you’re about to do or say will contribute or make things worse. Because right now…” My sister left the rest of what she was going to say hanging.

My cheeks were scorching hot at the scolding, but everything Shannon was saying was true. I needed to grow the hell up and be an asset to my family and the ranch rather than a source of problems.

I nodded. “If I can do anything to help with Belle just tell me. Anything. If she winds up pregnant, I’ll move into the barn and keep watch. I’ll pay for the delivery.”

“Stop, don’t be silly. And it wasn’t solely your fault. Eli had a role in what happened too. Do you want me to talk to him as well? I’m sure Josh will have a few words for him, but if you think it’d help, I can do it too.”

My eyes went wide in horror at the thought of Shannon lecturing Eli about our supposed “love-hate thing.” “Oh my God,no. Please don’t.”

“Fine. And if you decide that you can’t handle working together, maybe we need to revisit the working arrangement. I’m not sure what we could juggle around here to fix it, but if you two can’t figure out how to work together, we might have no choice. But you also need to understand that if this was some sort of unconscious attempt to get moved over to riding lessons, that’s not an option.”

The look she directed my way had me wondering if that’s truly what she thought. That—intentional or not—I had somehow engineered all this so I could get my way and be shifted over to the other program. If I were being honest with myself, I might have looked for a way to force Josh’s hand but I would never have tried something that could risk the safety and health of any of the horses. Ever.

There was no way I was going to make things any tougher on my siblings than I’d already done. Eli and I were grown-ups; we needed to start acting that way, which meant figuring out how to work together without causing any more problems to my siblings or the ranch.

“Nope, that won’t be necessary,” I said, standing up straighter. “We’ll be fine, I promise.”

Shannon gave me a satisfied nod. “Okay, good to hear.” Instead of getting up, my sister leaned back in the chair, closed her eyes, and resumed rocking. I took that as my cue to leave but where should I go? Eli and most of the hands had already left for the day, so I could safely venture back out to the barn without worry of running into anyone but that would only bring me closer to Belle and the potentially life threatening problem I created for her when Diesel hopped the fence.

I needed to be useful. I went into the house and kicked off my boots before padding into the kitchen to see what I could do about dinner but Shannon had beat me to it hours ago. On the counter, the slow cooker was merrily bubbling away. Needing to do something, I grabbed a spoon and gave it a stir before having a taste.

Shannon had made chili, using our mom’s chili recipe. Just like always recipe, it needed more salt and cumin. I grinned thinking about the sneaky way our dad would add spices to the slow cooker when our mom pretended to be distracted. With my sister still out on the porch, I added the extra spices and felt my eyes getting misty.

Disappointing my siblings hurt far more than I thought possible and I didn’t want a repeat. Tomorrow, Eli and I had a meeting to discuss the upcoming trail rides. I intended to be the professional I knew I was capable of being instead of the liability my siblings currently saw me as. I knew that if it came down to it and Josh had to separate Eli and me because we weren’t able to work together, that both Josh and Shannon would choose Eli Carter over me to handle the trail riding program. After today, I agreed.

TEN

FIONA

“And that’s basically everything,” Eli said, scrolling through his tablet again. “Any questions?”

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