Secrets Behind Those Eyes by S.M. Donaldson Page B

you. Taking care of
     family is what I do. Not something I get from our father. Take
     Care. I love you.
    Cade
    I wipe my eyes. Okay so maybe I won’t
     kick his ass. If Gable and I had ever had the money like this we
     would have probably done these same things for each
     other.
    My momma finally pulls in the
     driveway. Once she gets out she looks at me in the car.
    “Scarlet, who does this car belong
     to?”
    “Um well while you were gone. I was in
     an accident and Gable’s car got totaled. Cade sent me this
     car.”
    “Cade? As in your dad’s child from his
     first marriage?”
    “Yes momma you know Gable and I met
     him. This is his old car he’s helping me out because he doesn’t
     want me waiting tables at the bar I was working at.”
    “So you were in a wreck and no one
     thought to get ahold of me?”
    “Momma they tried to get ahold of you,
     but um hello your phone was off. You were at a spiritual retreat.
     Remember.”
    “Well what happened?”
    “I was on my way home late after work
     the other night and someone ran me off the road.”
    She shook her head. “Honey I’m sure
     they didn’t do it on purpose.”
    “ARH! It was on purpose. Everything
     isn’t all peace signs and happiness.”
    “So negative.”
    Ugh I can’t handle her ‘love the world
     shit’ this morning. “Mother it was on purpose there is proof.
     Anyway. Ryder drove up on the wreck and called 911. I had to let
     Gable know about his car and I called Daria, Cade’s wife. I needed
     to let her know that I wouldn’t be able to come for the baby to be
     born.”
    “You’re going for their baby to be
     born, you don’t even know these people.”
    My momma is obviously having a hard
     time with the fact that I went looking for my brother. “Yes Mother
     I told you this when we came back from meeting him. We hit it off.
     Cade is a good brother. He’s nothing like our douchebag father.
     Anyway he sent me this, paid the insurance for a year and gave me a
     gas card. He wants me to go to school and not be working somewhere
     that I get felt up every five minutes or witness people snorting
     lines of cocaine in the backroom. Whatever beef you have is with
     the asshole who was married to a couple of unsuspecting women at
     once. Not Cade so get over it.”
    “I loved your father.”
    “Well he didn’t really love anyone.
     But Cade loves Gable and I both, so lay off. You are always talking
     about free love and being good to people. Well don’t just say it.
     Do it. Now I have some errands to do, before I come back and catch
     up on laundry and stuff.”
    “Scarlet. I’m sorry. It’s just hard
     you know. I’m glad you’ve found someone else that you can count on,
     I know it takes a lot for you and Gable to trust people. So did
     Ryder think to try and call me or Gable?”
    “Yes I did but I couldn’t get anyone
     to answer the damn phone. So I took care of her myself.”
    We both turn startled at Ryder’s
     voice.

Chapter 16
    Ryder
    I walk up on the end of a
     heated conversation where her hippie ass mother is actually
     defending their father or her love for him rather. She’s pissed
     that her brother sent her a car that I am
     still a little confused over . But when her
     mom questions why I didn’t get up with them, I hit protective
     caveman mode.
    Scarlet runs over to me. She kisses me
     on the lips. “Hey I thought you weren’t coming by until
     later.”
    I smile down at her. “Well we had a
     calf born this morning now we are only waiting on a couple more, so
     I told Nelson I’d meet him around 1. I wanted to come surprise you
     and take you to breakfast.”
    She gives me a smile that I hope I
     always make her have. “That sounds great.” She pulls me by the arm.
     “Whisper Johnson, meet Ryder Abbott. I believe you guys have met at
     the museum.”
    Her mom nods. “Yes, he used to come in
     and drop off paperwork and things for his daddy. You have certainly
     grown into a handsome