“Charlie? You okay?” Sam asked, and she saw he too was concerned and had moved up behind her. He was on the verge of taking her by the arm, and she knew if he did, she’d snap. She wasn’t sure what she would do, but it would be something she’d probably regret.
She straightened, shaking off the distant feeling as she offered him a strained smile. “I’m fine. I just need to go home. This has been a lot of…just, a lot really.” She shoved the envelopes into the pockets of her jeans, crumpling them in her haste, and not caring.
Their eyes were on her when she left, but she ignored it. She would take care of herself; after all she didn’t have anyone else left to do it.
Chapter 2
She wasn’t anxious to get back to the big empty house, but a quick look in the car mirror showed that her eyes were still puffy and red, not ideal for running errands unless she wanted people to know she’d been crying. She sighed and headed out of town with reluctance.
A moment of inspiration struck when she was almost home and instead of turning left, she kept going a couple miles past the road that led to the ranch. A few minutes later she was parking her car by the side of the road and following a familiar dirt trail. It had been years since she’d been this way, but somehow it seemed appropriate to revisit her favorite childhood spot just then.
It was a long walk, but the path was shaded by the dense thickets of trees on both sides and that helped to drop the summer heat to a comfortable walking temperature. She’d traveled this lane so many times she could have done it with her eyes closed, no matter how long ago the last visit had been.
The main path went to a favorite fishing spot when it opened at the river and a lot of people used it, but there was a natural trail that branched off before it got there. It went to her secret place. She’d found it when she was a child roaming all over the woods like some kind of feral changeling.
A half-buried boulder marked the way and hid a smaller trail from view. It was obvious that animals still used it to get to the river, so although it was badly overgrown, she could push through the narrow track. Her arms were covered in tiny scratches by the time she stepped out into the clearing, and she was happy she’d chosen to wear jeans to the lawyer’s office, but it was worth it.
The small, almost perfectly circular meadow had seemed magical to her as a child, and it still did. It was the giant beech tree that took up most of the room that really made the place special though, and as always, the sheer size of it took her breath away. There was a half-smile on her face as she remembered how much fun she’d had there.
The giant bowed branches created a cathedral feeling underneath and it had been the perfect place to play queen of the castle. The foliage was so thick that the sky barely peeked through and many times she’d waited out a rainstorm under its shelter without getting wet. Stepping through the weeping branches was like entering another world, and there was a noticeable coolness there in the shade.
She was delighted to find that her old rope swing still hung from one of the branches. Skeptical that it would be safe after all this time, she settled onto the plank seat carefully and then slowly let it take her weight. To her delight it held, and she pushed against the ground with her toes to start it swaying back and forth.
“Well, that proves this place is magic,” she said with a soft laugh. She didn’t trust the ropes to hold her if she tried swinging with much emphasis, but it was nice just to sit there and remember as she stared up into the high arching branches that formed the roof of her childhood castle.
So many dreams had been launched under this tree. She let out a long slow sigh and with it all the tension she’d been holding in since she’d come home to say goodbye. She’d never been good at letting go of stress, but this was the one place she always felt like she was safe.
Her feet dragged ruts in the ground, and she enjoyed the slight dizzy feeling as she watched the patches of blue flashing as she moved. This felt more like home than the big empty farmhouse did. She smiled, glad she’d thought to visit the old tree.
“Charlie?”
And just like that her happiness shriveled. She jerked to a stop and her head snapped down to see him standing just a few feet away. “What the hell are you doing here, Sam?” There was anger there but mostly surprise.
“You looked a little rough when you left the lawyer’s office. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said carefully. He didn’t move closer but stood just on the border between sunlight and shade.
“How did you know where I was?” she demanded.
He gave her a look, one eyebrow going up as he snorted. “Are you kidding? Where else would you go when you’re sad or confused? It’s where you’ve always gone since we were kids.”
She didn’t need the reminder; and for the first time she regretted that she’d shown him her secret hideaway back when they were still children running around the ranch like little hooligans. His father had been the foreman then, and Sam had been the only other child around for miles. Despite the two-year age difference, he’d accepted the younger girl as a playmate.
They bonded over the fact that neither had a mother, and they’d quickly become best friends. Terrorizing the ranch hands with their pranks, playing in the paddocks, and having grand adventures in the horse barns—they did everything together. So of course, when she’d stumbled across the best tree in the whole forest it had been natural to bring him. Most of their games had shifted to the woods after that.
Everyone at the ranch had been relieved when they stopped causing trouble, and since it made life easier for the workers no one really questioned where the two went for the long hours of the day. As long as they got their chores done first and came home when the deep bell hanging at the corner of the porch was rung at dusk, their respective fathers didn’t have a problem with it either.
They might have if they’d realized how the private games had changed during their teen years. The imaginary made way for romance without fear of anyone catching them making out under the branches. Their childhood games had taken a decidedly kinky turn there under those branches, and being there brought back some wicked memories of experimenting.
But then when Sam was seventeen his father died, and Sam took his place. It was a man’s job which didn’t leave nearly as much time for playing.
She would have minded more except the timing was almost fortuitous for their relationship. Right around the same time she graduated from high school. Skipping two grades had her finishing at fifteen, but since the nearest university was hours away, and her father felt she was too young to live away from home, she’d taken on a bigger role at the ranch, too.
They still found opportunities to sneak out to the tree now and then, but it wasn’t necessary to do it for privacy. Sam still lived in the small foreman’s house that came with the job. It was the same one he’d grown up in, back behind the main barn and that gave them plenty of alone time when they needed it. It was like playing house but with the upgrade of actually having a house.
She’d lost her virginity in his bed just after her seventeenth birthday and she still looked back on that time as the happiest in her life. But everything had changed since then, and they were no longer lovers—she wasn’t even sure if they were friends anymore.
She’d been too angry with him for too long, and just seeing him standing there seemed to kindle the rage higher.
She stood up, letting the swing bump the back of her thighs as she stood there with one hand still holding the rope. “I told you I didn’t want to see you. Not now, not yet. What part of that sounded like you should stalk me in the woods?”
