The night his dad had been taken from him was also the last night he’d seen his mom whole and his little sister free of her anxiety attacks. Every day he watched his family crumble a little more, until, like a coward, he’d run away.
“You can’t take care of someone else until you take care of yourself first.”
His dad’s voice rang in his head. But what kind of man couldn’t take care of his family?
Christian fell onto the lowest bale of hay and stared out at the sky through the slats in the roof. He was so tired. So tired of worrying about his little sister. So tired of feeling like a failure. He hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since his dad had died, and even when he did sleep, he never felt better.
But for right now, he could close his eyes for a few minutes.
Sirens shattered his brain. No, it wasn’t sirens. He rolled over, trying to get his bearings. He was still in the barn, and his phone was ringing incessantly.
“Hello,” he groaned into the speaker.
“Did you get lost or something?” Jayce’s voice boomed through the silent barn.
Christian staggered to a standing position and made his way out the doors.
“Or something,” he grumbled.
“Well, I’m heading to the pond. Come if you want.” Jayce hung up.
Christian shoved a hand through his hair and began a slow jog back to the farmhouse. The sun was beginning its descent beyond the mountains, and the view was breathtaking. Pink and orange hues lit up the sky, coloring the puffy white clouds in both cotton candy and fire. It was so open out here, he could see everything from the blue mountains to the lake at the end of the green fields.
He was almost back to the farmhouse when he heard the music and despite the fact that he wasn’t wearing a swimsuit, he found himself walking in that direction.
The path to the pond was well worn and easy to find even in the growing darkness. Ten cars lined the dirt path, one of them blaring some ridiculous country music. At least twenty kids were already swimming in the pond. A makeshift diving board was on the far side of the pond, and some boys jumped off while the girls cheered them on down below.
Christian found Maizie first. Her long dark hair curled into the dip of her waist, illuminated by the bright yellow swimsuit she wore. She stood near the edge of the water talking to an attractive blonde. Her eyes seemed to drift to his, and he couldn’t help but stare as she turned away.
Her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.
“I knew you’d come,” Jayce said, slapping him on the back.
“I was just running back to the farm.” Christian tried to pull away, but Jayce just pulled him harder.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to Lindsay,” Jayce said, pointing at the girl on Maizie’s right. To Christian’s dismay, Jayce led him right to the pair.
Apparently, he wasn’t getting out of this that easy.
* * *
This was stupid.Why had Maizie agreed to this? She hated swimming. She used to like it, back when. . . whatever. It didn’t matter.
Where was Turner? He was the one who had invited all these people, and he wasn’t even here yet. Her annoyance with him had grown significantly by the time he finally made it. He hopped out of Jake’s Jeep with his notorious swagger like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Hey, babe. You look smoking hot.” Turner slid an arm around her waist and planted a kiss against her cheek.
“Thanks,” she said through tight lips.
“Have you been in yet?” Turner pulled off his shirt and gave her an overconfident flex when he knew she was watching.
“N-no.” She tore her eyes away from his chest muscles.
“Come on.” He pulled her forward, but Maizie resisted.
“Uh, maybe in a sec, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, taking off at a run. He jumped into the middle of a group of girls.
