Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(44)

It was when his mother showed up that the game changed. She walked in the middle of the firemen that towered over her in height and width and grabbed her son and pulled him by the back of the arm to a family room down the hall.

He could barely look at her. Too many memories were crashing into him. He didn’t feel like a grown man; he felt like a seventeen-year-old kid that didn’t know what the hell to do.

“What are you doing?” she scorned.

“It’s Harley, Mom.”

“I know who it is. I know who’s back in his stall.”

Wyatt looked down at her, dumfounded.

“What are you doing?” she asked again.

“I’m waiting for her to wake up.”

“Why?”

He just stared.

“You know what I know. Hell, I bet you know more because you can read through the lines of those articles. You know she’s with someone. Are you going to stand in that room when she wakes up and ask for her phone to call him?”

Wyatt could still taste that kiss Harley gave him, the touch of her lips against his, the wisp of her tongue. That kiss carried every emotion that it did years ago, if not more. That kiss was giving him some kind of hope, some doubt that all the articles he had read were true.

He didn’t find her in some thousand-dollar dress with her makeup and hair done just right. He found her in jeans and boots. He found her pulling a horse trailer alone through the deep south. Something wasn’t adding up.

“I don’t care about him.”

“And you didn’t care what anyone else thought years ago, did you?”

“I cared, Mom. I cared enough to keep us a secret so I could have her longer.”

She huffed in a breath trying to find a calm tone. “Son, you don’t understand the world she’s coming from. You have no idea what they have done to her in all this time. Four years ago, you were a stubborn boy, which is understandable. Do not be an inexcusable stupid son of a bitch today.”

“What the hell?” he said with a glare aimed fiercely at his mother.

“That horse is at our farm. Her father just offered me board for his daughter once again. What’s going to happen if you walk in that room, if you hear her tell you that she’s with someone else? What if this blows up in your face? Do you think she will come to that farm?”

“I have to explain.”

“Explain what? That nothing happened with you and Dorcas? That your ass was strapped to some bronc that was determined to kill you at the time? You might get a reaction out of that. In fact, I’m sure you will, but what reaction are you going to have when you figure out she has no reason to give for why she moved on?”

“She’s not going to say that.”

“Slow down, son. We know the real Harley. We don’t know how deep she is in that woman you pulled from that wreckage, but we know her. You’re going to take your time with this. Too many emotions, too much time. You’re your father all over again, I swear. You’re bound to explode and ruin this if you don’t slow the hell down.”

Wyatt looked away.

“If you love that girl, listen to me this go round, son. She’s going to tell you things, you are going to see things, hear things that are going to boil your skin. You’re going to have to take each blow one at a time and either get over this or get on with it. I want you back, Wyatt. I want the carefree boy who knew only how to enjoy life. I don’t want the one that only acts likes he’s having a good time anymore.”

“What are you telling me to do?”

“Go check on her horse. Help your sister make sure her room is ready. Take a shower, get some sleep.”

“I’m not leaving her.”

“Yes, you are. Right now you are. I’ll let you know when she wakes up, what they said.”

“Mom, she knows I pulled her from that wreck. I’m not vanishing.”

“No, you’re not. You’re her ride to the farm.” And with that, Camille left.

Wyatt struggled with her reasoning; he really did. He didn’t want to play games to get her back. He just wanted to tell her how he felt, tell her he tried. Tell her that now there was nothing but them holding them back.

When he stepped out of that room, he saw his mom pulling a phone out of a box in Memphis’ hands, then walk away.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing, just stuff that fell out of the truck when they flipped it. Her bags are still in it. It was towed to your farm.”

“Hand it over. I’ll put it in my truck.”

“I got it.”

Wyatt turned stone cold. “Give me the box, Memphis.”

Memphis didn’t back down from his glare, he engaged it. “Look, man, you need to calm down. I’m not going to let you fly off the handle this go round.”

Wyatt jerked the box away from him. One glance inside told him that leaving now, getting air, was the best thing he could do. There was a half-used pack of birth control on top, her wallet which was open to a picture of her and Collin. Other things were there, too: a man’s Rolex, loose change, makeup.

He was a fool to think that she was not involved with him, or any other guy for that matter.

Wyatt went home, checked on Danny Boy, helped his sister, did everything his mother said. Just before dawn, he was walking into the Emergency Room with a change of clothes he had Ava get out of Harley’s bags. He wasn’t about to move through her things and find anything else he’d rather not see.