Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(83)

“Aggie?” I said in a cracked voice when I heard a click on the other end.

An unbearably tense moment followed when I blurted out that I was right there at her school.

“Here?” she said incredulously. “You drove out from Arizona just like that?”

“I did.”

“What for?”

I swallowed. “To see you, Ags. I want to see you. I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to it.” I waited for her to say something in return. Her silence was killing me. “Augusta, do you want to see me? You don’t have to.”

“Truly!” she gasped. “Are you serious? Of course I want to see you!”

A slow smile spread across my face. “No need to yell, sis.”

Ten minutes later Creed and I were standing beneath the towering arms of a cottonwood tree, waiting for my sister to find us. Creed leaned against the wide trunk and winced.

“Your knee hurting?”

He wouldn’t admit it. “Nope.” He squinted past me and smiled. “There she is.”

My sister was wearing jeans and a school t-shirt. I was surprised to see a man at her side. He was nearly as big as Creed, dark-skinned, and wearing cowboy boots. He put an arm around her shoulder and she squeezed his waist for a second. Then our eyes locked and Augusta froze.

“Aggie,” I whispered.

She broke into a sudden run. The man who was with her stopped walking. He simply stared as Aggie and I collided. I tried to find some words but all I could do was cry in her arms as she cried in mine.

“I missed you,” I finally whispered as I was besieged by a thousand warm memories.

“Every day,” she whispered back, wiping the tears out of her eyes. She smiled at me shyly. The last time I saw her she had been only midway through the awkward phase of her teenage years. Now she was a lovely young woman. The man who’d hung back a little at our greeting came forward and stood beside her. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Thought you said boys were trouble,” I teased her.

“Most are,” she answered, putting her hands on her hips. She gestured behind me. “That one sure looks like trouble.”

Creed took that as his cue to limp over. He waited for me to introduce him.

“Creedence Gentry, this is my sister, Augusta Lee.”

She looked him up and down. “I’m happy to meet you, Creedence. My sister beat the crap out of you, or what?”

“She could if she wanted to,” Creed said cheerfully, and extended his hand. Aggie shook it and turned to the man at her side.

“This is Eric. We’re…” Aggie seemed suddenly flustered as Eric stepped up.

“I’m her guy even if she’s not quite used to it yet.” He draped an arm around my sister and grinned at me. He looked me straight in the eye without an ounce of shyness. “I’m glad to meet one of Augusta’s sisters.”

“Eric’s a senior. He’s in the veterinary program too.”

Eric glanced down at her and I could see in his face that he was a man who knew what he wanted. And he wanted my sister. He looked at each of us, taking stock of the situation quickly. Then he nodded to Creed.

“What do you say we grab some lunch and give the ladies a chance to talk?” He smiled. “I can tell you everything you never wanted to know about cattle. My family’s ranch is not twenty miles from here. There’s a place here in Stillwater that gets their beef from us. I swear it’s the best goddamn hamburger you’ll ever eat.”

Creed looked down at his leg doubtfully. “As long as I don’t have to hike there.”

Eric shrugged. “I’ve got my truck around the corner. I’ll bring it around and toss you in the back.”

“Toss me?” Creed growled and Eric laughed.

“No offense, man. I’ll be right back.” He winked at Aggie and turned, walking in the direction they had come from.

Creed tried his best to make small talk with my sister but he seemed almost relieved when Eric returned with a gigantic orange Dodge pickup truck.

Eric poked his head out the window. “Hey, you don’t really have to sit in the back.”

“I don’t mind,” Creed said, stretching out in the bed of the pickup.

“I’ve still got a shitload of hay back there.”

“I like hay,” Creed answered and thumped the side of the truck. “Giddy up.”

Eric looked at me. “I promise I’ll bring him back.” His expression got real soft when he glanced at Aggie. “Give me a call if you want us to stay gone longer than an hour.”

Aggie seemed suddenly anxious. She was biting a nail. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Creed waved from the back of the pickup as Eric drove away. I figured I didn’t need to worry about him; Eric seemed like he could keep up enough conversation for the two of them.

My sister tried to sound lighthearted. She pointed at Creed. “You didn’t say anything about that.”

I jerked my head in the same direction. “Well, you didn’t say anything about that.”

She hugged her arms around her body and became somber. “I guess we don’t know a hell of a lot about each other anymore.”

“No,” I agreed. “And I hate that.”

Augusta sat down on the curb. I sat down next to her. She sighed. I knew she was going to bring up the past. It was okay. I was ready to talk about it.