A truck slowed beside me, and I kept jogging. I didn’t turn to see who it was. I had a mission.
“You need a ride?” a familiar voice called out. I still didn’t turn my head. I’d know Brady Higgens’s voice anywhere. The hateful looks and words that I remembered from him kept my gaze straight and my feet moving.
“Jesus, Riley, it’s pouring and the baby is getting all wet. At least get in for her sake. She’s gonna get sick.”
He sounded exasperated. I didn’t like the tone of his voice or him thinking he should guide me in the way I was raising my child. A little rain wasn’t going to make her sick. This wasn’t the last frontier, for crying out loud.
“You’ve got another two miles to your grandmother’s house. This storm is gonna get worse. Let me give you a ride. For the baby’s sake.”
The way he said baby infuriated me. He didn’t realize who Bryony was. He along with all the other idiots in this town thought I’d lied. Accused me of it and ran me out of town. All because it wasn’t possible that golden boy Rhett Lawton would rape me. I had to have come on to him. He had to have been the one to push me away. I was his brother’s girlfriend, after all. Why would he rape me? I must be crazy.
I stopped running and turned to look at Brady. He had always been the good guy. Taking up for people and believing the best in them. Except for me. He’d turned on me just like the others had. I was about to open my mouth and tell him exactly where he could shove his almighty tone when the sky roared and lightning shot across the sky. Rain I wasn’t scared of, but I didn’t want Bryony out in an actual storm. My scathing words fell away and instead I said, “Okay.”
He nodded, looking relieved I’d given in, and jumped out of the truck to grab the stroller after I lifted Bryony into my arms. “Just throw it in back. It’s wet anyway. I’ll have to set it out in the sun tomorrow to dry it.”
I didn’t wait to see if he did as I said. I hurried around to the passenger side and climbed in, with Bryony smiling as the raindrops pelted her face. The heat was on in the truck, and her little shiver made me worried Brady could be right and she might get a cold from this. I would get her some orange juice and a warm bath as soon as we got home.
Brady climbed back inside, and I grudgingly glanced at him and forced the words “Thank you” out of my mouth. Not something I’d ever expected to say to him or anyone around here.
He looked at Bryony. “I doubt your parents would want you walking your little sister home in this weather. I’m just glad you agreed to get in.”
My little sister? Really? That was what they were saying in town? I frowned and turned my attention toward the window to look out. I could correct him, but what good would that do? None. He would assume I got knocked up after I left town. Never could my actual story have been true. Although if one took the time to really see her, Bryony looked like a Lawton. She had many of her father’s features. I wasn’t going to point that out, though. I never wanted her to know the Lawtons. They were monsters.
My brother, Vance, had stayed when we left and dealt with all of this. He’d hated them all. But his life had been here. With me gone, the gossip died, and he was able to continue. The talk about my return, however, ended up getting him suspended twice for fighting. He agreed he’d rather go to the private school near where we had been living that had accepted him. He had backed out when we decided to return to be with my grandmother, but my parents believed that it was best for him to finish his school away from Lawton. His IQ was ridiculously high, but so was his temper. I felt guilty for putting him in this situation. When he left last week, he had told me that this was what he wanted to do and not to feel guilty. I’d cried anyway.
Bryony stuck her little chubby hands out toward the heat and turned to Brady to flash him her smile. She had no idea that he was an enemy. I didn’t want her to know about enemies or ugliness in the world.
“What’s her name?” he asked.
“Bryony,” I replied. I didn’t want to talk to him. He didn’t want me in his truck any more than I wanted to be in it. Had it been any other of Gunner Lawton’s friends that had driven by, I’d still be out in the storm, trying not to panic. Brady Higgens wasn’t like that, though. He saw a baby in need, and he couldn’t ignore it.
“You’ve got pretty eyes, Bryony,” he told her.
She tilted her head back and looked up at me. Her damp blond curls stuck to her forehead. I bent my head and kissed that spot. It was hard not to.
“How old is she?”