Chapter Three

Late on Tuesday afternoon, Erin drove out to the Wilder Ranch. It had been overcast all morning, but now the clouds had moved out on a brisk breeze to make way for sunlight. Recent rain had rinsed the forests clean, settled the dust, and given the ferns and clumps of wildflowers a drink. Everywhere she looked, she saw the promise of summer warmth and new growth. In two months’ time, everyone she encountered on the sidewalks of Mystic Creek would be complaining of the heat. Personally, Erin enjoyed toasty weather. Blessed with skin that tolerated the sun, she loved lying on a lounge chair in her backyard in a string bikini that she’d never be caught dead wearing in public. Last summer, due to a personal problem with a dispatcher, she’d gotten very little time off for sunbathing or anything else, so she was looking forward to indulging herself during the forthcoming good weather.

As she turned left to pass under the huge log archway that supported a sign reading WILDER RANCH, she anticipated a lovely visit with her uncle and aunt. She’d skipped lunch to save calories for Vickie’s fabulous baked goods, which she apparently produced nearly every day. But before Erin went to the main house, she had an unpleasant chore to take care of that she shouldn’t put off any longer. That was straightening things out with Wyatt. Whenever she visited the ranch, which had happened twice last week, she rarely saw him, and she was pretty sure he was going to great lengths to avoid her. In only a matter of months, she could end up living at the ranch, possibly for as long as two years. With the present state of affairs between her and Wyatt, how on earth would that work over a long period of time? Without betraying Kennedy’s confidence, she needed to let Wyatt know that she understood his situation and that she no longer entertained any notions that the two of them might get together. Maybe then Wyatt would be able to relax around her and they could develop a friendship of sorts. Barring that, at least he would no longer feel that he needed to hide from her.

Just as Erin started to get out of the truck, a flash of blue caught her attention, and when she homed in with her gaze, she saw Wyatt vault over a perimeter fence and stride off into the forest. She suspected that he was walking down to the creek, somewhere near where she and Kennedy had gone the other day to talk in private. She also felt fairly certain that Wyatt was doing another disappearing act to avoid an encounter with her. Great. Just then her aunt Vickie emerged from the main house and waved at Erin to come inside.

Erin got out of the pickup. “I’ll be along in just a few minutes, Aunt Vickie! First I need to talk to Wyatt for a second.”

Vickie, dressed today in her usual jeans and knit top, had changed up her appearance by gathering her curly hair into what looked like a red pompom perched atop her head. She smiled and nodded, her expression conveying that she knew Erin had a thing for the young foreman. “See you in a bit, then. The coffee will be fresh!”