CHAPTER 3
Ainsleigh
T wo hours passed quicker than I thought they would. Surprisingly, talking with Gentry wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. My anxiety lessened over time when he didn’t bring up the hard questions I’d expected him to ask. However, I knew that at some point we’d have to have that talk. The one where I knew emotions would rise. Thankfully, he hadn’t started off that way.
The wrought iron gate I knew so well came into view.
Courtright Ranch.
A name I proudly called my own.
The metal of the gate creaked after Gentry placed the code into the keypad.
Slowly, he pulled the truck forward.
My palms grew sweaty. For reasons unknown, I was nervous to see my family again. I shouldn’t have been. They all supported my decision to stay away, but I felt uneasy the closer his truck came to reaching the house I used to call home.
Dirt flew around us as he drove a little faster down the driveway. My parents talked about paving it, but never had. It remained the same dusty driveway I would speed down on the four-wheeler as a child. It’s crazy, the things that seemed so unimportant were the memories that you remembered the most.
Gentry slowed to a stop when we reached the front of the house. He placed the truck in park, but remained seated behind the wheel. Looking over, I noticed how his hand clenched and unclenched the steering wheel. I wanted to ask what he was thinking. Why he seemed so worried about me going inside. But it wasn’t my right to know anymore. The most important question I wanted to know the answer to was why he remained so close with my parents, when he could’ve easily returned to his own home. So much apparently changed while I was gone.
“You ready to get this show on the road?” he asked as he turned toward me.
Was I?
No I wasn’t, but I couldn’t stay out here forever. They’d surely heard us arrive and any moment now they’d come out to greet their long-lost daughter and sister.
“Who all is in there?”
I had to get better prepared before I could make myself leave the confines of the truck I didn’t even want to enter in the first place.
“Everyone.”
Damn him for being so discrete. Who did he mean by everyone? I didn’t see any vehicles aside from my dad’s truck and my mom’s SUV parked in front of the house. That meant nothing though. There was more parking behind the house.
“Let’s go before they all flock out here,” I replied with a shaky breath. Once I entered that house, the memories would return. The ones I tried to suppress over the years, but failed to do so.
Reaching for the door handle, his hand touching mine stopped me in my tracks.
I didn’t turn to face him. My emotions were on high alert with having to go inside as it was. Looking at him would cause me to break down. An option that I didn’t have right now.
“You don’t have to be nervous. They’re all just excited to have you return home,” he whispered. I’m sure his words were meant to be reassuring, but they were anything but. I loved my parents and brothers. I missed them terribly while I was gone. They weren’t what I was afraid of. The memories were.
I pulled the metal handle that was cold to the touch and opened the door, stepping out onto the ground.
Turning back, I went to grab my bags, but Gentry had already grabbed my suitcase and backpack.
He got out of the truck and came to my side. Standing in front of me, he looked at me like he had so much to say, yet he remained silent.
Those eyes. The green depths were my downfall even now. He showed so much emotion within them even now.
“Come on. You have nothing to worry about. I promise,” he said as he threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me toward the door.
His touch sent chills throughout my entire body.
You can’t go there, Ainsleigh.
I had to keep reminding myself of those five words. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get lost in him again.
The door flew open just as we finished walking up the stairs, causing me to jump. I knew they wouldn’t wait much longer.
“My baby’s finally home,” my mom squealed and clapped as she looked at me from the doorway.
Walking up to her, I threw myself in the warmth of my mother’s arms. Trying and failing, I let the tears I knew would come fall.
“I missed you so much,” I said into her shoulder.
“I missed you too, baby. You’re not allowed to leave me ever again. I mean it,” she said as she stepped back and placed her hands on my shoulders to look at me.
“You’ve lost weight. We’ll solve that quickly though,” she replied as she pulled me through the door.
“You can’t hog her all to yourself, Lillian,” my dad said with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face.
I moved to the side and walked into the arms of my daddy. He still smelled of pine chips, the way he’d always smelled when I was growing up. He ran his fingers through my hair, the same way he had when I was a child.
“Your mother’s right you know,” he whispered.
“I heard that, you old goofball, and I won’t forget you said it either.” My mother smacked him playfully on the shoulder.
“Oh hush. You can’t hold that against me. I just meant she wasn’t allowed to stay gone again.”
I loved the playful banter that my parents always had. I couldn’t ever recall a time when I’d seen them angry. They were always laughing and kidding with each other. I wanted a love like that. I had a love like that with Gentry, and I let it slip through the cracks because I wasn’t strong enough to stay.
“Alright, you two. We’ve given you enough time to hog her. It’s our turn,” Brooks, my oldest brother, said from behind us.
Peeking around my dad, I noticed all three of my brothers standing side by side with their arms crossed over their chests. They weren’t happy when I up and left. I hadn’t told any of them my plans, only my parents. I knew I was in for it, but I couldn’t hide behind our father forever. Facing them now was my only option.
Growing up with three brothers was entertaining and hard all at the same time. I was the baby out of the four of us and got my way often because I was the only girl of the bunch. But they did their brotherly duties over the years and made sure I was as tough as nails. They were even more protective than most brothers I knew, and I loved and hated them for it my entire life.
I didn’t know which one to go to first. They all looked scary as they stood there, but I walked over on shaky legs. Leo was probably my safest bet. He was the softy out of the three. But I wasn’t raised to be a chicken. So instead of taking the safest choice, I took the hardest. Holden. He took me leaving the hardest because we were the closest. He stood in the middle of them, and I walked right up to him, waiting for him to look me in the eyes.
Only he wouldn’t. He looked at the floor instead.
“I missed you, Holden,” I whispered before I placed my arms around his waist. He remained unmoving for the longest time before he finally hugged me in return.
His strong hold pulled me closer to him, and I almost couldn’t breathe with how tight he held me. He didn’t say anything. His reaction was all I needed to break down even more than I had with my mother. I cried into his flannel shirt and drenched the material before I moved away to give my other brothers the same attention. Brooks came next, then Leo. Then all three of them crowded around me, caging me in between them.
“Squirt, you’re never leaving again. We won’t let you next time you get a wild hair up your ass. It wasn’t the same here without you,” Brooks said, and I knew he meant every word. It took a lot for my parents to convince them not to chase after me and bring me back home where they all agreed I belonged.
We were the Courtright siblings, and together we were unstoppable. I just hoped they all could help me in the one and only task I had in mind.
“Dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t we let your sister go upstairs and freshen up before we eat?” my mother suggested. Thank goodness. I loved my brothers to death, but I didn’t need them smothering me with attention just as soon as I arrived. I had to go and face the one room I had to get away from.
My bedroom.