Rough Terrain (Vista Falls #1) Read Online Free

What we had was a long time ago. And I don’t have to remind you the way it ended.”
    “Yet he came back,” their friend Jenna reminded her. “That has to count for something.”
    “He came back because his father died,” Sage said, reaching for her drink to wash away the guilt she still felt whenever she thought of the way her father had treated Wes’s dad. His parents had always been kind to her, even after she put their grandchild up for adoption. “His family needed him.”
    “Maybe fate brought him back here,” Meg suggested with a smile as she toyed with her straw. “Same place your love story began. Wouldn’t it be romantic if you fell for your first love all over again?”
    “You need to quit watching those sappy romantic dramas,” Sage said, reaching for her cell phone when it buzzed with a message. “Not everyone gets a happy ending.” The message wasn’t important, but at least it gave her a reprieve.
    “But you guys could,” Gabby said as she sneaked a peek at Wes. “It’s obvious he’s still into you.”
    Sage wanted to grill her friend about the messages she’d exchanged with her ex, but doing so would have meant admitting she was still interested, and her pride wouldn’t let her do that. “Have you asked Wes about Colt?” she asked Gabby, trying to deflect her friends’ interest in her situation.
    “Oh yeah,” Jenna said, squeezing Gabby’s arm. “If Wes is back, that means Colt is too. Have you seen him, talked to him?”
    “As a matter of fact, he passed by my flower shop the other day.”
    Sage gaped at her friend, unable to believe she’d kept that juicy tidbit to herself. “And? What did he say? How did he look?”
    “Ugh.” Gabby downed her drink. “Way better than he has any right to look. He should be bald with a pot belly by now.”
    The ladies laughed in sympathetic agreement as Sage wondered if thinning hair would have done anything to diminish her attraction to Wes. Probably not. He was the only man she’d ever met who could make her feel like a giddy teenager just by uttering her name.
    “I don’t think he would have come in to see me at all,” Gabby continued. “But I was changing out a window display just as he was leaving the bank next door. I guess he would have felt guilty for walking right by without saying hi.”
    “Was it weird seeing him again?” Sage asked, hoping she wasn’t the only one reduced to mush at the sight of a man she should have been over years ago.
    “Yeah, it was. But it was kind of nice too. It took me back.”
    Back to a time Sage sometimes wished she could forget. “Did he ask what you’ve been up to? Whether you were married or had kids?” Sage should have asked Wes those questions, but she’d been afraid of the answer.
    “I told him a bit about the divorce,” Gabby said, propping her chin on her hand. “But I didn’t want to make it seem like I’m not over it. ‘Cause I totally am.”
    Gabby had given up on her marriage long before she signed the divorced papers. Her ex was a nice enough guy, but they’d come together for the wrong reason—because they were both lonely and trying to get over other people.
    “Well, this has been fun, ladies,” Sage said, reaching into her purse for enough cash to cover her part of the tab. “But I’ve got another early morning, so I’ve got to call it a night.”
    “Any offers on the dealership yet?” Jenna asked as Sage slapped two twenties on the table.
    “I wish.” A buyer would mean their family would have enough money to pay for her father’s care, support her parents’ lifestyle, and pay for her brother’s last year of medical school. All of her prayers would be answered in one fell swoop.
    “You’ll find someone,” Gabby assured her with a weak smile that said she wasn’t at all convinced. “As soon as the economy turns around, you’ll see.”
    “How have Colt and Wes managed to grow their business while everyone else seems to be struggling?” Meg