Rough Terrain (Vista Falls #1) Read Online Free Page A

asked.
    “I guess they have the magic touch,” Jenna said, prompting Sage and Gabby to share a look that said they could attest to that.
     

 

Chapter Three
     
    Wes was grateful Gabby was the last in her group to leave. It meant he could have his first face-to-face conversation with her in years. After they shared a brief hug, Gabby invited him to sit down.
    “So how did your talk with Sage go?” she asked before sipping her water.
    “She didn’t say?” Wes asked, unable to believe they hadn’t pumped her for information as soon as she returned to the table.
    “I want to hear it from you,” Gabby said, regarding him carefully as she sat back, crossing her arms.
    His best friend’s ex was as beautiful as he remembered, with long blond hair, bright green eyes, and a ready smile that made everyone feel at ease. But Wes had been one of the few guys in high school who hadn’t made a play for her. Probably because he’d been too busy falling in love and planning a future with Sage.
    “I got the feeling she didn’t want to talk about the past,” he admitted, running his thumb over his life line. He did that sometimes to remind himself that even though he’d made a lot of mistakes, he had time left to make things right.
    “Can you blame her?” Gabby asked gently. “It’s taken her a long time to get over what happened. Honestly, I’m not sure that she ever has.”
    “Neither have I.” Wes eased back in the wooden chair as he ran a hand over his mouth. “There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t think about my son.”
    “I know Sage feels the same way.” She looked torn before asking, “Have you read her book?”
    “No. She told me about it tonight.”
    “You need to read it.” She covered his hand with hers. “But I have to warn you I cried all the way through it.”
    Wes suspected he might as well. His emotions were always close to the surface when he thought about the adoption that never should have happened. He didn’t know if he and Sage would have survived the stress of getting married and having a baby so young, but they shouldn’t have been robbed of the chance to try. “Did she write it under her own name?”
    “Yeah, you can buy a copy at Wright’s bookstore. They always have plenty on hand.”
    “In a town this size, it took a hell of a lot of courage to write something so personal and attach her own name to it.” Wes didn’t know if he would have had the guts to do that. “Did she take any flak from people?”
    “Not really,” Gabby said, shaking her head slowly. “A lot of people were surprised since she left town before she’d even started to show and didn’t return for more than a year. By then she’d lost all the baby weight and…”
    “What?” Wes asked, leaning forward. “Why’d you stop?”
    “I just feel like this is Sage’s story to tell. Not mine.”
    “But what if she won’t tell me?” His biggest concern was that she would continue shutting him down, especially where their son was concerned. That was why he had to ask… “Has she heard from him?” It killed Wes that he didn’t even know his own son’s name.
    “Wes, I’m sorry,” Gabby said, her expression pained. “There are just some things that are off-limits. And that’s one of them.”
    Wes couldn’t blame her. He’d have taken certain secrets to the grave for Colt. “So how do you suggest I get her to open up to me?” No one knew Sage better than Gabby, and if anyone could help him devise a plan to get back on his ex’s good side, it was her.
    “You could try being her friend,” Gabby suggested. “It worked before.”
    Wes was reminded of a time when the four of them had been inseparable. Colt and Gabby had started dating first while he and Sage tagged along to round things out. But it wasn’t long before their attraction and friendship turned into the kind of love Wes hadn’t expected to find until much later in life.
    “There’s been a hell of a lot of water under the