Desert Bound (Cambio Springs) Read Online Free

sacrifices were worth it at times like that. He had to remind himself it wasn’t all about him. It was about his father and mother. His sister. The wolves who depended on him. His friend with four kids who needed someone to step up when their father stepped out.
    “I’m not setting myself up just to get knocked down again.”
    If he’d really lost Ted forever, it had to mean something.
     
    The next morning, Alex roused himself from his childhood bed, downed as many aspirin as he could get away with, and slipped out the door after a quick conversation with his mom, who was already putting food together for Allie. Then, like every Saturday for the past few months, he headed to his sister’s house. The fact that she happened to be home that weekend was only a bonus.
    Willow McCann lived at the edge of town, halfway out into the desert and away from as many distractions as she could. The fact that his baby sister was a famous painter with work shown across the Southwest surprised him some days. But then, when he thought about it more, it didn’t seem strange at all. In her own quiet way, Willow was the mirror image of their father. She was stubborn as hell. Alex figured that, one day, his little sister had simply decided she wanted everyone to buy her paintings for ridiculous sums of money. Then she quietly set about taking over her tiny corner of the art world until her mission was accomplished. She was like a special ops soldier with a paintbrush. 
    She had recently taken up ceramics. In a few months, she’d conquer that, too. People who didn’t know her thought she was shy. She wasn’t. Willow just didn’t like very many people and found it easier to adopt the mantle of a reclusive artist in their tiny community. It worked for her because it kept most people away.
    She was sitting in the shaded lean-to outside her house when Alex pulled up. Some thick vine covered the arbor, lush, green, and dripping with yellow flowers. The road up to her house was covered in a new coat of gravel, and the old place gleamed. It was a small house his grandparents had built, but Willow had improved it. 
    The desert landscaping was blooming with sparse beauty; colorful murals and tiled mosaics decorated the low garden walls, lending a lush look to the area, despite the arid plantings. She’s recovered an old wooden table with a blue and green glass mosaic and added red chairs she’d painted herself. A pot of coffee was sitting on the table, along with some sweet rolls he knew she probably only bought for him.
    Willow didn’t look up, but continued sketching in the pad at her left as she drank her coffee. 
    “Joe left Allie last night,” she said. “Took off right in the middle of dinner. What an asshole.”
    “I heard.”
    “Apparently, she was making meatloaf. And Allie’s meatloaf is great. So he’s a stupid asshole.”
    “Not gonna disagree with you.”
    She finally looked up when his chair scraped across the terra cotta tiles under the arbor. “How did you hear?”
    “Kevin called Jena, who came home from the bar. Jena called her mom to help watch the kids so they could go over to Ted’s. Kathy called Mom. I knew about it by the time I got home from the Cave.” He closed his eyes against the glaring light. “How did you know?”
    She shrugged. “Allie called me this morning.”
    “How’s she doing?”
    “She’s worried about the kids.”
    Joe was such an asshole.
    Alex helped himself to the extra mug his sister had set out and filled it from the bright blue carafe. He didn’t say anything. It was one of the benefits of hanging out with his sister. They didn’t really need to talk much. Thirty years being related made non-verbal communication a breeze. She passed him the milk and a sweet roll without even looking up from her drawing.
    “So,” she asked, “has anyone told Ollie?”
    Leave it to Willow, asking the one question that everyone was thinking and no one wanted to say.
    “I