by Mari Carr
The deepest falls aren’t always the hardest.
Compass Girls, Book 4
Darkness has crept into Sterling Compton’s charmed life, relentlessly stealing what’s left of her grandmother’s memories. When she happens upon a compelling stranger leaning against a broken-down pickup in the middle of nowhere, grief and a gut-deep attraction spur her to take that too-safe life by the horns.
From the instant Sterling emerges from her Jeep, Viho is drawn to her carefree spirit. Her innocent offer of a ride turns into the ride of his life in his truck bed—and he forgets why he meant to avoid Compton Pass at all costs.
He should have known that karma was waiting to laugh in his face. Especially when Viho figures out Sterling’s father is the one who stood between him and the man he should have called “father”.
Yet it’s tough to hate someone who offers him a job. Especially when he and Sterling realize there’s a living tie on the way that will bind Viho to her family forever—if he can convince her she’s much more to him than an obligation.
Warning: Sometimes it’s hard to let go, but every story has an ending. This one has a Native American hero with a chip on his shoulder the size of Wyoming and a vulnerable heroine who has a gift for polishing up diamonds in the rough. Some scenes may tug heartstrings so hard it’ll hurt, but the oh-my-god orgasms make up for it.
Falling Softly
Jayne Rylon & Mari Carr
Dedication
For all good things that have come to an end.
Prologue
Sterling Compton accepted a large, flat box from her father, Sam. She unraveled the lilac ribbon, then shredded the holographic wrapping paper beneath as the rest of her mega-extended family smiled from the other side of the kitchen table she—and her cousins, the Compass Girls—huddled around. Her grandmother, Vivi, laughed as the telltale rattle gave away the contents before Sterling could actually see the beads making the racket against the hard plastic organizer she revealed.
If the size of her smile could be measured by the ache in her cheeks, it might be setting a record for her sixteen years on Earth. And that was saying something. Her life had been full of joy. How could it not be, with a group of three cousins who were like her sisters, along with their younger brothers, the Compass Boys?
They had the entire Compass Ranch to roam on horseback. Plenty of places to play. So much love and fun she hadn’t realized that not everyone was surrounded by sunshine that bright and warm. Only recently had she started to notice shadows on the fringes of her happy world.
Like when she’d met the boy at school who’d had no money for lunch. Vivi had listened to her story and gave her double the whole next week so he didn’t have to sit in the corner with his arms wrapped around his middle.
Or when she’d seen a woman crying in the parking lot of the hospital when she’d gone along with Hope to visit Aunt Lucy one day. The way the woman had fingered a snipped plastic medical bracelet as she sobbed had sent chills up Sterling’s spine.
Just last week she’d accidentally interrupted her dad having a teleconference with a supplier who’d tried to cheat the ranch. She’d never seen him angry before, but the curses he’d shouted at the man on the other side of the screen had made her eyes bulge.
For one moment, she paused, glancing around the familiar faces that had surrounded her. Protected her, for all of her life. Beyond them, the sun had nearly set outside and darkness crept in. She nibbled on the corner of her lip, tasting the sweetness of Vivi’s cake there.
“Don’t you like it?” Jade asked, earning an elbow in the ribs from Sienna.
“I do. It’s great.” Quick to correct them, Sterling refocused on the package in her hands and the bliss overflowing their home. A gift more precious than she could have dreamed to ask for.
If this is what it meant to mature, she wasn’t sure she was onboard for that nonsense.
But presents, she could handle those.
Sterling jiggled the case in her hands, watching the light bounce off the multicolored glass. So pretty. So many colors, so many ways to arrange them. She couldn’t wait to get started. Suddenly, choosing to celebrate her Sweet Sixteen with an epic craft session between just her, Hope, Sienna and Jade seemed like the best idea she’d ever had.
She glanced up at her mom and smiled, though the woman was too intuitive to be fooled so easily. A raised brow met her grin. Sterling explained, “There are so many possibilities. It’s kind of…overwhelming.”
Swallowing hard, she blinked back unexpected tears. Her mom smiled warmly and nodded as if, like always, she understood completely.
“If you work hard, you’ll make something great of whatever you’re given.” Jake, one of the ranch hands, added another present to the one Sterling didn’t want to let go of even for a second. A pair of jeweler’s pliers. How like him to give her tools. She appreciated his useful gift. Of all of the ranch family, maybe his gruffness was preparing them for the road ahead more than she realized.
“Thank you,” she said, and meant it.
Her dad clapped the guy on the back and they shared a secret smile. Jake was like her fourth uncle. The rest of the Compass Brothers and their wives contributed to her pile until she had everything she needed for the hobby she had shown some skill in at summer camp earlier this year. Gear, wire, clasps, art supplies for designing, stones and even a gem polisher. Everything she’d not-so-secretly longed for lay at her fingertips.
Embarrassed, she realized she’d talked for months now about the love she’d discovered for making jewelry. To say she’d been obsessed would be an understatement. Online video tutorials had occupied a lot of her summer hours, and she felt she had a lot of knowledge but hardly any experience. Time to change that.
She couldn’t wait.
“Yes, we listen to you, honey.” Vivi beamed as she handed over her present. She continued talking as Sterling unwrapped an assortment of gorgeous charms. “Passion makes any project perfect. You should follow your heart. Make something beautiful out of this gift you have and share it with others.”
“I will,” she promised.
With that, the crowd dispersed. Most of the male family members swarmed the cake for a second helping. Roughhousing and playfulness replaced the quiet intensity of the fleeting moment when she’d truly felt like an almost-adult for the first time. Thank goodness.
Sterling glanced around at her cousins, who inspected her bounty as they got ready to settle in for the crafting bonanza sleepover she’d opted for as her special Compass Girls celebration. As she gazed on the various components before her, she had an idea.
“You know, I bet we could make some necklaces to match school colors and sell them at the basketball games coming up.” Sterling could already picture a neat design with alternating colors. She took out a length of wire and then snipped one for each of the other girls.
For a while, she was lost in her imagination, visualizing what could become of the metal and glass if she twisted here and pinched there. Like that. She hadn’t realized the majority of her relatives had wandered off, either out to the barn or to their own homes, until one of the girls broke the silence.
“I’m sure you could have something awesome by next week’s match.” Hope snorted, glancing between the creation taking shape in Sterling’s palm and the junk Jade dangled from her fingertip.
Sterling laughed. “Good point.”
Jade dropped the lame attempt onto the table, then chewed one of her black-painted nails. Around the digit, she mumbled, “Tell me again why we didn’t snea
k out to that party up by the lake? All the popular boys are going to be there. I heard Jimmy talked his older brother into buying them a keg. There’s probably still time. Once the old people go to bed…”
“No way!” Hope glared at their more rebellious cousin. “I’m not getting in trouble that deep. Do you know what my dads would do to us if we got caught? Or Uncle Sawyer, if the cops get called?”
“Besides, what is it with you and drinking?” Sterling honestly wondered what the appeal was. “Ever since we snuck that tequila on Sienna’s birthday, it seems like that’s all you care about. You can have plenty of fun without getting hammered, you know?”
Sterling almost regretted her harsh tone when Jade went quiet, staring at the mangled wire in her hand as she tried to make something other than a mess from the supplies.
Soon enough, though, the mood passed, helped along by Hope and her ever-bubbly personality. “Come on, guys. It’s Sterling’s birthday and we’re going to spend it her way. Maybe there will be another party next weekend. Who knows?”
“Yeah.” Sienna jumped in to smooth things over. “We’ve got plenty of time to do what everyone wants. Pretty much forever. A hundred years at least, right?”
Something in Sterling’s stomach felt funny as she wondered if that was true. What was wrong with her today?
This time when she met Jade’s stare, they seemed to have more in common.
“How about I make you a necklace?” Sterling scooted her chair closer and dragged the onyx slices toward them both. “I bet you’d like something like this. Or maybe I could set one of those cameo brooches in a swirly silver oval and tie it up with some of this black satin ribbon?”
“That sounds pretty cool.” Jade knocked her shoulder into Sterling’s. “I wish I was good at something like this.”
“You’ll find your talent soon.” Sterling smiled, hoping it wasn’t a lie.
Time flew as she transformed basic materials into something spectacular. At least to her, since it was her first real piece of jewelry. Jade seemed equally impressed when she peeked up from the movie the rest of the girls watched. It was probably the third one in the marathon they’d kicked off after Sterling became completely engrossed in her project.
Modeling the results of Sterling’s work, Jade intimidated them with her stark beauty, even if she seemed blind to it. They all jumped when someone’s cell phone rang from the other side of the cottage. Her dad’s.
No one called him this late.
He answered quickly, then listened. “Oh shit!” he barked. A few terse exchanges were followed by silence.
Something felt off. Hairs rose on Sterling’s arm.
Curious, the girls crouched low as one. Holding hands, they snuck toward Sterling’s mom and dad’s room as quietly as a gaggle of teenagers could manage. It must have been awful if Sam and Cindi didn’t notice the racket.
As the Compass Girls hovered near the cracked door, they overheard every whispered word of the conversation that followed. “It’s bad, Cin. Antonio and Charlotte’s girl, the one in Sterling’s class…”
“Suzanne?” Cindi’s voice held an edge Sterling couldn’t remember hearing before. “What about her?”
“There’s been an accident. A terrible one. Sawyer’s at the scene. He was the first responder.” Sam crossed the room. Through the gap, they watched him hug Cindi to his chest while she covered her face with her palms.
Her mom asked the question Sterling wanted to know the answer to herself. “Is Suzanne—”
“She’s alive. Barely. Even if she makes it through the night…she’s never going to be the same, though. Head injury. Brain trauma. Stuff like that.” Sam cursed violently, demonstrating his expertise with the dirty words Sterling had just found out her dad knew how to use shockingly well. “Stupid kids. They were up at the lake drinking. Then attempted the drive home, shiny new licenses and all. You know that bad curve, near the Fuller’s farm? They didn’t make it. Hit a tree, then flipped down the embankment.”
“How can we help?” Cindi wondered.
“Sawyer wanted to know if we could watch their boy tonight.” Sam’s voice sounded strained. “No kid should have to see this. Antonio and Charlotte are wrecked. Can’t hardly think for themselves, never mind take care of Billy.”
Sterling whipped her stare to the rest of her cousins, who seemed pale enough to glow in the dark. They all gawked at Jade. What if they’d gone too? It could easily have been them instead of Suzanne lying broken on the gravel road.
Gasping for air, Sterling considered the ripples one girl’s foolish choices would have on the rest of her life. On her family. Sterling’s brother, Bryant, and Billy were best friends. Would Billy realize this wasn’t some impromptu sleepover when Sam picked him up from the sitter instead of his parents coming home from their night out?
Would the adults hide the bad stuff from the poor kid? How long could they keep it secret? Soon enough the truth had to come out. And when it did, Billy would be crushed.
The girls scrambled into the living room when Sam tugged on his jeans.
They collapsed, shell shocked, onto the couch. Still holding hands.
“This is my new lucky necklace.” Jade lifted her fingers to run compulsively over the pendant Sterling had slaved over.
It was the first time in Sterling’s life she clearly witnessed the raw ugliness of life behind the force field of sunshine and rainbows her family had constructed, recognizing darkness for what it truly was. Though it wouldn’t be the last.
Because once the illusion had truly shattered, she couldn’t recreate the paradise she’d thought she lived in.
Just like finding out there was no Santa, except a hundred times worse. Disappointment and a fear of loss were born into her world, never to leave. Ugly presents she hadn’t asked for and couldn’t return. Maybe their hundred years orbiting the sun was grossly overestimated.
Happy birthday, baby.
Chapter One
“No, Vivi. It’s this way.” Sterling Compton winced as she steered her grandmother, in super slow motion, toward the specialist’s office for the unscheduled consultation he’d requested. Okay, so the convoluted path through the bowels of Compton Pass’s hospital would put a snarled mess of jeweler’s wire to shame. Still, they’d been this way a bajillion times in the past year for routine appointments. Her grandmother should know the route by heart.
Had never faltered before.
It wasn’t that today was a particularly bad one for the woman either. She suffered from Alzheimer’s. It’d been a while since she’d had terrific day, come to think of it. Lately, Sterling considered herself and the rest of her Compass Girl cousins lucky if Vivi remembered their names and didn’t mix them up with their mothers. Hell, sometimes she would trade a mistaken identity for the days Vivi didn’t respond at all, lost in her own thoughts.
Acid churned in Sterling’s guts as she dreaded the final steep slope of her grandmother’s decline. Day after day of seeing her like this had started to erode some of the impressions Sterling held dear of the strong, confident, independent woman her grandmother had always been. It frightened her to think that true person would be erased from her memory, replaced by this specter of her grandmother, in jeopardy of surrendering the most important thing she’d ever owned—her dignity. Maybe it would be better to be clueless. Maybe Vivi wasn’t the one getting served the biggest shit sandwich in this deal.
Feeling sorry for herself wouldn’t make Sterling’s helping any more palatable. She tried to enjoy her time with her grandmother, while she still could.
“That’s a pretty bracelet.” Vivi twirled the silver cuff on Sterling’s wrist, then winked. “Where’d you get it? My birthday is coming up soon, you know.”
Taking a long, deep breath, Sterling didn’t bother to correct her grandmother, who’d celebrated her birthday in the spring. Instead, Sterling focused
on the genuine admiration, taking the compliment to heart. After all, it wasn’t as if her grandmother was stroking her ego when she couldn’t remember that jewelry was Sterling’s business. Hanging around Vivi had conditioned her to live in the moment. “I made this. It’s part of my new line for the store. Here, try it on.”
She slipped the skin-warmed metal over her hand and threaded Vivi’s gnarled fingers through the opening. It bobbled too far up Vivi’s thin arm when the woman angled it for a better look. “Pretty. High-quality workmanship.”
“Thanks.” Sterling beamed.
“You made this?” Vivi asked, driving a white-hot poker into Sterling’s heart. Though it cost her, she smiled and nodded.
“Almost there.” She coached Vivi around one final bend, then considered arranging a wheelchair for their next visit as she lowered her grandmother into a plastic bucket chair outside the specialist’s office. The woman closed her eyes for a second or two as she settled gingerly into the seat and rubbed her knee.
They’d hardly been there long enough for Vivi to wonder where she’d gotten her new bracelet from a handful of times when Dr. Martin popped his head out. “Mrs. Compton. So nice to see you today.”
“Dr. Phillips?” Vivi seemed shocked. As she should, since poor Doc had passed away at least a decade ago. He’d been the man who’d treated Sterling’s grandfather, JD, before she’d been born.
“No, ma’am. I’m Dr. Martin.” A somber mask gradually replaced the initial welcoming optimism that had brightened his face. Both he and Sterling knew where this was headed. “Would you mind waiting out here a moment while I speak with your granddaughter? If you need anything, my assistant, Claudine, is right down there.”
“Of course not.” Vivi smiled as she peeked over to the nearby desk the doctor pointed toward. “I think we’ve got some time before our volunteer shift begins. Honey, if he wants your number, I’d recommend giving it to him.”
Vivi hadn’t spent her days cheering up patients in a very long time. Neither Sterling nor the doctor planned on mentioning that, though. And if they weren’t going to burst her bubble about the purpose of her trip, they certainly weren’t about to remind her that she’d met Dr. Martin’s lovely wife on many occasions.
