Free Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) by Jennifer Culbreth Page A

with it!”
    “You’re not the only one!” Ani took a deep breath to try and calm her laughter.
    As the two relaxed an awkward silence filled the room. Ani twisted her hands in her lap trying to think of something to say, but she kept coming up short on conversation starters. As Kate slid the paper back across her desk, Ani decided that she would just have to give it time. When Kate was ready to talk she would. This was the point in Ani’s life where she was learning whether it was best to walk away or try harder. Though, no matter how hard she’d tried, Kate had been reluctant to open back up; but who could blame her.
    “Thanks, Kate.” Ani took the paper and made her way out of the door.
    “Wait, Ani,” Kate called after her as she stepped out of the door, “Listen, I’m sorry. I’ve been an ass. I should’ve given you a chance to talk or apologize, or whatever it is you have been stalking me for.” Kate’s smirk was spreading rapidly across her face as she peered back down at the papers in her hand.
    “Kate, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I was completely wrong in how I left things between us. I should’ve been a better friend and I wasn’t.” Ani stepped back into her office and slowly sat back down into the vacant chair.
    “Yeah, you did owe me a goodbye in the least.” Kate’s eyes were sarcastic.
    “I know, and I’m sorry. So sorry, Kate. If I could go back and do it all over again I would have done so many things differently. After everything happened between Cash and me, all I wanted to do was just get the hell out of here and never look back at that heartache ever again. I told myself I would get to New York and I would have so much fun that it wouldn’t matter anymore, but I was all wrong.” Ani knew this was her moment to grovel and she would be damned if she held back; she had years to apologize for.
    “I thought the whole time I was in New York that nothing back home mattered. That I was going to make something of myself and go far in life away from everyone and this town, and man was I wrong. The only thing I could think of while I was gone was you and my parents, all of my friends, and the beauty of the mountains. It was like all of it was calling for me, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.”
    “Eventually, I just felt like I was stuck, unable to leave for fear that I’d look like a failure.” Ani let out a deep sigh, “I waited five years for a reason to come back and as soon as I had one I came home.” Ani stared out Kate’s window at the mountain peaks in the distance.
    “To be honest, Ani, I think I was more jealous than hurt,” Kate’s eyes were heavy and sullen, “I wanted to get out of here so badly and you were getting that opportunity. Not only that, but you were so excited to go with Cash instead of me and then he let you down. I guess I kept waiting and hoping that you’d ask me to go with you and then you didn’t, and it made me feel left out.”
    “I’m sorry, Kate. I wish that it had been you and I taking over the world, I really do. I can’t believe I let myself get so caught up in the fairy tale that was Cash Roberts.”
    “Well, he is a good looking son of a bitch. It happens,” Kate smiled over at her and for the first time since she’d left for New York, Ani’s life was beginning to feel normal again.
    She was beginning to think that maybe the path she had wanted and fought so hard for wasn’t actually the path that she was supposed to have been on. More and more the idea that this was where she was supposed to have been all along solidified in her mind. She wasn’t sure what God had intended for her here, but she was sure that she would be finding out soon.
    “So, I hear you were out at the hill this past weekend,” Kate teased.
    “Talk about old times, it felt like high school all over again.”
    “I think ol’ Cash Roberts still thinks you’re pretty,” Kate mocked.
    “Lord, I can’t get him to leave me