I grew up with three brothers. They werenât tied to me by blood, but our connection went beyond genetics or bearing the same last name. Our connection was forged the summer I turned thirteen, the summer my mom ended her life and left me in the custody of John Armstrong, a man Iâd never met. Packing all I owned in a couple of boxes, I left the familiarity of the big city and headed west to Red Mountain Ranch, set in a lonely valley outside of Jackson Hole.Â
Nothing was as it seemed at Red Mountainâit didnât take long for me to figure that out. John was kind to me but distant, as if he was afraid to let anyone get too close. His three teenage sons had their own devices for keeping love as far away as they could. The eldest distracted himself with cheap relationships that had a shelf-life of one night. The middle son threw himself into the rigor of running a ranch, and the third wielded cruelty and mind-games in his quest to keep people from getting close.Â
Time has gone by, and Iâve spent those years trying to forget the brother Iâd fallen forâthe biggest mistake of my life.Â
Finally, Iâve moved on. Finally, Iâm back. But what I didnât realize was that running away from the wrong brother meant Iâd also run away from the right one. The one whoâd been there for me all along, waiting in his brotherâs shadow for the day I either would or could move on.Â
But a decade is a long time to wait. Has the brother I should have chosen all of those years ago moved on too? Am I about to discover that my biggest mistake wasnât falling in love with the wrong brother, but failing to return the love of the right one sooner?Â
Does unrequited love have an expiration date?Â
Iâm about to find out.