Read The You I Never Knew for Free Online

again. With a wrenching sound of metal, the bumper unhooked. The Rover lurched forward.
    Sam put two fingers to his lips and pierced the air with a loud whistle. “Hold on there!” he yelled, breaking into a run.
    A few people stopped, shaking their heads when they saw the damage. The driver’s side door of the Rover opened and out jumped a slender teenage boy.
    Great, thought Sam, eyeing the studded jacket and sleek ponytail. An underage driver to boot. He could see someone in the passenger seat of the Range Rover. The kid’s date, maybe?
    “Guess you had a little trouble backing up there,” he said, keeping calm with an effort.
    The kid tossed him an insolent glance. Light glinted off a small silver nose hoop. “Guess so. Sorry about your trailer. Insurance’ll cover it.”
    The boy’s nonchalance grated on Sam. Hell, he looked too young to have a license. A learner’s permit—possibly.
    When Sam thought of the time and expense repairs would take, he got more pissed. From the corner of his eye, he could see the boy’s passenger rooting around in the glove compartment.
    “Yeah, insurance’ll cover it,” Sam said, “but only after I fight with them for about six months. Tell you what—this looks like a few hundred dollars’ worth of damage. You could come out to my place and work it off.”
    “Work it—”
    “You know, work. Like with a shovel and a ton of horseshit.” Sam dug in his pocket for a card with the ranch name and address on it. He held it out. “You show up tomorrow, and you can get started on the stables.”
    The kid didn’t take the card. “Hey, I’m not from around here—”
    “I never would have guessed,” Sam snapped. “Look, you be there or—”
    “He’ll be there,” said a soft voice behind Sam.
    He froze, feeling a jab of premonition.
That voice
. He knew that voice. It was something the heart remembered long after the mind forgot.
    He made himself turn slowly to face her. Awareness exploded over him, but there was only silence, and the smell of snow and exhaust, and a vague notion of folks walking to their cars in the parking lot. Each moment seemed endless, drawn out, excruciating. Denial reared in his chest, but he couldn’t refute what his eyes were seeing.
    “Michelle?”
    “Hey, Sam.” She had that same low, sweet voice and wide, fragile eyes, the same soft blond hair, cropped short now but curling in the same breezy way around a face he’d never forgotten.
    The boy blew on his hands to warm them. “You guys know each other?”
    “Reckon we do,” said Sam, his gaze never leaving Michelle. Holy Christ,
Michelle Turner
. When he had first met her, she was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen in his life—long yellow ponytail, big blue eyes, a smile he liked better than air. Now she wasn’t pretty anymore. She was beautiful, the way a goddess is beautiful, the way the moon is beautiful. Perfectly formed, luminous, chilly, and… distant. That was the word for it. Distant.
    Where’ve you been, Michelle?
    The unexpected quake of emotion pissed him off. He didn’t need this, didn’t want the memories she stirred up. Turning away from her, he tucked the card back in his pocket. “Look, kid, forget about the trailer.”
    The boy let out an explosive breath of relief. “Hey, thanks. That’s pretty cool of you—”
    “He’ll be at your place tomorrow.” Michelle’s voice was flat, neutral. Sam had no idea what he was seeing in her eyes, her face. A stranger. Michelle had become a stranger. The person who had once been the sole keeper of every hope and dream he’d ever had was now a complete mystery to him.
    “You don’t have to—” he began.
    “Yes, he does, and he will.”
    “Mo-om,”
the kid said.
    What an annoying little shit. Sam got prickly hearing some kid call Michelle “Mom.” He felt even more weird thinking that somewhere in the world there was a guy the kid called “Dad.” So where was he? Sam wondered. He knew he wouldn’t