Page 104 of Country Contract

I’ve pulled back from Harlow this week to preserve the part of my heart that is left for romantic love. I want to keep spending time with her, but I can’t just freefall into all this. I had been, and it all caught up to me after I talked with Silas and Hunter. Spending time with her is still great, but when I feel that flutter in my chest, I pull back and remind myself what all this is.

I forget that memo at dinner. It’s too perfect. Everyone is laughing and talking—even Hunter is getting along with her better. She clicks with my mom immediately. She recommends a few thriller books she may like. She adores her, just like everyone else at the table.

The person I notice loving her the most, though, is Blake. She is sitting in her highchair between Cassidy and Harlow, eating up word after word. Her big eyes are full of wonder as she watches Harlow. She doesn’t get ignored, either. Harlow takes breaks talking to Cassidy and plays or feeds B. Their interaction is somewhat of an oxymoron.

When you look at a woman in all black, you don’t immediately imagine her making goofy sounds or faces at a toddler. You imagine her cool and collected, like how Harlow was when she first got here. Since that nap in her arms, Blake has gravitated toward her more and more.

I join in on their game a little and then we all talk withease. Dinner is fast and I immediately wish I could turn back time and relive it just the way it was.

Georgie and Cassidy clean the kitchen, my parents are tucked away for the night, and my brother takes Blake upstairs to do her bedtime routine. Harlow and I cleared the table and are now left twiddling our thumbs.

“Want to go check on Majesty?” I ask.

She beams a bright, beautiful smile at me before nodding.

“I have to stop by my trailer for a minute to grab a few things. I like to sleep in the stable on a new horse’s first night. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

Harlow’s expression grows softer and sweeter.

“That’s fine by me. Grab a couple of extra blankets and pillows. It’s going to be a cold one.”

Back at my trailer, Harlow borrows some sweats and my PCHS hoodie. She wanted to get out of her dress and only had extra riding clothes. I change, grab bedding and water, and make a thermos of hot cocoa.

The stable is quiet, but Majesty fusses. I hear her moving about in her stall, huffing a little. It’s when Harlow pets her and soothes her that she can still and settle.

I set up my sleeping station on some saddle blankets while Harlow and Majesty do their own thing. I might have acted all cool about sleeping in the stable, but it’s cold out here, not cool. Downright cold. I grab a space heater from the supply room and plug it in near where I set up my bedding.

I lie down and pull out a sketchbook with a small pencil tucked inside. It’s small enough to fit into my pocket, so it’s full of garbage sketches.

I sketch out a rough memory of Harlow petting Majesty at the fence line today. It’s scribbled and simplified,but I know what it is. I get lost in the sketch, and then turn the page to start another. A woman and a child, and at a glance, it looks like Harlow’s slim figure.

“Hey, kid,” she says, pulling me out of my creative trance.

“Hey, witch.”

She kicks off her boots and climbs onto my makeshift bed. She grabs a pillow and tucks herself onto her side, facing me. She’s curled into herself, so I reach over her to turn on the space heater.

“That’s nice,” she murmurs. “Whatcha’ sketchin’?”

“Cassidy and Blake, Majesty, a saddle. A whole bunch of nothing.”

She blinks a few times and then looks sad for a second before putting her cool mask back on.

“What’s your favorite thing to draw?”

“Lately or ever?”

“Both.”

“Ever? Probably horses. I draw them all the time. I think even at one time, I told Hunter when I grow up I’m going to be an artist for horse anatomy and horse breed textbooks,” I chuckle. “Right now? Maybe my dream house or Blake?”

You.

Harlow nods and waits for me to keep talking, but I don’t have much else to say.

“What would you do before when you would sleep here?”

“Draw, read, tell scary or romantic stories with Hunter when he would stay with me.”

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