Page 98 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“What he said,” she heard Sawyer growl.

“And yet, I’m staying, and the longer this discussion goes on, the longer it will take to get me out of here, and it’ll likely freak out an already skittish horse.”

She heard male voices debating and ignored them.

“Zoe knows what she’s about and you boys need to understand that,” Bart said. She’d remember to give him a hug for that later.

“Aunt Zoe, are you okay?”

“All good, Ally. You and Vi just make them close up the door and drive slowly back to JD’s now, sweetie.”

“Okay.” Addressing the rest of the adults, her niece said, “Aunt Zoe wants to go, so let’s do that.”

“You talk sense into your uncles and JD now, Ally, good girl,” Bart said.

The door shut seconds later, but not before she heard JD’s question. “You have your phone on you, right?”

“I do.”

“Then call if you need us to stop, because I don’t like you being in there with hundreds of pounds of horse that could crush you.”

“Just drive, JD. I’ll be fine.”

She talked to Roman as the trailer started moving. He was skittish and kicked out against the door, but they kept moving. The journey back wasn’t a long one, but it was long enough. Her throat was dry from all the singing and talking by the time they stopped at JD’s place.

“Now, what we’re going to do, Zoe, is open the door. You bring him out when you’re ready,” Tripp called to her.

Roman’s ears were twitching as the door was lowered, and he was trembling again.

“This is your new home, buddy, and you’re going to love it. There’s this donkey called Potato. You and she are going to be besties,” Zoe said as she urged the big animal backward and out of the trailer.

Everyone stood back to the right. JD opened the gate, and she walked Roman inside.

“Potato’s coming to investigate,” Ally called to her.

Sure enough, the little donkey was trotting their way, ears back, teeth bared. She was going to get a chunk taken out of her, or Roman was.

Chapter27

JD’s stomach had been tied in knots with worry that Zoe would be hurt ever since she walked up to that horse in Mr. Stubbs’s paddock. Now she was safe. It had eased, but only slightly.

“Now just stop there, Zoe, and let Potato come to you,” Tripp called to her.

“How do you know my donkey is called Potato?” JD asked him to keep his mind off the fact the woman he was feeling far too much for was just inches from being in the middle of an animal argument.

“Lyntacky, JD, and I’m the mayor. I know everything,” Tripp said, still watching Zoe.

“You couldn’t have come up with a nicer name for her?” Sawyer asked staring at the rapidly approaching donkey.

“It’s a donkey and not a very nice one,” JD said. “Were you thinking Sweetie Pie, or Honey?”

“She suits Potato, Uncle Sawyer,” Ally said.

“Hold out a treat for the donkey, Zoe,” Tripp continued to instruct her.

She was brave, Zoe Duke. She hadn’t hesitated to go into that paddock. Brave and strong. What she’d done when that asshole in Chicago, whose name he would find out, had sexually harassed her was deal with it in Duke fashion. Head-on. That family never took a backstep when a forward one was on offer.

The donkey stopped abruptly and took the treat. Roman stretched out his long neck and sniffed Potato. She did the same.

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