Page 10 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
Harbinger kicked his front hoof.
“I know. I suck.”
Damien appeared at the stall door, leading Chet. “You going to talk to that horse or ride him?”
Muscle memory was a wonderful thing. Spencer’s hands knew how to ready Harbinger with little input from his mind. It came back to him so naturally, as if he’d never left at all.
Harbinger only protested slightly when Spencer pulled on his lead. After a few tugs, he walked forward.
Outside the barn, both Spencer and Damien mounted the horses just as they’d done their entire lives. Three years. No riding. No balancing in a saddle.
Yet, as he nudged Harbinger forward, it was like he’d never left at all. With almost no prompting, Harbinger took off running, and Spencer didn’t hold him back as they soared across the fields and through the gate.
Damien and Chet ran at their side.
A grin stretched across Spencer’s face as the wind whipped his hair back. He leaned forward, his legs squeezing.
His body knew how to move, but it wasn’t prepared for Harbinger to slow and rear back, throwing him from the saddle. He hit the grass with a thud, sending pain searing through his back.
Damien slid down from Chet and ran over. “You okay?”
Spencer rolled onto his side and pushed himself up. “Blasted horse.”
“I should have warned you. No one rides Harbinger anymore.”
“What? Why not?”
“He’s gone a little wild since you left. He throws every rider who tries.” He shrugged. “I thought you’d be the exception.”
He scanned the field to see where Harbinger ran off to, spotting him in the distance. “We should go get him.”
“Nah, this isn’t the first time he’s run off in the last few years. He can’t get off the property because he hates to jump. He always ends up back at the barn looking for food.”
The horse Spencer knew never would have thrown him. He wouldn’t have run off. But nothing was the same as he’d left it. “I’m not riding behind you on Chet.”
Damien laughed. “Walking it is then.”
Leading Chet beside them, they took off back toward the barn. The Lee properties were an extensive patchwork of cattle fields and even a small orange grove. Spencer used to be able to ride Harbinger out to the far edges of their land whenever he needed space from his family or their employees who were always around. Whenever he needed to dream of something other than a life of running the ranch.
College was the goal for his parents. That was how he’d learn the business principles needed to run such a large operation. They’d never imagined their eldest son would jump a plane to the other side of the world as soon as he could.
It was the ultimate need for space.
But it instilled something in him, a desire for more. More adventure, more experiences.
“Was it worth it?” Damien’s question came as a surprise.
But the answer didn’t. “Yes.” In those three years, he’d lived, jumping from planes and climbing mountains. He saw the world from every vantage point he could. He’d worked himself to the bone in various jobs every place he went, but even with all that, he didn’t regret the experiences.
“That’s good. I think I’d hate you more if it hadn’t been worth it.”
“Do you hate me?”
Damien was silent for a moment. “For three years, I have seen the pain in Dad and Ma. I hate you a bit for that.”
His brother had always been honest. “Do you think they’ll forgive me?”
“That’s a stupid question.”
