Page 45 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
His sharp words spurred her to action, and she ran from the stall. Spencer backed up, reaching behind him to grip the door. Counting to three in his head, he twisted around, jumped through the doorway, and slid it shut.
Throwing the latch into place, he stepped back and eyed the agitated horse. Harbinger threw his dark head back, his mane splaying wildly.
Pulling the cowboy hat from his head, he wiped his forehead on his arm. “What are we going to do with you, boy?”
Harbinger calmed, crossing the stall to stand near the door. Spencer shook his head, trying to remember the times he’d raced across the fields atop Harbinger.
As a teenager, he’d always dreamed of leaving Gulf City behind, but he never imagined he’d do it. Damien was the smart one in the family. He’d go on to college and get some great job.
Spencer was the rancher. Whether his parents were proud of him or not, he loved horses and didn’t mind hard work.
Whatever his dreams were, he’d once imagined he’d end up right back where he started. And he could have been happy with that kind life. He’d planned to marry Victoria and have kids to eventually take the work off his hands, sons and daughters he’d teach to love horses and appreciate the calm of a Florida life away from the beach.
But it all came too soon. The pregnancy. The miscarriage. He hadn’t been ready. Victoria hadn’t been ready.
It changed all their future plans. He’d never told his parents why he left. Damien assumed it was to see something different, something more.
To an extent, he was right. Losing a child crushed Spencer more than he thought possible.
Setting the hat back on his head, he pushed memories of a different time from his mind and turned to Hadley who watched Harbinger with wide eyes.
“Next time I tell you not to go near a dangerous animal, listen to me.” He walked by her without another word, his breath coming in short gasps until he reached the fresh air. He sucked it in and fixed his eyes on the fields in the distance as he calmed himself.
If he wasn’t careful, Hadley would crack him right open, and he’d never be put right again. He wasn’t ready for the kinds of things she could make him wish for.
Gabe approached them with a wave and a grin.
“Hadley,” Spencer snapped. “Work with Gabe the rest of the day.”
Without looking back at them, he sprinted back into the barn to saddle up Toby again. In that moment, the only thing he wanted to do was get away from everything and everyone.
He needed the space he’d never find around Hadley.
