Page 33 of Ocotillo Kisses
“No, I was just early, I guess, and wondered if you remembered the way.”
She gave him a look. “I’ve only been riding this way since I was, what, twelve?”
“Yeah, well, it’s been a while. I made sure the gate was still working last night, but as I recall, you didn’t use the gate all that often.”
She laughed. “No, but it’s been a while since I’ve jumped. This is Lonesome Dove, and we don’t know each other well enough for that yet. Who are you riding?”
“This is Destiny’s baby, Loki.”
“You’re riding Destiny’s child?” she teased, but he didn’t get the joke. “But he’s not a baby anymore.”
“No, Destiny’s gone. He’s about seven now.”
Destiny had been Claudia’s horse. If Con and Britt had spent a lot of time riding, Claudia had lived in the saddle. She and that horse were one. Britt wondered if the horse had grieved when her girl hadn’t come home.
No. She didn’t want to spend the day thinking about Claudia, or that horrible horrible time of her life. She didn’t think Con did, either.
She was surprised when they settled into a comfortable silence. She’d thought they’d be uneasy together, but this path was familiar enough that they weren’t.
“So tell me what you’ve been doing with your life,” she said. She wanted to hear that he was happy with the path he’d stayed on. She kind of needed to hear it.
“Well, you’re looking at it. Working the ranch, raising the horses, training them, selling them.”
“I looked you up, you know. You have a great reputation. You and your horses. Buyer come from all around the world for your quarter horses.”
He turned his head to look at her. “You looked me up?”
She shrugged. “Just because I left doesn’t mean I forgot. I wanted to see what you were up to.”
He turned his attention back to the trail, a small smile playing on his lips. “Well, if we’re being honest, I looked you up, too. And I am pretty sure there’s a lot more online about you than about me. Lots of events.”
She gave a little laugh. “Yeah, I am never bored. Never home. Once I go back, it’s Christmas party planning season.”
“So you come out here and we don’t let you take a break, either.”
“No, it’s not like that. Not like it’s hard. It just takes a little more digging since I’m not familiar with people in the area. But your mom has helped me out a lot. Is she doing okay today?”
“Actually she is pretty tired after last night. I don’t think she’s been away from home that long in twelve years.”
Shock froze Britt in her saddle, and her horse responded to the sudden tension. “We were only out a few hours.”
“Yeah, well. She hasn’t really left the house much. First she didn’t want to deal with people talking to her about Claudia, then she gained all that weight, and didn’t want people talking about her. The longer she stayed home, the harder it was for her to go out, so I’m grateful you were able to get her out the door. That was a big step for her.”
“I had no idea. She invited me, you know.”
“Yeah, like I said, big step. She’s, ah, she’s lost about fifty pounds, so you know. She’s working on it. Watching what she eats, moving around a little more. Austin has her conscious of her health now, for which I’m grateful.”
“And he and your dad made their peace, Ginny said.”
“They did. Austin got my dad as far as he could, you know. Let us keep him for a while longer.”
“How are you doing, though?” She hadn’t lost anyone so close to her, didn’t know how to imagine it. Didn’t want to.
“I had time, you know, when he was sick, to come to the acceptance. He hid it from us, for a while, that he knew he wasn’t going to make it, and it took some time to deal with that, with the death of that hope, you know? I was mad. Mad he lied, mad he let himself go through that realization on his own. But that was just who he was, and now he’s at peace. So I can’t, you know, I can’t be too sad.”
“Good, I’m glad. I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner to say goodbye.” Mr. McKay hadn’t really liked her, though. Thought she was pulling Con away from the ranch, away from his heritage. Had blamed her for Con getting grounded. For Con not having his truck that day.
Nope. She was not going to think about that time. She wanted to think about now, and about the future, as they rode behind the house toward the rise where they’d spent so much time talking and dreaming and...
