Page 85 of Freeing the Wild
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Cassie
“Music is a way to put a piece of my heart into the world.To leave a legacy after I’m gone.For my fans, my family …” I lift my boot and rest it on the rung of the stool at the front of the tenth-grade music class I’m speaking to at Ginger’s school, over a week after the snowstorm.It’s gone by way too fast, and I’ve spent every second Haden hasn’t been working with him, either in his bed or at Penny Lane.Even my mama and Ivy have noticed, and when I visit with them and Billi daily they haven’t hesitated to make little comments about the happy look I’m wearing.“I guess that’s my best advice to y’all.Discover your gift.Something you have to offer this big old world and pursue it.Pursue it with everything you’ve got.”
My heart is full as they give me a round of applause.I smile and look up at Ginger.She snuck into the back to watch.
“We’ll take a couple questions now,” the music teacher facilitating the session tells the class.Some kids raise their hands.
“How do you stay true to yourself in an industry that wants everyone to fit a mold?”a young boy asks.What an astute kid.
I smile and look down at my notes.“I’m still learning that, to be honest.It’s not easy in a world that revolves around trendsand what’s hot at the time.But every time I write a song that means something to me and other people enjoy it, that’s what I hold onto.That’swhat I strive for.”
I answer a few more questions as honestly as I can before the bell rings, signaling the end of the school day.The music teacher thanks me again for coming.
“You did so good, babe!”Ginger says as she hugs me after the classroom empties.“The whole school has been buzzing knowing a celebrity was coming today.”
I laugh as we start down the near-empty halls.
“Well, thank you for asking.I needed this to rememberwhyI love writing music so much.Even making my notes for today was cathartic.”I look out on the schoolyard, which is bustling with kids heading to the buses parked out front.“It’s easy to forget, you know?”
Ginger rubs my shoulder.“Were you nervous to get up there?”
“Not like I thought I would be.But this is different to singing in front of a crowd,” I sigh.“Although I know I have to get back to it soon.”
“My advice?”Ginger says.“Don’t let anyone rush you so much it steals your spark.Get back to the heart of why you’re doing this, Cass.”
She gives me a final hug before I push through the doors to head to Ivy’s truck, feeling refreshed.Maybe those kids just gave me more than I gave them.
“That’s a girl,” I tell Marlow an hour later as I set her bucket of food on the floor of her stall.She dips her head low to starteating.I softly hum for her the new song I’ve been working on while going over the lyrics in my head.I’ve been coming out here with Marlow for nine days straight, ever since the day she arrived at Silver Pines, and I’ll be honest I’m starting to get quite attached to her.I feel myself becoming woven into this place, and it both settles me and saddens me.I know I only have a week or so left before I’m supposed to leave.
Now, I watch as Marlow eats from the bucket on her own, something she’s only been doing for the last few days.I smile as I register her recovery: she’s been warming up to me a little more every day, and she’s less skittish whenever I enter her stall now.Haden jokes she likes me even better than him.
I snap a photo of her on my phone and text it to Penny so she has an update.Her barn’s roof has now been torn down and is awaiting a new one, which means it looks like the four rescue horses we relocated will be here until early summer.CeCe has planned the benefit concert for the end of April, which is about a month away now.Evan Woods was already planning to be home in Tennessee with his family for Easter, which means he agreed to help right away.He won’t take a penny from Nash either.In fact, he told Nash to donate the money he was planning to pay him to Penny Lane.
“You just wanted to know you could trust someone is all.Isn’t that right, baby?”I say to Marlow as she whickers next to me.“They’re not all bad out there, you know.Sometimes you get dropped into the dreamiest place on earth,” I add, thinking Marlow isn’t entirely unlike me.She’s finding peace here for who knows how long before Penny finds a new home for her.I know there’s no real way to tell what she’s been through, but I just hope the rest of her journey is as pleasant as this moment.
“Well, would you look at that.Your girl ate, and she did it like she was actually hungry.”
I turn to find Haden leaning against the post outside thestall.Even though I’ve spent every night either in his bed or mine, and despite the constant nag of knowing this is temporary, I know this is going to kill me when I leave.He takes my breath away every time I look at him in his flannel shirt and those damn Wranglers.He smiles at me now as he rubs the scruff of his jaw.And damn it if I don’t fall a little more.
“She’s getting mighty attached to you,” he says as I close the stall door, make my way over to him and wrap my arms around his waist.There’s no one in here and I honestly wouldn’t give a shit if there was.
“I was just thinking I’m getting attached to her.”I kiss his lips and look back to her eating away happily.“Penny had me up her dose of Valerian root and thiamine.She’s gonna get lots of turnout time today.”
Haden brings me closer and dots kisses down my neck.
“Such a good little horse groom you are … and pretty fucking cute too.”
That tingling feeling in my core surges.I was just in his arms this morning before he snuck out at five-thirty.But all he has to do is touch me and I want him again.It’s an unstoppable need at this point.
“Fuck, I’m gonna miss you tonight,” he groans.“Do you have to sleep there?”
Tonight is Cole’s bachelor get-together.Haden, Dusty, Nash, Wade and Asher are taking him to a pub in town, Woody’s, to throw axes, drink whiskey, and try out the new driving range simulator.Which means all the girls are sleeping at the big house; we’re having a full-on pajama party that will be PG until Mabel and Billi go to sleep.Then my mama and Jo are on nana duty and the women can have some wine and girl talk.I’m really looking forward to spending time with them all.But seeing as my stint on the ranch is a ticking time bomb, spending even one night away from Haden seems like a special kind of torture.
“I’m there all night.But I can make it up to you tomorrow?”I say as I twist my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, knowing my tomorrows are limited.
He shakes his head and growls into my lips.“I don’t like it.Be ready to sneak out at some point.”
