Page 6 of A False Start
“What kind of list?” Mira leans up on the tall counter, propping her chin on her palm as her shiny black ponytail spills over her shoulder like an onyx waterfall.
I bite at the inside of my cheek, feeling a little young and foolish admitting this to Mira even though she’s only eight years older than I am. “Like a to-do list for my life.”
But she doesn’t laugh at me. She never does. She’s almost like the mother figure I never got to have, always searching for a solution to my problems and offering to lend me a hand. Or a carton of eggs. The memory of egging my principal’s car with her two years ago never fails to make me grin.
“So, a bucket list?”
I groan. A bucket list sounds so cliché. “No,” I say, pulling my hand off the page to show her the title. “Life To Do List.”
She laughs and gives her head a little shake, clearly amused by, but also accustomed to, my antics. “I think that’s smart. Goal setting is important. Keeps a person focused.” Her dark eyes trail over my face, and I can see that she wants to ask more.
I chuckle at the blatant interest painted on her face. “Mira, you look like you’re going to burst. Just ask it.”
“God. Thank you. I was trying to play it cool, but the suspense was killing me. What’s on the list?” She leans further across the counter, eyes lighting up like a kid at Christmas.
I clear my throat as I pull the pad back toward myself to read. “Number one is to build up my own savings account. I don’t want to rely onhismoney anymore. I’ll do something with it, I’m just not sure what yet. Something good, something worthwhile.”
My late father has taken on an almost Voldemort-like presence in our lives. We don’t talk about him often, and when we do, it’s not by name. He exists in my mind. He haunts me. But if I compartmentalize him into a nameless, faceless box, he bothers me a lot less.
Mira just nods. “I think that’s an excellent goal.” She knows the full story. Stefan’s version anyway. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is the sanitized version. He wasn’t there for the worst years. He got out.
I didn’t.
Until three years ago, I lived in my own personal hell, caged by an abusive monster. Even once he died, I couldn’t leave his fucked-up family behind. Until I was eighteen. I took possession of my sizable inheritance and then I fled Romania to the safety of my brother’s farm as quickly as I could. I didn’t look back. I don’t miss it. And I’ve spent the last three years of my life recreating myself in a way that leaves no ties to that part of my life.
I’ve even completely erased my accent. Most of the time, you would never know I wasn’t born here in Ruby Creek. Which is what I was going for.
“Yeah. I thought so.” I drop her gaze for a moment, looking back at the lined sheet of paper before me. “I think...well...I think, at some point, I’d like to go to vet school.” Heat rises in my cheeks. I wanted to be a vet tech but now I’m finding I want more. “It’s silly. I’m probably too late. I’m pretty sure I’m not even smart enough. Plus, I just got back to working here and wouldn’t want to let you down.”
Just saying it out loud ratchets up my anxiety.
Mira shoots up, shoulders pinned back straight. She’s so regal looking, so put together.Dignified.I feel so young and lost around her sometimes. “Nadia. I never want to hear you say that about yourself. I swear I will spank you. Or dock your pay. Or something.”
Of course, this is the moment that the back door of the clinic swings open. “Who’s getting a spanking?” Billie calls out in the way of announcing herself.
Mira and I both laugh. Billie is the wife of one of the owners here at Gold Rush Ranch. She’s also one of the world’s most famed and respected racehorse trainers.
She’s also very, very pregnant with twins.
My literal nightmare.
She waddles through the hall door grinning like a fool with a hand placed casually over the top of her bump. “I miss getting a good spanking. Vaughn handles me with kiddie gloves now that I’m pregnant. It sucks. I just want him to slap my ass and call me a whore.” She sighs wistfully, while I try not to crack up. “Does Stefan still do that for you now that you’re a mom, Mira?”
Too fucking far.I stifle a groan as Mira rubs at her forehead with a small smile playing across her lips. Billie is forever inappropriate. I’m not sure if she ever had a filter, but it’s missing now.
“We were just talking about goal setting. I was telling Nadia here to not sell herself short. And to answer your question, our sex life is better than ever. That’s all I’m saying.”
Mira winks suggestively and I mutter, “Thank fuck for that.”
Billie’s hand lands on my shoulder with a gentle squeeze, and I’m so busy cringing over the visual of my brother Mira just created that I leave my list open to being read from where she stands behind me.
“Well, Naughty Nadia.” God, I hate that nickname. “I can help you with the learning to ride horses one. Also, the getting your own horse one. Tropical vacation! Girl’s trip anyone?” Then she stops, lips quirking playfully. “Making love, not so much. What was that guy’s name the other day? The one who popped in here to ask you out? Tommy?”
I snap the journal to my chest. My throat constricts and my face heats.Fuucckkk.That was supposed to be private. I drop my head onto the desk, gently banging my forehead against the top of it.
“Not him? He was cute! But fine.” She pats my back. “It’s going to be okay, little one. You’ll find someone to make love with. I sure didn’t take you for a virgin. But no judgement.”
“Biiiillllliiieee,” I whine. “I’m not a virgin!” My head flops against the back of the chair and my eyes flash open, ready to tell her to pound sand. But that’s before my gaze snags on the man standing in the front entryway. Beside the door that’s propped open to let a breeze in on this sweltering early summer day.
