“From what I’ve been told, horses and kids are very different creatures.”
I could see her thoughts shifting gears.
“So you don’t want kids of your own?”
If I were completely honest, I didn’t rightly know. I liked kids in a general sense, but specifics? I’d never been close enough with a woman to consider the question of wanting kids of my own as anything other than a hypothetical. If I had one, specific woman to map out a future with, maybe then. With the right woman, a kid or two might not be a bad idea.
The picture of June and me with two little kids in our arms flashed in my mind.
I blinked down at her. Now see, this was the problem in talking with June. She got me thinking all kinds of insanity that ordinarily would never enter my head.
“I think we’re getting off track here.”
She straightened, seeming to put away all the questions that had been swirling just behind her eyes. “Okay, then, so you don’t want free advertising because yourreputationand your website are bringing in all the work you need.”
I shifted, tensing my jaw. She looked to the heavens.
“Good Lord, Ty, you don’t even have a website? Here you are, completely relying on word of mouth to get you business, and you’re turning away an opportunity to spread that word? You think those Girl Scouts don’t have parents and grandparents with ranches that need work horses? Because I guarantee you some of them do.”
I opened my mouth to argue but had to shut it again.
“Right. Well, I think I’ve made a very convincing argument that we should do the Girl Scouts thing.”
“There is nowe. After the wedding, you’re gone.”
That little reminder seemed to still the air around us. A few more days, and June would be out of Magnolia Ridge, back to Austin, where her real life waited. A sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach, and I hated myself for it. I’d known from the beginning her life wasn’t here, that she wasn’t staying. I was never supposed to let myself fall this hard.
“There might be time to do it before I leave,” she said softly. “And if the troop can only do it on a weekend, well, I’ll just have to come back then. It’s only a forty-minute drive. That’s a normal commute for some people.”
No part of that reassured me, for reasons I didn’t want to deal with just now.
“Come on.”
She stepped closer, placing one hand on my forearm. Her soft touch pulsed through me, and I had to slow my breathing before my body got ideas of its own. Her eyes seemed huge in the evening light, sparkling with an earnestness that spoke to every tender part of me I wanted to ignore.
“It’s going to be fun, it’s going to make fifteen little girls happy, and it will all be over in two hours.”
I laughed until my breath burned. “You just want to relive those glory days with Gram.”
“I really, really do.” She squeezed my arm, a silent plea.
I sighed as much as I could when every breath cut short. “You’re going to be doing all of the work.”
“I’d guessed.”
“The instruction, the demos, the pony rides—this is your show, not mine.”
She held her head higher. “I can handle it.”
I glared down at her, but she must have recognized she had won the war. She twisted her lips, holding back a smile. I’d be a fool if I did this, an absolute fool.
“Fine,” I said, and the grin she’d been keeping at bay spread across her face.
My heart seemed to swell up inside my chest, knowing I was the cause of her joy. It made me want to let her call the shots for me every day.
TWENTY-FOUR
ty
