“You keep putting inflection on that word. I don’t know what you’re trying to get across here.”
Hawk chuckled then, shaking his head, as though he thought I was an idiot. “This is one of those times where you don’t know what you don’t know and I have to spell it out, huh?”
“Hawk.” I drew out his name, a little bit of exasperation creeping through.
“You start a consulting business, you silly man. You help new business get off the ground. Review their business plan or help them craft it or whatever. Give them advice. You take as many clients as you want, work the hours that you want, and you can still spend as much time with Ramona and me as you want.”
It took a second for my brain to switch gears. But only a second. Then a huge smile spread across my face until my cheeks hurt. I grabbed him and yanked him close, squeezing for all I was worth. Ramona let out a snort and stomped her foot close enough to mine I felt the ground vibrate.
“That’s genius,” I said, tone full of awe.
“I’m not just a horse whisperer,” he said cheekily. Then he sobered and gave me a soft smile. “I just pointed it out, love. You had all the pieces. You would have landed there eventually.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “I may have been, perhaps, a bit too focused on figuring out how to make this work between us to see the easy solution. I was so worried about being apart that I didn’t connect the dots.”
“We’ll make this work,” he said fervently. “Thank you for bringing this to me. I’ll help you any time you need.”
“The same goes for me. Partners, right? Equals—”
Ramona had enough waiting around. She stuck her big head between us, nearly knocking my chin. I pulled back just in time. Hawk laughed, deep and rich, and he gently shoved her head out of the way, giving her scratches when she moved. When I stepped back, I saw Humphrey was patiently waiting for us to be done. He clearly had more manners than my girl.
Not that I minded in the least.
“We should get these two back. And then—” he gave me a very pointed look, “—we head to your house.”
I wanted to call it ours, but Hawk wasn’t there yet. That was fine. I had every faith he’d get there.
“Let’s do that.” I turned, put my foot in the stirrup, but before I could haul myself up, Hawk stilled me.
“Carter?” When I turned my head, he blew me a kiss. “I love you.”
Fire lit my veins and I fought a groan. “I love you too. Let’s get these guys taken care of so I can get you to bed and show you just how much.”
Hawk scrambled to mount Humphrey, and I pulled myself into Ramona's saddle. We hadn’t gotten far but I knew it would be a long trek back and even longer till we had them groomed and settled in their stalls. But I didn’t mind too much. Hawk was worth the wait.
Epilogue
Hawk
Because Operation Ghost Horses was going to be the end of the night, I had the whole day to get through first before my bit started.
So far, I had done what work I could while the whole ranch was buzzing with energy. It transferred to the horses, and I’d been working with Rowdy—for whatever reason I had done that to myself, I don’t know. It had all led to me being nearly clobbered in the head by a hoof when he heard something from farther away and reared with excitement.
With Carter busy helping with the final things and keeping Mom from tearing her hair out when yet another thing went slightly awry, I hadn’t even gotten a kiss, let alone any afternoon delight from my man.
That was fine, I’d get him later. Besides, it was almost time to paint the horses and that’d take a good while.
We’d decided to paint them in my barn, because it was furthest away from everything else, and once the paint dried, we could just sneak them closer to where we wanted them to for the big finale.
Once we agreed on OGH—Mom really liked her acronyms—Fern had started to add it to the advertising. There was a story online on the ranch’s social media pages about the tale of the ghost horses that might come out on Halloween night to signal the ending of the event.
She’d even hired a videographer whose assistant would be around to take pictures, too.
My sister had such a keen mind for this kind of stuff, of making the most of any situation that might work for advertising and getting more social media following, that I was impressed.
I wouldn’t have thought spending all that money would be worth it. I might have said that to Carter who had laughed at me in a very “oh you sweet summer child” kind of way.
I wasn’t even mad. I could admit when I didn’t know something, and then I’d leave it to the experts.
