She held up the coffee pot. “Refill?”
“Sure.” He stretched out the empty cup, bracing the bottom with one hand. The wall clock chimed. “I need to get down to the barn.”
“Michelle and I will take care of the horses today.” She smiled that quiet smile he’d never understood. “It’ll be good for you to spend some time out with the cowboys.”
“You think I’ve been spending too much time with Michelle?”
She held up one hand in a stop motion. “That’s for you to decide. I have no part in this, no opinion, nothing. The two of you will work this out. One way or another.” Still grinning, she pointed at her Bible. “The three of you.”
It warmed him to have that distinction. Their last relationship hadn’t been rooted in God but in their feelings. His feelings hadn’t changed, but his relationship with God had grown by leaps and bounds over the years.
He drained the cup of coffee in a series of blistering gulps. “Gotta go.”
“Ride safe.” It was the same thing she’d told Dad. Day after day, year after year. She’d started telling him the same thing the first time he rode out with the cowboys.
There was comfort in the familiar, and a thrill to the undiscovered.
He’d never thought himself risk averse until it came time to put his heart on the line. Walking to the barn, he half-hoped Michelle would be there.
She often arrived around this time, and his pulse kicked up a notch until he reached the barn without spotting her car.
He worked at double speed to tack up and swing into the saddle. The cowboys had already been out and taken care ofanother problem several miles away and had agreed to meet up with him in the outer pasture.
His mare huffed and stamped when he kept her at a walk along the gravel drive. Once they reached the grassy pasture, he asked for a jog and relaxed into the familiar rhythm. Not the most comfortable gait, but it got them away from the barn and over the first hill where the cowboys clustered in a loose circle.
“You okay?” Chuck and the other cowboys eyed him with concern.
He swung out of the saddle and faced the Saturday morning daylight with squinted eyes. “Fine.”
“Oh boy. Did you hear that?” Chuck turned his gelding toward the fence and the remaining cowboys. “Says he’s fine but his face is pinched tighter than a lemon-sucking dog.”
“I know the cure for that.” Tom stood in his stirrups and pointed ahead. “Race you to the fence.”
“You’ll scare the herd.” Chase fought down the urge to accept the challenge.
He rolled his eyes so hard it was a wonder they stayed in his head. “The herd’s three miles that way.” He pointed to the west. “They couldn’t be bothered to move this time of morning unless we set off dynamite.”
“They better get ready to move.” That was the whole point of him being out here instead of in the barn with Michelle.
Would she even show up today? Mom planned on being down at the barn in an hour. Between the two of them, the feeding shouldn’t be a problem.You’re running away.No. Self-preservation wasn’t running away. He’d asked for time. They both needed—and deserved—a chance to make their own decision about what happened next.
“I still have feelings for you.”Michelle’s words haunted him. Waking. Sleeping. No matter his state of mind, the way she’d looked at him slammed home.
“So?” Chuck rode in front of Chase and stopped, cutting his horse off. “What do you say?”
About? Oh, right. The race. “Why not.”
Chuck whooped and wheeled his horse around. “All right, boys. Anyone who wants in, line up. Going to the fence. First one through the gate wins.”
Chase rolled his shoulders, then cracked the bones in his neck. The drumming headache remained. No time for it. Work on the ranch needed doing whether his body, heart, mind, or soul ached. He had a responsibility to the ranch. And he always thought better on the back of a horse.
Where was his balance? That ability to look at a situation and know which way gave him the best option at happiness? It all became muddied around Michelle. He wanted her back in his life, but the risk of losing her again shut him down.
“On three.” Chuck held up his left arm.
Chase jolted in the saddle. He’d forgotten all about the cowboys and the race. Michelle had always done that to him. Wondering about her consumed his thoughts, and not always in a healthy way. Probably why Mom had worried about him when Michelle first came back.
“One.” Chase’s horse shifted left, almost bumping into Don’s mare.
