“Them?”
“He was with his daughter.” That stung even worse, and I didn’t understand why.
“Ashley?” I didn’t want to believe it, not that she owed me anything. Hell, she did not know about my feelings for Mitchell.
“Girl code?” Shaina asked.
“I don’t know her all that well.”
“Oh. Well, it still could be nothing.”
Maybe, but the truth was, Mitchell was a desirable guy. What single woman in town wouldn’t see him as a catch? And he owed me nothing. We were employee and employer.
We ended the call a short time later. That didn’t mean I wasn’t jealous because, as irrational as it might seem, I was. He was single. I was single. I was the one putting the brakes on anything between us. My life was messy. I loved my job and there were a million other little reasons why I wasn’t giving in to temptation.
So I did what I did best. I worked and interacted with him only when necessary. I hadn’t even asked to borrow his truck. I’d find another way.
I was in the kitchen with Zoe making her a snack when out of the blue she asked, “Are you mad at my dad?”
And this was the main reason I wasn’t entertaining a relationship with the man. Kids were perceptive. I had been at her age. “No, honey.”
“You barely talk. You aren’t leaving, are you?” There was genuine fear in her eyes.
“Absolutely not. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Are you doing that thing Aunt Avery and Uncle Nate were doing?”
Because I’d witnessed some of it, I was pretty sure I knew what she was going to say, but I asked the question anyway. “What’s that?”
“She pretended like she didn’t like him when she did.”
There it was. “No. Your dad is my boss. That’s it.”
“You can’t like your boss?”
“It’s complicated.” I touched her nose and grinned. “How about you eat these apples and I’ll get you some cookies and milk?”
“Okay,” she said, easily swayed to a different topic.
Later that evening, when Mitchell came out on the porch, I was awake. I remembered the conversation with Zoe. “I need Saturday off,” I said. “The full day. Avery should be here by then. I have to go home and take care of a few things.”
“Anything I can help with?”
I started to ask to borrow the truck, but with Avery there, I didn’t want to only leave them with one vehicle. “No. I’m fine.”
“I am a lawyer if you need legal help.”
The last thing I would do was bring Mitchell into my mess. “No. I’m good.”
“I saw that guy in town. He said you hadn’t called him yet.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m handling it.”
“I told him not to come around. That you’d call him when you were ready.”
“Thanks.” I should have kept my mouth shut, but I didn’t. “Did you see Ashley too?”
His confused expression seemed genuine when he asked, “Ashley?”
I almost sighed with relief when I heard a familiar whinny. I whipped my head toward the paddock. Just beyond it, my mustang clomped toward the barn. I jumped out of my seat and ran for the barn.
“Sunny, wait!” Mitchell called.
There was no stopping me, not even the darkening sky, as an idea formed in my mind.
She waited for me at the outer ring of the paddock as I neared on quickened feet. It was as if she knew what I had in mind. I used the fence to lever up, and she shifted, allowing me to mount her.
Michell called out, but I held on, and my mustang took off with me on her back. I’d ridden horses before, though I wasn’t an expert at it. I’d done it mostly without the fancy saddles and reins, as the horse owners Dad had contact with believed in a simplistic existence. But I’d never ridden without a lead. I had to loop my arms around the mare’s neck, so I didn’t fall off. It was a crazy thing, considering all the things that could go wrong. Yet I felt safe with this mustang, as if we shared a kindred soul.
She didn’t race but took me on a fast gallop toward the tree line. I didn’t lead her. She needed me. And maybe she was taking me where we needed to go. I just hoped I could hang on until we got there.
TWENTY-ONE
Mitchell
“Are you insane?” I barked when she got back.
The horse hadn’t gone far and turned back around before I could get the keys to my truck and follow them. When the mustang brought her back, she had practically kneeled to let Sunshine off. I’d never seen anything like it, and I’d grown up around horses, even broken a few domesticated ones.
The mustang snorted in my direction and walked to the trough. I was beginning to think that this wasn’t a wild horse and maybe she was a trick horse that had gotten free from a traveling rodeo. Only it was too early yet for rodeos in this state. Down south, maybe where the weather was warmer.