Friday, August 8th.

Z A C

Friday morning meant a hell of a lot more work than the rest of the week. The stables needed a total wash out, the horses needed to be brushed, their troughs had to be scrubbed and refilled to last the weekend. The farmhands took off and didn't come back until Monday morning but living here meant that I could do the smaller jobs during Saturday and Sunday.

I stood at the threshold for stable eighteen and hosed down the walls, floors and door. Strands of hay floated on the water and washed down toward the barn guttering. Sometimes this shit got a bit repetitive. It was the same routines. The same conversations each morning and afternoon. I didn't mind the time alone though, quiet to think and consider what else I'd be doing if I wasn't scrubbing shit off a stable floor.

"Zac."

I turned and looked at the barn entrance where Hallie was standing in her overalls, gumboots and eyes wide with concern.

"What?"

"Lavender is missing."

"Fuck," I dropped the hose and ran straight past her. Lavender, the foal that had not long begun its training, was notorious for getting out of the paddock. She was clever, keen and a fucking pain in the ass. She's a purebred Arabian, our second Arabian horse and when she's trained, she'll sell for no less than eighteen thousand dollars. But right now, I doubt I could pay someone to take her. 

"Keep the phone on," I pointed at Hallie's pocket as I swung a leg over the dirt bike and kicked it to life. There wasn't a lot of trouble that the foal could get into around these parts, but she could be stolen and it wouldn't have been the first time something like that has happened.

Hallie was older, late sixties so while she was fit enough to be on her feet training the horses all day, it would be faster if I went searching alone. She nodded and threw a rope into the pack attached to the side of the bike which rumbled and growled when I gave it a rev and kicked the stand up.

Dust flew behind me as I tore down the drive, through the paddock and across the landscape. There was a good stretch of land that was nothing but grass, a foal would have a hard time hiding in such open space. But before long, trees started to become thicker, the grass longer, the trails that shot off in different directions increased.

I had no plan apart from scour every inch of each trail until I found her. The sun was hot, searing and relentless so if she didn't have water, she'd get tired and lie down sooner rather than later.

It must have been a good two hours and the third trail that I was on before I had much luck. Luck that came in the form of a few horseshoe prints in the thick dirt. The river beside me was slow and calm, shallow enough that I could see the rocks at the bottom and trees overhead offered sheltered spots where the water would have been cooler. And that's where I saw her, sitting in the grass with her mouth in the river.

The relief was a weight off, but I was surprised to find that she wasn't alone. Beside her, running a hand across her back, was a woman. Her long black hair fell down her back, her skin was warm, bronze, when she peered over her shoulder, her big round gaze widened with surprise. It was the woman that Raine brought to brunch last weekend. What the fuck was she doing around here?

I switched off the bike, kicked the stand down and hopped off, approaching with caution so that I didn't startle Lavender and send her running again.

"Beverly?"

The woman shot me a narrow glare but continued running her small hands down the length of Lavender's back, her nails were a pale pink and her skin was smooth. Like the morning we met, she was in a fitted dress that sat high on her thighs. This time it was a maroon red made of silk material.

"It's Addie," she mumbled.

"Yeah," I crouched down beside her and peered past to get a look at Lavender who didn't seem the least bit bothered. In fact, she looked relaxed and blissful as she had her back rubbed over and over again. "What are you doing out here?"

"I don't know," she shrugged and lifted her knees to her chest, a dangerous move in such a short dress. "I was walking down this trail that I found, and I saw this cutie having a snooze. So, I sat down with her. I think she's young."

"She is," I nodded, and Addie looked at me with a tilted head. There would be no point in pretending that her lips hadn't captured my attention the moment that we met, when I found her crouched in the garden and her mouth fell open to explain herself. She was doing it again now. "She's a foal. She lives on the farm, the one that we had brunch at last weekend. She's in training before she's sold early next year. But she likes to get out."

"She's got a free spirit," Addie murmured, looking down at Lavender again. I watched her. "Maybe you should let her be. Let her live her best life. She might not be meant for the show horse life."

I chuckled and sat down beside her, we watched the slow stream of water lapping over the pebbles, rocks and occasional tree trunks that had grown large enough to break the surface of the ground. She might have been right; I had considered that Lavender might detest the confines of a paddock and stable. Not unreasonable for an animal.

"It's not my call to make," I told her, almost regretting the answer when I saw her bottom lip pout. "She doesn't belong to me. I just do the work. Keep them clean, keep them fed. Sales and training aren't my area of expertise."

"I get that," she nodded, straightening up a little. "I run an event planning business at home and well— I co own it— or I did with—my sis— Margo and she was the one who made the final calls, even if I did want to do something different. Something that might have been outside the box. I guess I didn't mind so much though. She kept the business successful."

She sucked in a deep breath when she was done, as if she'd thrown up that entire sentence without the intention of sharing it at all. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and she inhaled a series of deep breaths that she was attempting to keep quiet while she watched the river.

"Raine told me," I said, quiet, as if somehow that lessened the impact of the truth. Raine had explained that her sister had died, and she'd come here on a whim and spent something like ten hours walking from Austin to Georgetown. At the time, I'd felt like a bit of a dick for being an asshole to her. Now, I felt even worse. She looked so broken. I'd never seen emotion like that in a single expression before.

"So, the business must belong to you now?" I asked when she remained silent.

"I guess. I don't know what to do with it though. I don't know. . . how to do it without her."

I nodded and ran a hand across my jaw before I spoke again. "Got no advice to be honest. I've never been through that before."

"Yeah."

"You plan on heading home some time? Raine seemed to think you'd be moving on from here."

She sucked in her lip again, let it go and then looked at me. "I kind of feel like— well, when I'm here, it doesn't feel like there's this entire part of my life that's fallen apart. It's easier to pretend that this is my reality than facing the one back at home. I'm alone here but it's better than being alone at home where I have to be reminded of what I lost wherever I look."

"So, you and your sister, Margo, was it? You were close?"

Her jaw clenched and she nodded and then her gaze began to glisten, and it wasn't the reflection of the water, it was tears that began to streamline down her cheeks.

"You don't have to talk about it," I said and felt this odd sense of urgency to cheer her up. Fuck. "Wanna come back to the house for a cold drink? I can give you a ride home afterward."

"Home," she said with a humorous tone, but her gaze was narrowed. "I'm staying at some little bed and breakfast on the edge of town. I prefer the edge of town. Is that weird? I don't love being in the thick of it."

"I get that."

She looked at me again and her sorrow had softened. She still had this obvious sadness etched into her features. It wasn't just one single thing that made her seem sad. Like the tears or the frown or the downturn of her dark brown eyes. It was just radiating from her. Grief.

"So," she said and looked over at the dirt bike still standing in the sun. "Are we going on that?"

"I'd let you ride the horse but she's not quite there. I don't have a helmet either. So, no pressure to get on."

"No, it's fine," she stood up and dusted off her bum and the back of her legs. "I could use a cold drink to be honest. I suppose if I keep ending up on these long walks, I should be better prepared."

"I'd recommend it," I said, standing as well and now realizing how little she was. The top of her head came to the middle of my chest and she angled her head towards me, squinting at the sun as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "It can get harsh here. The sun. August is our peak so. . . wear sunscreen."

She nodded and spun around to walk towards the bike, I watched the back of her, perplexed to the core at this woman and what she was all about. I'd never met someone who made me want the answers to questions that I didn't even have.

I collected the rope, secured Lavender and tied it to the handlebar.

"Is she going to be able to keep up?" Addie questioned, watching the horse with concern from beside me as I hopped onto the bike.

I thought it might be mean to point out the fact that horses are fucking fast, so I just nodded. "Yeah we'll crawl it back. No stress."

She continued to watch Lavender, worried. All of a sudden, I felt a softness that I've never felt before. I cleared my throat and flicked my head to gesture behind me.

"Hop on. I swear, I won't go fast," I promised her and then, in some weird desperate attempt to convince her that I meant what I said, I lifted my pinky finger and swiped the side of my nose, just as I'd done when I made a promise to her last weekend.

Her lips parted, she almost smiled and my breath held waiting for it. But she lowered her head before it happened.

She finally stepped forward with her gaze downcast as she held my shoulders and slipped on behind me. I felt my breath quicken as she slid forward, her thighs against mine, her arms around my middle. I swallowed and kick started the bike before I started off at a slow pace, clacking my tongue for Lavender to follow. She did. She followed beside us with a slow trot.

It took about forty minutes to get back to the farm, but I was surprised to find that I didn't mind. There was something soothing about having Addie holding on tight, the warm afternoon sun on our backs, the constant clip clop of Lavenders trot among other sounds such as the birds, the crickets and the blades of grass moving in a light breeze. Taking a moment to slow down had me appreciating the surrounds.

"So," Addie said as I led Lavender into her fresh cleaned stable. Someone must have topped up her hay and water while I was out looking for her. "Yo—"

"Zac!"

Hallie walked out of one of the stables with a rake and a bucket, she exhaled and closed her eyes for a moment when she saw Lavender. "You didn't call to let me know she'd turned up."

"Sorry, Hal," I apologized. "I forgot."

She scoffed and her sights settled on Addie. "Got distracted more like it."

"This is Addie," I was fast to interject before she could make any more insinuations. "Addie, Hallie Sutton. Her and her husband are our head trainers."

"Nice to meet you," Addie was quiet but polite and it dawned on me that she hadn't smiled a whole lot since we met. Well, she had. Small ones. For some reason, I was desperate to see a real smile. A full one that touched her eyes. I had an inkling that it'd be beautiful.

"You too, darl," Hallie said, taking her leave. She wasn't one for idle chit chat.

"You were going to ask me something," I said to Addie after I had untied Lavender and shut her stall door. I leaned on it and watched her head straight over to her trough for a long slurp of fresh cool water. Addie couldn't lean on the door; she could see over it but her elbows didn't reach.

She was quiet for a moment before she gave me one of those small one-sided smiles. "I was just going to ask if this is your . . . passion. Would that be the right word? Horses and that sort of thing?"

"I wouldn't call it a passion," I lightly laughed. "I enjoy it, I love the animals and it's outdoor work. Can't ever complain about fresh air. But I think there are other things that I'm more passionate about."

"Such as?"

I looked down at her curious stare. "I'll show you."

The roller doors on the shed rumbled as I slid them open and revealed three classic muscle cars. Addie wandered straight in and slowly weaved her way through the maze of dismantled engines and tools. Her hands ran slow and smooth across the top of a sixty eight Chevrolet that I was restoring. The hood was on the ground beside it, half sanded so that I could paint it.

"You restore old cars?"

"I do," I said, slipping my hands into my pockets. "It's not much more than a hobby at the moment but I've sold a few cars."

"Do you. . . do you live here?" Her brows were furrowed as she pointed in the direction of the back paddock. I think she was intending to point at the house. Raine must not have mentioned much about me. I wasn't sure whether to be grateful or offended.

"Yeah I do. I'm pretty hands on around here."

Another small smile. "It's a beautiful house."

I sat down on a backseat that I had pulled out of a mustang. It was covered in dust, but what wasn't? "Thanks. I helped renovate the entire thing about three years ago. Around the time Raine and Milo started dating. He helped out a lot too."

She made her way from the back of the shed and sat down beside me, still gazing over the space with appreciation. "You're all so. . . hospitable."

"What goes around, comes around."

"True," she nodded.

"Want that cold drink?"

She inhaled a deep breath and nodded as she let it go. "Yeah. That would be great."