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Misty wanted to write out three little words that would change everything, but she didn’t dare. She’d already said too much as it was.

She waited for a long time before Danny came outside with a single Duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Misty popped the trunk and jumped from the car. She started to laugh, and Danny dropped his bag in the parking lot and ran toward her.

She hugged him, so desperate for his fresh start. “I have so much to tell you,” she said.

“Yeah, you do,” he agreed. “Because you didn’t even tell me you were coming.” He grinned at her, and she ran her palm down the side of his face.

“You’re free,” she said. “And we get to make our lives into anything we want, Danny. Anything at all.”

“I’m going to need help for a bit,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Maybe I can crash in your place in Dallas.” He released her and picked up his bag. He tossed it in the trunk and looked at her again. “I mean, you’re not living there right now, right?”

She shook her head, but she couldn’t get herself to move back to the driver’s seat. “Danny,” she said. “I don’t think you should go back to Dallas.”

He laughed. “Why not? Where else would I go?” He headed for the passenger door, and Misty’s heartbeat pulsed through her whole body, but she followed him and got behind the wheel.

Dear Lord, she thought, something she didn’t normally do. I can’t let him go back to Dallas. I need to get him up to Three Rivers. Please help me. Help me open my mouth and give me the words he needs to hear.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Henry Marshall finished shoeing the tall black beauty and bent to gather his tools. In moments like this, he wished his daddy could see him, see how hard he worked, and see that he was more than a twenty-five-year-old flirt.

He did like going out in the evenings, and no, he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend for years. That didn’t mean he was a bad person, or a player, or that he couldn’t run his own farrier business. With the number of ranches and farms and horses surrounding Three Rivers—and the scarcity of farriers—Henry was actually very sure he could.

He was also very surprised he wanted to stick around Three Rivers, the small Texas Panhandle town where he’d grown up. But after a few years away, Henry had realized that having a family was better than not having one. When he wasn’t in Three Rivers, he missed out on family events, seeing his cousins and aunt and uncle.

His farrier training was nearly over, and then he’d complete a twelve-month apprenticeship at a participating facility. “Gotta find one of those,” he muttered to himself as he arranged his tools in his leather flap-bag and folded it all up.

Then he turned back to the horse named Blackeye who’d just gotten new shoes, and he took the equine out of the crossties that had held him in place and made him behave while Henry got his job done. His mind buzzed over his apprenticeship assignment.

His training took place in Amarillo, and he’d been living on-site since he’d started. They encouraged people to find their own apprenticeships and then get the paperwork signed. They’d had the greatest success that way, but it created a problem for Henry.

He didn’t want to ask his daddy or his uncle if he could apprenticeship at Three Rivers Ranch. He didn’t want to use their connections to find a farm or ranch in Three Rivers either.

No, Henry craved adventure, and he wanted to carve his own way in the world. He didn’t want his father’s friends reporting on him, talking about him to his daddy, any of it. That meant he’d been trying to find a ranch with enough horses to keep him busy for twelve months. It had to be a certain size to maintain that, and he’d have to talk to the owner or foreman, explain how the apprenticeship worked, beg for a place to stay, and get them to sign the paperwork.

He’d put his name on the placement list with his training program, but they didn’t guarantee spots. If he didn’t get one, Henry would have to delay his graduation until he found a place and could complete the apprenticeship.

And that only got him to the exams he needed to take. Sometimes farriers stayed on in an apprenticeship for a few more years, and since Henry wanted to work with horses as a career, he imagined himself with specializations, advanced training, and continual professional development.

So maybe he’d do a longer apprenticeship, or several of them.

“And does someone with their head in the clouds do that?” he asked as he led Blackeye back to his stall. Then, he gathered his tools and went to find the man who’d sign his form and earn him his hours.

With that finished, Henry loaded his tools in the back of his truck and got behind the wheel. With the engine running and the AC blowing, he sat there, a sigh falling from his mouth. “You’ve got to move past the things your daddy has told you,” he said. “He believes in you.”

His momma and daddy were paying for his farrier school, after all. His father had said he’d be glad to have Henry at Courage Reins once he became certified.

His shoulders and back ached while he tried to get himself to get the truck in gear and leave the boarding facility that allowed the farrier students to come work on their horses. His stomach grumbled for food, and that got Henry to move.

He headed back toward the city, and he stopped by the fancy grocery store to go through their salad and hot bar. He could fill two containers with food—and Henry liked his cold food to stay separate from the hot—and head back to his dorm room.

Another wave of exhaustion pulled at his neck, and he rotated his right shoulder. His dominant side always worked too hard, and he paid the price of that every evening. He could have his roommate rub some icy hot on it when he returned that night.

“Can’t believe you live with a roommate,” he grumbled next. Something inside him fired salt through him today, and he wasn’t even sure why. But he’d gone to a couple of years of college before he’d dropped out, wandered—lost and wondering why it was so easy for everyone around him to know what to do with their lives when he had no clue—worked, and finally found his calling as a farrier.