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Who was he kidding? There would be no avoiding Grace. She worked here, and this was where he would continue living for the next few weeks.

Riley muttered a curse and stomped all the way to the barn. Upon entry, his gaze immediately found Grace. She was crouched down in front of a little girl with blonde hair. The girl clung to a young man—maybe her father. She stared at Grace with wide eyes as Grace murmured something to her and gestured toward the horse in the stall they stood next to.

As he watched, his heart tore a little more. By now it was probably in shreds lying at the bottom of his chest, unable to be patched together. He wasn’t an idiot. He’d fallen hard for Grace. He’d wanted everything to be perfect, but there was one problem.

This was the real world, and people like him never ended up happy.

Riley’s eyes shifted to the young man as Grace straightened. He smiled at her and the smile she gave him only made Riley’s stomach sour further. He’d seen that look before. The guy was smitten already. Turning toward Dolly’s stall, Riley gripped the door with both hands hard enough for the wood to dig into his palms.

Irony. That’s what this was called. Just like in the army, Riley was replaceable. And by the looks of it, the man beside Grace wasn’t damaged goods like he was. He had a kid. He probably had a good job. And he had every opportunity to make Grace fall head over heels for him.

“Ready for our session?” Bud arrived and opened the stall across the aisle.

Riley shot him a dark look.

“Having a bad day?” Bud glanced down the aisle to where Grace stood with the small family. “Looks like Grace has other arrangements this afternoon.”

An expletive escaped Riley’s lips and he stormed toward the door. When he got outside, he swore again. Pacing back and forth, he contemplated what Bud would do when he went back inside. He’d have to apologize. Bud wasn’t the one he was upset with. It was himself. Riley was the one who had made this mess, and he deserved to be miserable.

Bud emerged from the barn a few minutes later and leaned against the doorway. “Well, that was something.”

Riley froze in his place and looked at Bud.

“You feel better?” Bud asked.

“No.”

“You gonna go riding today? Or are we skipping?”

Riley’s shoulders slumped and he frowned at Bud. “You’re not going to lecture me?”

“Why would I?” He jerked his chin toward the interior of the barn once more. “Come on then. We need to get those horses saddled if we’re going to head out on the trail.”

26

Grace

Was she supposed to feel hollow—like she’d lost a piece of her heart? Is that what it felt like to break up with someone?

Grace glanced over her shoulder as Riley left the barn. Her eyes met Bud’s only briefly before he followed. What she wouldn’t give to follow the two of them and find out what was wrong. Riley needed her and not just as a therapist.

But he didn’t want her. Not anymore. He’d made that perfectly clear. So even if she was still drawn to him and she felt the need to help him through whatever he was having struggles with, she couldn’t do a thing about it.

She turned back to the little girl she was supposed to help now. “Your brother says that you like to draw horses. Is that right?”

Kristin nodded but remained halfway hidden behind her older brother.

Grace smiled at her. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk. Sometimes I feel the same way. It’s nice when we can have some quiet, don’t you think?”

Kristin looked up at her brother, and he squeezed her shoulder before he let out a soft chuckle. “Kristin has an expressive speech delay, but she can understand everything just like a typical kid. She’s really shy because it’s hard for people to understand her. She sees a speech therapist, but they thought coming here would be a good idea to help her express herself more.”

Grace rose to her feet and shot Kristin another smile. “Sometimes getting to know a horse is just the thing to help people out. I’m going to get a saddle for you. Then we can pick out a horse that isn’t being used.”

Her eyes drifted toward the door once more as she strode toward the saddles. Riley hadn’t come back yet. Had he left for good? What was she thinking? He’d basically kicked her out of his life. He didn’t want her worrying about him. She needed to move on. That was the smart thing to do.

It didn’t matter how much her heart ached and how distracted she was; Riley wouldn’t be part of her life. She blew out a breath to calm herself and lifted the saddle before turning around to head back to her new client.

Out of nowhere, Riley materialized and they collided. The saddle slipped in her fingers. She had to catch it to keep it from falling to the ground. Her wide eyes lifted to meet his then she scowled. “Excuse me, Mr. Scott.”