Page 54 of Here With Me

She studies the view as her shoulders relax. “This is Sunset Trail. It’s a family favorite.”

“Why’s that?” I ask, trotting behind her.

She flashes a sly smile. “You’ll see. C’mon!”

With a little kick, she takes off, and I follow. Denver’s a quarter horse and one of the easiest horses I’ve been on. Not surprised since Noah trained him.

As we ride up the trail, I get a better view of the retreat on one side and the scenery on the other.

“It’s beautiful up here,” I say when I catch up.

“Just wait.” Noah jumps down and grabs Donut’s lead rope, and I do the same with Denver. “There’s a spot up here I wanna show you.”

The sun beats down on me, and sweat trickles down my neck, but I don’t care. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than up here next to her.

“Here.” Noah smiles at me when she glances over her shoulder. “You can see for miles.”

She ties Donut to a post, so I do the same with Denver.

Once the horses are secure, I take in the view—the tops of the trees, the ranch on one side and the retreat on the other, and of course, Noah standing next to me.

“I bet this never gets old,” I say.

“Never.” She turns and points at something behind me. “I brought Mallory here shortly after she moved in a couple years ago. I painted those rocks with her as a way to help her grieve and have a spot to come and talk to her mom and dad.”

She’s mentioned Mallory moving here before, but I didn’t know her parents died.

“What happened? If ya don’t mind me askin’...” I admire how colorful and cheerful the rocks look.

“Car crash,” Noah says in a somber tone that has my heart aching.

I know all too well what it’s like to lose a loved one.

“At least they died together,” she adds. “That’s what helps us grieve.”

Noah sits on one of the rocks, and I take the one beside her.

“Poor Mallory. So young. Did she have any siblings?”

“No. Only child.” The corner of her lips tilts up slightly. “Now she has five older ones.”

“That was nice y’all took her in.”

“Wouldn’t have had it any other way,” she says, resting her hand between us. “They didn’t live ’round here, so Mallory had never ridden. She wanted to learn, and I knew it’d be therapeutic for her, so I gave her lessons.”

“And Miss Swift is her horse, right?” I put my hand next to hers, not quite touching but close enough to feel her warmth.

She laughs, crossing her legs and angling toward me so we’re even closer. “Yeah. We couldn’t talk her out of naming her Taylor Alison Swift, so we came up with a nickname when Ayden got tired of callin’ her the full name after the first day.”

I chuckle. “She’s lucky to have y’all. I woulda never guessed what she’s been through if I didn’t know.” My gaze finds hers as I scan her face. “Your family saved her.”

“I like to think we saved each other.” She breaks out into a smile as she stares out at the view. “Losin’ my aunt and uncle wrecked my momma. That was her sister. My dad was distraught, too. I’d never seen him cry until the funeral.”

“Grief isn’t somethin’ you can fully understand until you’ve experienced it firsthand. It’s worse when it’s paired with guilt and is the most painful way to live. Makes ya not wanna live at all.”

She flicks her gaze to mine as if she wants to ask questions, but she places her hand on mine and squeezes it instead. My stomach flips at the skin-on-skin contact, but her expression is filled with sympathy and remorse.

“I can’t even imagine what that was like for you. Jase showed me a few pics of her. She was beautiful.”