Page 18 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

HAPPY HARRY’S HORSE RANCH

Visit happy rancher Harry to get a tour of the stables, where you might just catch a glimpse of Kit and Ace’s iconic horses.

Ready to saddle up yourself or want to take a leisurely ride down Bravetown’s Main Street?

Harry’s Ranch offers pony, trail, wagon and carriage rides for Bravetownees of all ages.

Trail rides require pre-booking. Inquire here.

E SRA

I wasn’t ready for tomorrow. Or Saturday. Or Sunday. The whole weekend would be a disaster. I had to do two shows a day on weekends. That equaled double the disappointment.

Rehearsals hadn’t gone horribly, but with the rest of the show’s cast surrounding us, I’d spotted enough costumed cowboys grimacing to get the message.

My Annie Lou sucked. Running a few feet sucked.

Of course it did. They were used to a tall blonde Annie twirling through the fucking air as she was hauled on to a running horse– and they got me instead.

I stomped across the dark park, using my phone’s flashlight to guide me past closed shops and restaurants.

I hadn’t signed up for this. I was meant to be scooping ice cream in exchange for a room. No more than that.

The stench gave away the stables before I could double-check the park map on my phone.

Then came the lights. I stopped dead in my tracks and narrowed my eyes at the building, and the porch lights glowing warm orange beside the doors.

Slipping my earbuds into my pockets, I listened for any signs of life.

Only horses huffing and puffing. Neighing?

Nickering? I should brush up on my vocabulary.

I opened an app I hadn’t used in months.

So long, in fact, that it was still opened to the to-do list for my M1 biochemistry course.

My stomach cramped in a familiar way and I quickly archived the whole M1 folder.

I’d never complete the first year in med school, so no point in keeping it around.

In its place, I created a folder called Summer , and a list titled Bravetown .

Summer Bravetown

To Do

Research horse noises

Appointments

Notes

I added a little horse emoji, just to make it more fun. When I closed the app again, some of the anxious flutter in my chest had subsided. Give a girl a good task-management app and her mood would improve tenfold .

Phone back in my pocket, I continued toward the stables.

The inside smelled even worse than the outside. One might think New York sewers in summer would have prepared me for the stench of horses– one might be wrong. At least the inside was partially lit by dimmed lamps above the doors. Horsey night-lights. Cute.

With the collar of my shirt pulled up over my nose, I passed the stable boxes until I found a plaque with a familiar name. He was barely visible in the shadows of his little wooden cubicle, but Tornado’s ears twitched when I stopped in front of his gate.

“Hi,” I whispered. I pulled the shirt off my face. Sure, this was a horse, but it still felt impolite to let him know that his home smelled like ass. “Sorry for dropping in unannounced.”

Tornado made a huffy noise and turned, walking over.

He tilted his head, dark eyes staring right at me.

I shifted my weight. I’d had a bunny as a kid, but when Flopsy had looked at me, he only saw a treat dispenser.

Tornado saw me, my treat-less hands braced on top of his gate, and he waited and watched and breathed.

“You’re really scary, you know?”

Tornado let out a chuckling sound and shook his head. Apparently I was having a two-sided conversation with this horse. He disagreed.

“Yes, you are,” I muttered and lowered my chin to my hands, looking into the stable. “You’re tall. You’re the kind of horse people fall off and get hurt real bad. And I’m an expert in the getting-hurt department. I mean, even just sitting on you hurts. ”

Tornado took another step toward me, and I forced myself to stay still.

I’d come here to make peace with him before our first show, so I couldn’t run off just because he got too close.

Maybe it was silly, but if I got hurt, I didn’t want it up for debate whether it was the horse’s fault.

And that started with me making sure Tornado didn’t hate me.

“Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that whatever happens tomorrow, it’s not you, it’s me, okay? I’m the one who sucks.”

The horse tilted his head at me, nostrils flaring only inches from my face. Hot breath fluffed through my bangs. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to breathe through my mouth.

“Sorry for robbing you of a really cool stunt.”

Tornado huffed and nudged his nose against my elbow. Hard. My arm slid off the gate. I managed to catch my balance just in time for him to nuzzle his forehead into the hand that had dropped into his stable.

“Oh, you’re not subtle at all, are you?” I chuckled and ran my fingertips up and down the smooth hair on his forehead.

“He’s a shameless flirt.”

I screamed and jumped at the voice. Loud enough for Tornado and some of the other horses to join in, neighing and squeaking.

Heart beating in my throat, hand clutched to my chest, I turned to see Noah standing a few feet away.

That white streak in his jet-black hair had dropped down on to his forehead.

His pearl snap had been untucked, and his sleeves were rolled down but still creased from being pushed up all day.

He was still out here, while I was already in my fluffy PJ pants and a heart-print tank top .

“Are you stalking me?”

“I was here first, just about to close up,” he said, brows raised.

“So just eavesdropping?”

Noah sighed and reached past me, broad chest a few inches from my face, highlighting just how much height and muscle he had on me. A light inside the box flickered to life and Tornado’s door clicked open. “I just overheard you.”

“How much?”

“Apologizing for robbing him of a stunt. Why? Was there more? There’s a church in town if you need to confess in a more private setting, you know?” He had one hand on Tornado’s cheek, rubbing it while he held the gate open for me. “Come on.”

I glanced down at my sneakers. Formerly cute and white, they’d gotten layered in dust from the days spent in the park. Might as well get stable dirt on them.

Noah closed the gate behind me, then guided me with a hand between my shoulder blades to Tornado’s side. “Do you know how to braid?”

“Yeah.”

“Here.” He pulled a long string of wooden beads from his pocket and dropped them into my hand.

Some of them had a vague blue or green sheen to them, but it looked like time and sunlight had gotten to them.

They were fixed with a thick knot to a metal hair clip at one end.

“It’s a good luck charm. Tradition before the first show of the summer. You can braid it into his mane.”

“I see.” This was more touchy-feely than I’d meant to get with Tornado, but braiding hair and beaded charms would definitely make us BFFs .

I ran my hair through Tornado’s silky black tresses until I found a strip that looked right.

Noah didn’t say anything about my choice, but I felt the weight of his attention on me.

I focused solely on my fingers, weaving the most precise braid of my life, just so he had no reason to complain about it.

“You’re not getting cold feet on us, are you?” he asked when I was halfway down the braid.

“No,” I scoffed. Despite my nerves, I wasn’t going to run off. I’d never thrown in the towel just because things got a little uncomfortable.

“Good.” He ran a hand up and down Tornado’s neck. “A lot of people love and need Bravetown, and the shows are a big part of that.”

“No pressure.”

“It’s a lot of pressure, Esra. We’re constantly aware of how much the entire town depends on the survival of the park and the tourism it brings.”

“Will you lay off?” I finished the braid off with the little rubber tie at the end of the string of beads and turned to face Noah.

“No, not until you realize how big of a role you play here.” His mouth was set in that stern line that sharpened the shadows across his face.

“You’re going to die of a heart attack real soon if you don’t lighten up a little.

” I rolled my eyes at him, but after all the concerned looks I’d earned today, his words still nagged at my gut.

I was supposed to be scooping ice cream.

If I had wanted to constantly be reminded of what a letdown I was, I would have stayed with my parents.

Instead I was stranded in the middle of nowhere, where I only knew my brother, having to scrape the last cereal from the box until my first paycheck came through.

And I wasn’t even getting any free ice cream out of it.

My thought spiral was interrupted by Tornado twisting his neck and pushing his big soft face against my chest. I froze with my hands in the air. “What’s happening?”

Noah furrowed his brow. “He’s calming you down.”

“What? I am totally calm.” My voice hitched an octave, betraying my blatant lie. “At least I was before your horse started motorboating me.”

“I’m training him to be a therapy horse.

Here. Feel this.” Hands raised slowly as if he was approaching a wild animal– me, not the horse– he inched closer and folded his fingers around mine.

He guided my hands around Tornado’s head to the underside of his jaw.

His touch was too slow and too gentle and too warm.

My spine straightened. I knew this kind of touch, and I didn’t want a pity party.

“I don’t want to be calmed down,” I hissed and shook his hands off.

“I am perfectly calm and happy and content. I had an offer to spend the summer on a yacht in the south of France, you know? I mean, the dude was like sixty and I wasn’t crazy about that, but I chose this damn cowboy park over sunshine and champagne. ”

“Just. Feel.”