Page 40 of Touch the Sky

I duck behind one of the horses to smooth my hair down and straighten my shirt before stepping around to the front of the hitching post.

“Sorry about this,” I say when the two of them reach me. “I did a sunrise trail ride for some guests from the inn. I thought I’d be done by now, but Sam had to go and rub up against some burrs.”

Shel scoots past her mom to get closer to the horses. I watch her approach with the gentle but confident motions of a seasoned horse handler. Pierrot sticks his nose out to sniff at her, and I grin with admiration when I see Shel blow a softbreath against his nose. His ears perk up, and he returns the greeting, exhaling a horsey hello.

“Look at you, Miss Horse Whisperer,” I say, giving Shel a nod of approval. “Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t it a school day? You playing hooky or something?”

She shakes her head. “Mom said I could take the day off to help with the move.”

“Which meansworking,” Tess chimes in with a mocking stern tone. “Not just playing with the animals all day.”

I’ve only seen Tess a couple times since she signed the lease, mostly just to help her set up the trailer. Looking at her now, it really hits me: this woman is going to live in my house.

My heart jumps into my throat, hammering like I’ve just shot a pot of coffee straight into my veins even though I’ve yet to have my first cup of the day.

“Let me get this finished,” I say, ducking back under the hitching post so I can avoid making eye contact with Tess. “I just need a couple minutes, and then I’ll come help you get started.”

“Let me help you,” Tess says. “You’re just untacking?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, but you don’t have to?—”

She swings herself under the rail and pops up beside Nana, one of the two horses left. I hear the clicking of buckles and then the thump of her swinging the girth up over the saddle.

“It’ll go faster with both of us,” Tess announces. “Do you really untack them all yourself every day?”

I doubt I could stop her now, so I give up and get back to work.

“Mostly, yeah,” I tell her, “but I’m used to it. Seven horses isn’t so bad on your own. We have bigger groups in the summer.”

“You don’t have stable hands or anything?”

I shake my head and then remember we’re separated by a wall of horse.

“Uh, no,” I tell her. “My cousin used to help out on really busy days when he lived here, and of courseMamanhelps as much as her health lets her. It used to be more of a family business when I was younger, but then my uncles all started having kids of their own, and people got busy, and my dad?—”

My dad fucked off after cheating on my mom for years and left her with an entire farm to run and a whole ass kid to raise on her own.

“Yeah?” Tess prompts. Her voice is lower now, gentle, like I’m a testy horse with my tail swishing in warning.

I don’t know why the hell I mentioned my dad. I don’t talk about thatconnard.

I don’t need to. We don’t need him. I’ve made sure of that.

“Well, he wasn’t around anymore,” I say, my jaw tight as I reach for a rubber comb and start rubbing it in circles over the last horse’s coat. “But we don’t really need stable hands. It’s not that big of a farm. We’ve got, like, half the number of horses we had when I was a kid.”

It’s been close to fifteen years, but I still seethe at the memory of the day my uncles loaded up half our herd onto a trailer and drove them out to another trail riding place almost five hours away.

We couldn’t keep the barn full anymore. It just wasn’t possible without my dad. We were lucky to find a buyer who’d give the horses a good home. I knew that. I also knew it was the last time I’d see any of them, but I couldn’t make myself go down to the yard.

I just sat on the porch with my arms wrapped around my knees, glaring at the red roof of the barn.

That was the day I promised myself I’d never give anyone the power to take so much away from me. That was the day I decided never to rely on anyone as much as we relied on my dad.

“Still seems like a lot of work,” Tess murmurs.

I press my lips together to keep from snapping and telling her we’re doing just fine.

I’m supposed to be welcoming her and Shel, not dropping the whole saga of my family drama on them.